Kirsten Flagstad: Wagner - Lohengrin, ’Elsa’s Dream’

Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 – 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano. She ranks among the greatest singers of the 20th century, and many opera critics called hers “the voice of the century.“ Desmond Shawe-Taylor wrote of her in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera: “No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone.“... Lyrics & English Translation Lonely, in troubled days Ilooked toward the heavens, my most heartfelt grief I poured out my longings. And from my groans there issued a plaintive sound that grew into a mighteous roar as it echoed through the skies: I listened as it receded into the distance until my ear could scarce hear it; my eyes closed and I fell into a deep sleep. In splendid, shining armour a knight approached, a man of such pure virtue as I had never seen before: