Martha Mödl sings the Liebestod LIVE (1952) “Mild und Leise“

Please click for more information and analysis. For non commercial educational purposes. I do not own this recording. Please message me if there is a problem with this video. Tristan und Isolde Bayreuth Live 23rd July 1952 Isolde: Martha Modl Conductor: Herbert von Karajan An extraordinary performance of Isolde’s Liebestod which tempts me to say that Mödl is overall my favourite Isolde. There is an obvious flaw which is that she sings quite sharp at times, but the way the voice pours out in endless gushes of golden legato, powerful in every register, with a gorgeous timbre and vibrato, marks her out as something very, very special. She also had the ability to colour the voice in the most beautiful ways, whilst making Wagner’s language sound as naturally as I have ever heard it. The only singer to match her in this repertoire in my opinion is Flagstad who is a master and more in control, but somehow doesn’t have Modl’s rapturous eroticism. The young Karajan supports wonderfully in the pit, those violins searingly intense as they soar alongside the voice. Martha Modl was one of the most brilliant interpreters of Wagner in the 1950s, singing many times in Bayreuth and elsewhere. Astonishingly, having spent a decade in her late teens and 20s doing bookkeeping and office work, she only started having proper singing lessons at 28 and singing professionally at 30. As such her technique was not the most dependable and in a round table discussion with Astrid Varnay and Birgit Nilsson she said of vocal crises “For me it was always, my whole career.“ (you can read it here: ) Mödl is one of the trio of post war Wagnerian sopranos who jointly inherited the mantle of Kirsten Flagstad who had dominated the repertoire in the 1930s and 40s. For me Varnay’s metallic timbre, wide vibrato and unmusical scooping into high notes make her singing hard to enjoy, and Nilsson, the most technically accomplished of the three, has a laserbeam top that her middle and especailly lower register can’t hope to match, and I find her interpretations impressive but chilly. Mödl’s timbre is seductive and powerful in all three registers and her beautiful phrasing and legato almost without equal in this repertoire so her flaws (which are occasional instability in the high notes and tuning issues) I find easier to bridge. There has never been a perfect Isolde or Brunhilde. She started and ended her career as a Mezzo, singing soprano roles mainly during the 1950s. She was praised throughout her career for her dramatic ability, both physically and textually. Libretto ISOLDE Mild und leise wie er lächelt, wie das Auge hold er öffnet, - seht ihr’s, Freunde? Säh’t ihr’s nicht? Immer lichter wie er leuchtet, sternumstrahlet hoch sich hebt? Seht ihr’s nicht? Wie das Herz ihm mutig schwillt, voll und hehr im Busen ihm quillt? Wie den Lippen, wonnig mild, süsser Atem sanft entweht: - Freunde! Seht! Fühlt und seht ihr’s nicht? Hör ich nur diese Weise, die so wunder- voll und leise, Wonne klagend, alles sagend, mild versöhnend aus ihm tönend, in mich dringet, auf sich schwinget, hold erhallend um mich klinget? Heller schallend, mich umwallend, sind es Wellen sanfter Lüfte? Sind es Wogen wonniger Düfte? Wie sie schwellen, mich umrauschen, soll ich atmen, soll ich lauschen? Soll ich schlürfen, untertauchen? Süss in Düften mich verhauchen? In dem wogenden Schwall, in dem tönenden Schall, in des Weltatems wehendem All, - ertrinken, versinken, - unbewusst, - höchste Lust! Translation: How softly and gently he smiles, how sweetly his eyes open - can you see, my friends, do you not see it? How he glows ever brighter, raising himself high amidst the stars? Do you not see it? How his heart swells with courage, gushing full and majestic in his breast? How in tender bliss sweet breath gently wafts from his lips - Friends! Look! Do you not feel and see it? Do I alone hear this melody so wondrously and gently sounding from within him, in bliss lamenting, all-expressing, gently reconciling, piercing me, soaring aloft, its sweet echoes resounding about me? Are they gentle aerial waves ringing out clearly, surging around me? Are they billows of blissful fragrance? As they seethe and roar about me, shall I breathe, shall I give ear? Shall I drink of them, plunge beneath them? Breathe my life away in sweet scents? In the heaving swell, in the resounding echoes, in the universal stream of the world-breath - to drown, to founder - unconscious - utmost rapture!