Régine Crespin
Encyclopedia
Régine Crespin was a French singer who had a major international career in opera
and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano
and spinto soprano
repertoire, drawing particular acclaim singing Wagner
and Strauss
heroines. She went on to sing a wider repertoire that embraced Italian, French, German, Russian, and English opera from a variety of musical periods. In the early 1970s Crespin began experiencing vocal difficulties for the first time and ultimately began performing roles from the mezzo-soprano
repertoire. Throughout her career she was widely admired for the elegance, warmth and subtlety of her singing, especially in the French and German operatic repertories.
Crespin began her career in France, earning her first critical successes in the French provinces during the early 1950s and then becoming a fixture at the Opéra National de Paris in the mid 1950s. Her international career was launched in 1958 with a critically acclaimed performance of Kundry in Richard Wagner
's Parsifal
at the Bayreuth Festival
. She soon appeared at most of the major opera houses in the United States and Europe and made a number of appearances in South America as well. She had a long and fruitful association with the Metropolitan Opera
in New York City, making over 125 appearances at that house between 1962 and 1987. Crespin retired from the stage in 1989, after which she taught singing for many years at her alma mater
, the Conservatoire de Paris
, and gave numerous acclaimed master class
es at conservatories and universities internationally.
In recognition of Crespin's artistry as a singer, the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition, which had been restricted to pianists and violinists, has been expanded in 2011 to include singers and has been renamed the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition
.
in 1927. She moved to Nîmes
with her family at the age of five and her parents opened a large shoe store in that city which they ran for many years. Crespin's childhood was not an easy one, being affected both by growing up during World War II and her mother's alcoholism
. She initially intended to be a pharmacist but was prevented in pursuing this path after failing to pass her Baccalauréat
at the age of 16. Up to this point her father had not allowed her to study singing. However, as her career path was limited by the exam results he finally allowed her to start taking lessons for purely pragmatic reasons. She went on to win first prize in a singing competition a few years later, and, at the age of nineteen, she went to Paris to study at the Conservatoire de Paris
in the classes of Suzanne Cesbon-Viseur and Georges Jouatte. Four years later, in 1950, she was awarded first prize in the school's onstage competitions for opera and opéra comique and second prize in the school's singing competition. Traditionally past winners of Conservatoire's competitions were offered performance contracts with the Opéra National de Paris, but Crespin was for some unknown reason not offered one. This created a somewhat tenuous relationship relationship between Crespin and her country's musical establishment which extended into the early portion of her career.
to portray Elsa in Richard Wagner
's Lohengrin
— sung in French — at Mulhouse
in 1950. Received with positive reviews, Crespin was finally approached by the Paris Opéra with a contract. She accepted and made her debut there in 1951 singing Elsa. On 27 June 1951 she made her debut at the Opéra-Comique
singing the title role in Giacomo Puccini
's Tosca
, later singing Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
. However, her reception in Paris was somewhat cool and did not improve, despite performing a number of roles in that city from 1951-1952.
Crespin decided to leave Paris in 1952 and try her luck performing with opera houses in the provinces of France
. There she found her first critical successes, particularly in the roles of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss
's Der Rosenkavalier
and Tosca, both sung in French. In 1955 she returned to the Paris Opéra as Reiza in Carl Maria von Weber
's Oberon
. This time enthusiastically received by Paris audiences, Crespin went on to sing several triumphant performances at that house over the next three years in Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi
's Otello
, Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera
, Brunehild in Sigurd
and Lidoine in the 1957 Paris premiere of Francis Poulenc
's Dialogues of the Carmelites
among others. She also continued to remain active in opera houses throughout France, notably singing in the world premiere of Henri Tomasi
's Sampiero Corso at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
in 1956.
to portray the role of Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal
at the 1958 Bayreuth Festival
, despite the fact that she had never sung Wagner in German
. To learn the role in German, she was coached by Lou Bruder, a professor of German literature who later became her husband. When Crespin first auditioned for Wieland she had initially assumed that he would cast her in what the French call les wagnériennes blondes, roles like Elsa, Eva, Sieglinde, and Elisabeth. She was therefore surprised when she was asked to tackle Kundry. Crespin recalls that when she expressed her surprise to Wieland he dismissed the other roles, saying, "Oh, those dummies, I don't like them. Look, you are not born for that, you have a better job to do." Crespin essayed the task and her performance was so well liked that she was invited to sing Kundry again for the 1959 and 1960 Bayreuth Festivals. She returned to the Bayreuth Festival again in 1961 to sing Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre
and the third norn in Wagner's Götterdämmerung
.
Crespin's performances of Kundry effectively launched her international opera career, and she was soon invited to perform on the stages of the world's great opera houses. In 1959 she made her debut at La Scala
singing the title role in Ildebrando Pizzetti
's Fedra. That same year she made her first appearances at the Vienna State Opera
singing Sieglinde in Die Walküre and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She sang the Marschallin again for the 1959 Glyndebourne Festival and for her debut at the Royal Opera
, Covent Garden
in 1960, bringing "Gallic finesse, complemented by an ideal sense of proportion, supported by perfect German… she never succumbed to exaggeration, physical of vocal, never seemed fussy, never confused sadness with tragedy". She returned to Covent Garden numerous times over the next four years singing such roles as Elsa in Lohengrin and Tosca. In 1961 she sang for the first time at the Deutsche Oper Berlin
. She sang Tosca for her United States debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
in 1962 with Giuseppe Zampieri as Cavaradossi and Tito Gobbi
as Scarpia. She returned to Chicago numerous times, singing such roles as Amelia (1963), Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio
(1963), Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser
(1963), and the title role in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos
(1964). In 1966, Crespin performed in Boston for the Peabody Mason Concert series.
in New York City where she sang every year — with the exception of 1974 — through 1981. Her first performance at the house was on November 19, 1962 singing the Marschallin with Hertha Töpper
as Octavian, Otto Edelmann
as Baron Ochs, Anneliese Rothenberger
as Sophie, and Lorin Maazel
conducting. Among the many roles she created at the Met over the next two decades included Amelia, the title role in Carmen
, Charlotte in Werther
, Elsa, Giulietta in Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Kundry, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
, Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer, Sieglinde, and Tosca among others. After leaving the Met in 1981, Crespin returned to the house twice more during her career: once to perform for the Met's 100th Anniversary Gala in 1983 and a final appearance in April 1987 as Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites. All told Crespin appeared in 129 performances at the Metropolitan Opera during her career, performing with many great singers like Lucine Amara
, Gabriel Bacquier
, Kathleen Battle
, Carlo Bergonzi
, Walter Cassel
, Franco Corelli
, Nicolai Gedda
, Enrico Di Giuseppe
, Plácido Domingo
, Reri Grist
, Alfredo Kraus
, Evelyn Lear
, William Lewis
, George London, Christa Ludwig
, Cornell MacNeil
, James McCracken
, Sherrill Milnes
, Birgit Nilsson
, Jessye Norman
, Nell Rankin
, Leonie Rysanek
, Jeanette Scovotti
, Shirley Verrett
, and Jon Vickers
among many others.
In 1970, after almost twenty years of faultless reviews, Crespin began experiencing some vocal challenges which caused her to re-evaluate her career. This coincided with the end of her marriage to Lou Bruder to whom she had been married to for eleven years; the couple had no children. With Charlotte in Werther in 1974, Crespin began performing opera roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire to adjust to the change in her voice. However the timbre of her voice had not altered much from her earlier singing years and she therefore brought a different sound to the roles than the typical mezzo-soprano. Regardless, she was well received in her new choice of repertoire. This period also led to her interest in Offenbach and her sophisticated wit found its place in recordings of Métella, the Grand Duchess of Gérolstein and Périchole, along with Dulcinée (Massenet's Don Quichotte).
During her years at the Metropolitan Opera, Crespin remained active on the international opera stage. In 1962 she made the first of many appearances at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires
singing the title role in Gluck
's Iphigénie en Tauride
. Her last role at that house was Madame Flora (Baba) in The Medium
in 1987. She appeared as Tosca in Geneva in 1962. In 1966 she sang Ariadne at the Aix-en-Provence Festival
and that same year made her first appearance at the San Francisco Opera
singing both Cassandre and Didon in Berlioz
's Les Troyens
. She returned to the San Francisco Opera numerous times, singing such roles as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (1966), the Marschallin (1967), Sieglinde (1968), Tosca (1970), Santuzza (1976), Mme de Croissy (1982), the title role in Offenbach
's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
(1983), Madame Flora (1986), and the Countess in Tchaikovsky
's The Queen of Spades
(1987). In 1963 she made her debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
portraying Sieglinde, a role which she repeated there in 1965. She later sang with the Opera Company of Philadelphia
as Carmen (1978), the Countess (1983), and Madame Flora (1986). In 1967 Crespin portrayed Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre
for her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival
. She also returned to the Opéra National de Paris a handful of times during her career, notably singing the title role in Fauré
's Pénélope
. Her last opera performance was at the Paris Opéra in 1989 singing the Countess in The Queen of Spades.
Crespin sang in many concert halls around the world, where her repertoire included Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust, and Les nuits d'été
by Berlioz. In recital, along with lieder (Schumann, Schubert, Brahms) she excelled in the French mélodie repertoire, especially Debussy and Poulenc, where the savouring of words and ability to capture the mood of songs made her a memorable interpreter.
's Merola Opera Program
during the latter part of her career, and was involved with that program for more than twenty years. Crespin also frequently traveled to give master classes at Universities and music conservatories in Europe and the United States during her retirement years. She continued to teach until her death from liver cancer in Paris in 2007. She had previously overcome battles with cancer in 1978 and 1984.
Her memoirs, La vie et l'amour d'une femme (the French name for Schumann
's song cycle Frauenliebe und -leben
) are quite candid, providing much detail of the singer's private life as well as unusual insights into her professional world. It was first published in French in 1982 and was republished in an expanded English version called On Stage, Off Stage: A Memoire in 1997.
Crespin was appointed Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
in 1972, and later made an Officer in 1982 and a Commander in 1994.
Crespin left a considerable discography, starting, in the early part of her career, with recital discs for Vega, Pathé and Decca. Her classic recording of Berlioz
's Les nuits d'été
and Ravel
's Shéhérazade with Ernest Ansermet
and the Suisse Romande Orchestra is regarded by many as the finest of all versions on disc. Among her other important recordings were Sieglinde in Die Walküre, and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
, both for Decca
with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Sir Georg Solti
. She also assumed the role of Brünnhilde on Herbert von Karajan
's recording of Die Walküre
with the Berlin Philharmonic re-released by Deutsche Grammophon
as part of its "The Originals" series.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano
Dramatic soprano
A dramatic soprano is an operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually mean less agility than lighter voices but a sustained, fuller sound. Usually this voice has a lower tessitura than...
and spinto soprano
Spinto soprano
A spinto soprano is a category of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be "pushed" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. This type of voice may possess a somewhat darker timbre, too, than the average lyric soprano...
repertoire, drawing particular acclaim singing Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
and Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
heroines. She went on to sing a wider repertoire that embraced Italian, French, German, Russian, and English opera from a variety of musical periods. In the early 1970s Crespin began experiencing vocal difficulties for the first time and ultimately began performing roles from the mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
repertoire. Throughout her career she was widely admired for the elegance, warmth and subtlety of her singing, especially in the French and German operatic repertories.
Crespin began her career in France, earning her first critical successes in the French provinces during the early 1950s and then becoming a fixture at the Opéra National de Paris in the mid 1950s. Her international career was launched in 1958 with a critically acclaimed performance of Kundry in Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
. She soon appeared at most of the major opera houses in the United States and Europe and made a number of appearances in South America as well. She had a long and fruitful association with the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York City, making over 125 appearances at that house between 1962 and 1987. Crespin retired from the stage in 1989, after which she taught singing for many years at her alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, and gave numerous acclaimed master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
es at conservatories and universities internationally.
In recognition of Crespin's artistry as a singer, the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition, which had been restricted to pianists and violinists, has been expanded in 2011 to include singers and has been renamed the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition
Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition
The Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition is an international classical music competition for pianists and violinists that has operated in France since 1943. It was created by the pianist Marguerite Long and the violinist Jacques Thibaud...
.
Early life and education: 1927-1950
Crespin was born in MarseilleMarseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
in 1927. She moved to Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
with her family at the age of five and her parents opened a large shoe store in that city which they ran for many years. Crespin's childhood was not an easy one, being affected both by growing up during World War II and her mother's alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. She initially intended to be a pharmacist but was prevented in pursuing this path after failing to pass her Baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
at the age of 16. Up to this point her father had not allowed her to study singing. However, as her career path was limited by the exam results he finally allowed her to start taking lessons for purely pragmatic reasons. She went on to win first prize in a singing competition a few years later, and, at the age of nineteen, she went to Paris to study at the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
in the classes of Suzanne Cesbon-Viseur and Georges Jouatte. Four years later, in 1950, she was awarded first prize in the school's onstage competitions for opera and opéra comique and second prize in the school's singing competition. Traditionally past winners of Conservatoire's competitions were offered performance contracts with the Opéra National de Paris, but Crespin was for some unknown reason not offered one. This created a somewhat tenuous relationship relationship between Crespin and her country's musical establishment which extended into the early portion of her career.
Early career in France: 1950-1957
Her first professional stage engagement was in Reims in 1949 (Charlotte in Werther). Crespin was then engaged by the Opéra national du RhinOpéra national du Rhin
LOpéra national du Rhin is an opera company which performs in Alsace, eastern France, and which includes the Opéra in Strasbourg, the company's ballet in Mulhouse , and the "Opéra Studio" , a training centre for young singers, in Colmar...
to portray Elsa in Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
— sung in French — at Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
in 1950. Received with positive reviews, Crespin was finally approached by the Paris Opéra with a contract. She accepted and made her debut there in 1951 singing Elsa. On 27 June 1951 she made her debut at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
singing the title role in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, later singing Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
. However, her reception in Paris was somewhat cool and did not improve, despite performing a number of roles in that city from 1951-1952.
Crespin decided to leave Paris in 1952 and try her luck performing with opera houses in the provinces of France
Provinces of France
The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the historic counties of England...
. There she found her first critical successes, particularly in the roles of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
and Tosca, both sung in French. In 1955 she returned to the Paris Opéra as Reiza in Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
's Oberon
Oberon (opera)
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a 3-act romantic opera in English with spoken dialogue and music by Carl Maria von Weber. The libretto by James Robinson Planche was based on a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the epic romance Huon de Bordeaux, a French...
. This time enthusiastically received by Paris audiences, Crespin went on to sing several triumphant performances at that house over the next three years in Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
, Brunehild in Sigurd
Sigurd (opera)
Sigurd is an opera in four acts and nine scenes by the French composer Ernest Reyer on a libretto by Camille du Locle and Alfred Blau. Like Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, the story is based on the Niebelungenlied and the Eddas, with some crucial differences from the better known Wagnerian version...
and Lidoine in the 1957 Paris premiere of Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
's Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
among others. She also continued to remain active in opera houses throughout France, notably singing in the world premiere of Henri Tomasi
Henri Tomasi
Henri Tomasi was a French classical composer and conductor.- The early years :Henri Tomasi was born in Marseille, France, in the working class neighborhood on August 17, 1901. His father Xavier Tomasi and mother Josephine Vincensi were originally from La Casinca, Corsica...
's Sampiero Corso at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, is a Theatre in Bordeaux, France, first inaugurated on 17 April 1780. It was in this theatre that the ballet La Fille Mal Gardée premiered in 1789, and where a young Marius Petipa staged some of his first ballets....
in 1956.
Rise to international success: 1958-1962
Crespin's international career began when she was chosen by Wieland WagnerWieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner was a German opera director.- Life :Wieland was the elder of two sons of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner and grandson of composer Richard Wagner....
to portray the role of Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
at the 1958 Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
, despite the fact that she had never sung Wagner in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. To learn the role in German, she was coached by Lou Bruder, a professor of German literature who later became her husband. When Crespin first auditioned for Wieland she had initially assumed that he would cast her in what the French call les wagnériennes blondes, roles like Elsa, Eva, Sieglinde, and Elisabeth. She was therefore surprised when she was asked to tackle Kundry. Crespin recalls that when she expressed her surprise to Wieland he dismissed the other roles, saying, "Oh, those dummies, I don't like them. Look, you are not born for that, you have a better job to do." Crespin essayed the task and her performance was so well liked that she was invited to sing Kundry again for the 1959 and 1960 Bayreuth Festivals. She returned to the Bayreuth Festival again in 1961 to sing Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
and the third norn in Wagner's Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
.
Crespin's performances of Kundry effectively launched her international opera career, and she was soon invited to perform on the stages of the world's great opera houses. In 1959 she made her debut at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
singing the title role in Ildebrando Pizzetti
Ildebrando Pizzetti
Ildebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music.- Biography :Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi and Gian Francesco Malipiero. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions...
's Fedra. That same year she made her first appearances at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
singing Sieglinde in Die Walküre and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She sang the Marschallin again for the 1959 Glyndebourne Festival and for her debut at the Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
, Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in 1960, bringing "Gallic finesse, complemented by an ideal sense of proportion, supported by perfect German… she never succumbed to exaggeration, physical of vocal, never seemed fussy, never confused sadness with tragedy". She returned to Covent Garden numerous times over the next four years singing such roles as Elsa in Lohengrin and Tosca. In 1961 she sang for the first time at the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is also home to the Berlin State Ballet.-History:...
. She sang Tosca for her United States debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
in 1962 with Giuseppe Zampieri as Cavaradossi and Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.-Biography:Tito Gobbi was born in Bassano del Grappa and studied law at the University of Padua before he trained as a singer. Giulio Crimi, a well-known Italian tenor of a previous generation, was Gobbi's teacher in Rome...
as Scarpia. She returned to Chicago numerous times, singing such roles as Amelia (1963), Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
(1963), Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
(1963), and the title role in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
(1964). In 1966, Crespin performed in Boston for the Peabody Mason Concert series.
International acclaim: 1962-1989
In 1962 Crespin joined the roster of principal sopranos at the Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York City where she sang every year — with the exception of 1974 — through 1981. Her first performance at the house was on November 19, 1962 singing the Marschallin with Hertha Töpper
Hertha Töpper
Hertha Töpper is an Austrian contralto opera singer.Töpper, the daughter of a music teacher, began her singing studies at the Graz Conservatorium while still at high school. In 1954, she began her career at the Graz Opera in the role of Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera...
as Octavian, Otto Edelmann
Otto Edelmann
Otto Edelmann was an Austrian bass. He was born in Vienna and studied singing in Vienna with Gunnar Graarud. His debut was at Gera as Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. He later sang the Vienna State Opera, the Edinburgh Festival and the Metropolitan Opera...
as Baron Ochs, Anneliese Rothenberger
Anneliese Rothenberger
Anneliese Rothenberger was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1943 to 1983...
as Sophie, and Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
conducting. Among the many roles she created at the Met over the next two decades included Amelia, the title role in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Charlotte in Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
, Elsa, Giulietta in Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
Kundry, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer, Sieglinde, and Tosca among others. After leaving the Met in 1981, Crespin returned to the house twice more during her career: once to perform for the Met's 100th Anniversary Gala in 1983 and a final appearance in April 1987 as Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites. All told Crespin appeared in 129 performances at the Metropolitan Opera during her career, performing with many great singers like Lucine Amara
Lucine Amara
Lucine Amara is an American soprano who was largely based at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:Amara was born Lucine Armaganian in Hartford, Connecticut, of Armenian heritage, before moving to San Francisco where she was raised.She studied at the San Francisco's Community Music School...
, Gabriel Bacquier
Gabriel Bacquier
Gabriel Bacquier is a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories, he is considered a fine singing-actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles.-Life and career:Gabriel Bacquier was born in...
, Kathleen Battle
Kathleen Battle
Kathleen Battle , is an African-American operatic soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid 1970s. She made her opera debut in...
, Carlo Bergonzi
Carlo Bergonzi
Carlo Bergonzi is an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he is above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including a large number of the composer's lesser-known works that he helped revive...
, Walter Cassel
Walter Cassel
Walter Cassel was a renowned American operatic baritone and actor. He began his career singing on the radio during the mid 1930s and appeared in a couple of Hollywood musical films in the late 1930s. He made his first stage appearances in a handful of Broadway productions during the late 1930s and...
, Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...
, Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
, Enrico Di Giuseppe
Enrico Di Giuseppe
Enrico Di Giuseppe was a celebrated Italian-American operatic tenor who had an active performance career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He spent most of his career performing in New York City, juggling concurrent performance contracts with both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan...
, Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Reri Grist
Reri Grist
Reri Grist is an American coloratura soprano, one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera.-Biography:...
, Alfredo Kraus
Alfredo Kraus
Alfredo Kraus Trujillo was a distinguished Spanish tenor of partly Austrian descent, particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles...
, Evelyn Lear
Evelyn Lear
Evelyn Lear is an American soprano and opera singer.During her career between 1959 and 1992, Evelyn Lear appeared in more than forty operatic roles, appeared with every major opera company in the US and won a Grammy Award in 1966...
, William Lewis
William Lewis (tenor)
William L. Lewis is an American operatic tenor and academic.-Biography:William Lewis was educated at the University of Colorado, Texas Christian University and New York University. He began his career as a writer and an athlete before deciding to pursue a career in opera...
, George London, Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...
, Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...
, James McCracken
James McCracken
James McCracken was an American operatic tenor. At the time of his death The New York Times stated that McCracken was "the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States and a pillar of the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s and 1970s."-Biography:Born in Gary, Indiana,...
, Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera....
, Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
, Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...
, Nell Rankin
Nell Rankin
Nell Rankin was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. Although a successful opera singer internationally, she spent most of her career at the Metropolitan Opera where she worked from 1951-1976. Rankin was particularly admired for her portrayals of Amneris in Verdi's Aida and the title role in...
, Leonie Rysanek
Leonie Rysanek
Leopoldine "Leonie" Rysanek was an Austrian dramatic soprano.-Biography:Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. In 1951 the Bayreuth Festival reopened and the new leader Wieland Wagner asked her to sing Sieglinde...
, Jeanette Scovotti
Jeanette Scovotti
-Life and career:In 1956 she was in the ensemble of the original Broadway cast of Li'l Abner; the only Broadway production she ever appeared in. In 1959 she won the New York Singing Teachers Association contest and presented a solo recital at Town Hall. That same year she made her debut at the New...
, Shirley Verrett
Shirley Verrett
Shirley Verrett was an African-American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles i.e. soprano sfogato...
, and Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
among many others.
In 1970, after almost twenty years of faultless reviews, Crespin began experiencing some vocal challenges which caused her to re-evaluate her career. This coincided with the end of her marriage to Lou Bruder to whom she had been married to for eleven years; the couple had no children. With Charlotte in Werther in 1974, Crespin began performing opera roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire to adjust to the change in her voice. However the timbre of her voice had not altered much from her earlier singing years and she therefore brought a different sound to the roles than the typical mezzo-soprano. Regardless, she was well received in her new choice of repertoire. This period also led to her interest in Offenbach and her sophisticated wit found its place in recordings of Métella, the Grand Duchess of Gérolstein and Périchole, along with Dulcinée (Massenet's Don Quichotte).
During her years at the Metropolitan Opera, Crespin remained active on the international opera stage. In 1962 she made the first of many appearances at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
singing the title role in Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
's Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride
Iphigénie en Tauride is an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck in four acts. It was his fifth opera for the French stage. The libretto was written by Nicolas-François Guillard....
. Her last role at that house was Madame Flora (Baba) in The Medium
The Medium
The Medium is a short two-act dramatic opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by Columbia University, its first performance was there on 8 May 1946. The opera's first professional production was presented on a double bill with Menotti's The Telephone at the Heckscher...
in 1987. She appeared as Tosca in Geneva in 1962. In 1966 she sang Ariadne at the Aix-en-Provence Festival
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The festival international d'art lyrique is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in the month of July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental music.-Establishment:The...
and that same year made her first appearance at the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
singing both Cassandre and Didon in Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
. She returned to the San Francisco Opera numerous times, singing such roles as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (1966), the Marschallin (1967), Sieglinde (1968), Tosca (1970), Santuzza (1976), Mme de Croissy (1982), the title role in Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein is an opéra bouffe , in three acts and four tableaux by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy...
(1983), Madame Flora (1986), and the Countess in Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
(1987). In 1963 she made her debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani. Other notable Artistic Directors include Julius...
portraying Sieglinde, a role which she repeated there in 1965. She later sang with the Opera Company of Philadelphia
Opera Company of Philadelphia
The Opera Company of Philadelphia is an American opera company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is the city's only company producing grand opera. The organization produces four fully staged opera productions annually, encompassing works from the seventeenth through the 21st century...
as Carmen (1978), the Countess (1983), and Madame Flora (1986). In 1967 Crespin portrayed Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
for her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
. She also returned to the Opéra National de Paris a handful of times during her career, notably singing the title role in Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
's Pénélope
Pénélope
Pénélope is an opera in three acts by the French composer Gabriel Fauré. The libretto, by René Fauchois, is based on Homer's Odyssey. It was first performed at the Salle Garnier, Monte Carlo on 4 March 1913.-Background and performance history:...
. Her last opera performance was at the Paris Opéra in 1989 singing the Countess in The Queen of Spades.
Crespin sang in many concert halls around the world, where her repertoire included Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust, and Les nuits d'été
Les nuits d'été
Les nuits d'été , Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier. The collection was completed in 1841, and initially composed for either baritone, contralto, or mezzo-soprano, and piano...
by Berlioz. In recital, along with lieder (Schumann, Schubert, Brahms) she excelled in the French mélodie repertoire, especially Debussy and Poulenc, where the savouring of words and ability to capture the mood of songs made her a memorable interpreter.
Later life: 1990-2007
After retiring from singing in 1989, Crespin focused mainly on teaching. She had joined the faculty at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1974 and continued to teach there until 1995. She had also begun teaching at the San Francisco OperaSan Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
's Merola Opera Program
Merola opera program
Merola Opera Program is a San Francisco training program for opera singers, coaches, and stage directors.- Merola Opera Program :Merola Opera Program is the San Francisco Opera's training and performance program for promising young artists...
during the latter part of her career, and was involved with that program for more than twenty years. Crespin also frequently traveled to give master classes at Universities and music conservatories in Europe and the United States during her retirement years. She continued to teach until her death from liver cancer in Paris in 2007. She had previously overcome battles with cancer in 1978 and 1984.
Her memoirs, La vie et l'amour d'une femme (the French name for Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's song cycle Frauenliebe und -leben
Frauenliebe und -leben
Frauenliebe und -leben is a cycle of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso, written in 1830. They describe the course of a woman's love for her man, from her point of view, from first meeting through marriage to his death, and after. Selections were set to music as a song-cycle by masters of German Lied,...
) are quite candid, providing much detail of the singer's private life as well as unusual insights into her professional world. It was first published in French in 1982 and was republished in an expanded English version called On Stage, Off Stage: A Memoire in 1997.
Crespin was appointed Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1972, and later made an Officer in 1982 and a Commander in 1994.
Recordings
In her autobiography Crespin analyses the difficulties she found in the recording process, and notes that the Decca engineers called her, affectionately, ‘the French cannon’ due to the size of her voice.Crespin left a considerable discography, starting, in the early part of her career, with recital discs for Vega, Pathé and Decca. Her classic recording of Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Les nuits d'été
Les nuits d'été
Les nuits d'été , Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier. The collection was completed in 1841, and initially composed for either baritone, contralto, or mezzo-soprano, and piano...
and Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
's Shéhérazade with Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
and the Suisse Romande Orchestra is regarded by many as the finest of all versions on disc. Among her other important recordings were Sieglinde in Die Walküre, and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, both for Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
. She also assumed the role of Brünnhilde on Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
's recording of Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
with the Berlin Philharmonic re-released by Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
as part of its "The Originals" series.
External links
- To hear sound samples of her Wesendonck Lieder recording
- Interview with Regine Crespin by Bruce Duffie, March, 1996