Talk:Christa Ludwig

2013 2-part interview (listenable online)
My state classical-music NPR station has a weekly art song program (previously called Great Songs, now called Singing and Other Sins). The station has a new website format and all of the archived episodes are free to listen to:. There is a two-part 2013 interview with Christa Ludwig. Scroll down in reverse chronology to find "Christa Ludwig: PartOne 8 December 2013", plus the next week's program right below it. Most of the two programs are not interviews but rather artsong programs with well-informed commentary. Softlavender (talk) 23:48, 12 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Two more free listenable programs of Ludwig recordings, from the same:
 * Christa Ludwig Sings Romantic Songs: (aired 20 March 2021).
 * Christa Ludwig: 6 March 2016 Sampling the new 5 CD box set from Warner Classics.

Softlavender (talk) 05:41, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

4 full 1-hour Christa Ludwig programs, free to stream or download
2013 Interview & songs (Part 1):

2013 Interview & songs (Part 2):

2016: Sampling the new 5 CD box set from Warner Classics:

2021: Romantic Songs:

All are from the Hawaii Public Radio weekly program Singing and other Sins (formerly called Great Songs).

--Softlavender (talk) 06:56, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

A "dramatic" mezzo??
Why does the article call her a "dramatic mezzo-soprano"? I'd call her a versatile lyric. She always sang beautifully rather than imposingly, even in dramatic roles like Leonore (Fidelio) and Amneris (Aida) and the Verdi Requiem mezzo solo and Ortrud (which she recorded in studio). Sure, she sang these roles, but her core was lyric. It's kind of like her soprano work: sure, she sang soprano parts, because she was capable of anything, but no one calls her a soprano; she's a mezzo, but versatile. Her soprano work demonstrates her versatility, not the core of her artistry, and her big-sound dramatic work does too.

So I propose changing "German dramatic mezzo-soprano" to "versatile German lyric mezzo-soprano". Unless (of course) consensus goes against me. HandsomeMrToad (talk) 07:35, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree. It was just there, and there were so much more urgent things to fix, like an almost complete lack of references. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:38, 26 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I just listened to her Leonore (via the links above), and it's very dramatic. I wouldn't call it lyric or lyrical. In any case, we need to go with the consensus of what reliable sources say, not our own opinions. Softlavender (talk) 07:42, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * "Die Mezzosopranistin (und gelegentlich auch dramatische Sopranistin)..." (The mezzo-soprano (and occasionally dramatic soprano)) from https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.zum-tod-von-christa-ludwig-opernsaengerin-mit-vielen-stimmfarben.814e8967-d120-4663-8e31-ab38ac27f6c9.html Stick to the sources! Grimes2 (talk) 07:52, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree with this: Mezzo-soprano and occasional[ly] dramatic soprano. Softlavender (talk) 07:55, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Fine with me because sourced and credited by roles. The Lied aspect - where she is more lyric - is under-covered so far. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:03, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

Quote box
The quote box is from her book, which should show better. I tried by positioning where the book is mentioned. What's the other translation, or should we just mention this one? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:06, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The translation used seems a little ... "off", and somewhat hard to construe. If someone can find the other English translation to compare, it might end up being a better choice. Softlavender (talk) 08:09, 26 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I looked all over BookFinder.com (clearinghouse of books), and there doesn't seem to be any other English translation (why would there be?). I'm guessing the notion that there were two translations into the same language stemmed from the somewhat confusing fact that she had a co-author for the original work, and then a different person who did the English translation, which ends up being three names associated with the one book. Softlavender (talk) 08:29, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

She actually wrote TWO memoirs
So apparently she wrote --und ich wäre so gern Primadonna gewesen ("And I would be happy to have been a primadonna") in 1994. And in 2018 she wrote 'Leicht muss man sein': Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, ("'You have to be light': memories of the future") with Erna Cuesta and Franz Zoglauer. -- Softlavender (talk) 05:50, 6 May 2021 (UTC)