Rosina Raisbeck - Wesendonck Lieder (Wagner)

Rosina Raisbeck was an icon in the history of opera in Australia. Starting her singing life as a contralto, then moving to soprano, then finally resting as a mezzo-soprano, she sang the full gamut of roles and repertoire. At the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, she sang Senta, Ortrud (pictured here), Aida and other staples of the ’big’ repertoire. She returned to Australia to sing Mother Abbess in the Australian premiere of SOUND of MUSIC, debuted with Opera Australia soon afterwards as Marina in BORIS GODUNOV and stayed with the National Company in dozens of roles covering the mezzo repertoire. We hear her here in a ’rehearsal’ for a performance of Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder“ with an un-named pianist during her time in London in the late 1940s.