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The Complete Johanna Gadski Volume 2Johanna Gadski (1872-1932) made almost 100 records for the Victor Company during her years with the Metropolitan Opera beginning in November, 1903. She established herself as one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of her time, yet Gadski was as adept at singing Verdi, Rossini and Mozart as she was at singing Wagner. What remained constant was that Gadski was a dramatic and monumental singer, whose remarkable technical security enabled her to go deeply into a role and explore every nuance. This 3 CD set marks the second and final volume of her complete recordings including the Mapleson Cylinders, the first complete recording of Wagner's "Wesendonck Lieder," and many selections never before heard on LP or CD. |
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Liner Notes
Vocally she possessed a magnificent instrument, expertly trained and thoroughly disciplined; interpretively she was schooled in the finest traditions; and stylistically she was at home in the work of several dissimilar composers. As Brünnhilde she must have been superb, and in Wagner generally she was magnificent. The music of Verdi also took on a remarkable lustre from her great voice, and certain roles in Mozart and Meyerbeer gained new colour and beauty when she sang them... Johanna Gadski was a great artist, one of the very greatest artists, and her records must be collected and studied--selected naturally, as is true with anyone who recorded--but selected and admired as long as fine singing is appreciated and respected.
These comments conclude a detailed analysis by Louis Migliorini that appeared in the September/October, 1957 issue of The Record Collector of Johanna Gadski's recordings. The remarkably diverse series of recordings Gadski made from 1903-1917 support Migliorini's conclusions. The superb Wagnerian recordings come as no surprise, but her idiomatic grasp of Verdi and Mascagni are equally impressive. Her willingness to expand her repertoire was demonstrated by recorded excerpts for new operas by Richard Strauss, Leo Blech, Friedrich Smetana, and Ludwig Thuille. Finally, the numerous Lieder and songs support her reputation as a superb concert artist. Among the special delights on these CDs are her luminous recordings of Mozart.
Gadski was a renowned Mozart singer. Lilli Lehmann invited her to the Salzburg Festival in 1906 and 1910 to sing Donna Elvira and Pamina. Gustav Mahler wrote of his need of her when he was preparing Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera. For those familiar with Gadski's Wagnerian recordings her musicality and sensitive use of dynamics in Mozart will not be surprising. She is able to lighten her huge voice as she expressively sings the exquisite music Mozart wrote for sopranos.
Gadski sang the Countess, Pamina, and Donna Elvira at the Met, and all three of these roles are represented on records. Her 1910 recording of "Porgi amor" is especially beautiful. After the introduction by a tinsel-thin orchestra, Gadski's soft voice floats out smoothly, using tender accents to reveal the Countess's dilemma, wishing for death if she should lose the love of her husband. The intense humanity of the moment is communicated as she swells her voice and then pulls it back to a whisper of a pianissimo. A tremulousness pervades the aria as if Gadski is holding back tears. In comparison, Donna Elvira's anger at Don Giovanni is expressed in full dramatic tones hurled forward with a vindictive force. The aria's shifts in mood are skillfully illustrated by Gadski in a rather introspective performance. This was the role she sang in the legendary 23 January 1907 Met performance directed by Gustav Mahler, starring Gadski, Emma Eames, Marcella Sembrich, Antonio Scotti, Feodor Chaliapin and Alessandro Bonci.
While Eames sang Pamina in the 1900 Met premiere, Gadski gradually took over the role, first singing it in 1902. She made several recordings from the opera. The great aria, "Ach, ich fühl's" is sung in Italian, as was the tradition during the early years at the Met. It is also a superb recording, again an aria within which the soprano sings sadly of lost love. Gadski is able to sustain the mood without resorting to any artificial mannerisms, at times almost breathing the phrases to give Mozart's music the space it needs. While this aria's melodic line is perhaps not as familiar as "Porgi amor," it has a haunting grandeur that Gadski succeeds in communicating. Her remarkable technical security enables her to go deeply into the role, her pure instrumental high notes soaring brilliantly or floating softly at will. With seemingly effortless lyricism, Gadski's reflective interpretation captures the timeless character of Pamina's youthful sadness. The gently sung final notes drift memorably away into space. "Du also bist mein Bräutigam." Pamina's Act 2 ensemble with the three youths, sung by Anna Case, Leonora Sparkes and Marie Mattfeld, again reveals Gadski as a fine Mozartian. This early example of ensemble singing is lovely, the three noted supporting artists blending their voices beautifully with Gadski's.
The 1902-03 Met season demonstrated the youthful Gadski's versatility in remarkable fashion. She began as usual, singing Elsa and Elisabeth, but then appeared as Valentine, Sieglinde, Aida, Eva, Amelia, Pamina, Ero in Luigi Mancinelli's Ero e Leandro, Roschen in the American premiere of Ethel Smyth's Der Wald, and finally as Santuzza! Her 1914 recording of Amelia's "Ma dall'arido stelo divulsa" From Act 2 of Verdi's Ballo in Maschera gives a clear sense of Gadski's sure grasp of Verdian style. Amelia's anxiety is brilliantly projected by Gadski. Every line is taut, from the first notes of the recitative to the beautiful high pianissimo at the conclusion. Her voice rises brilliantly at the climatic moments, but there is no shrieking, her control of dynamics places her among the great vocal technicians. Gadski also recorded "D'amor sull'ali rosee" from Verdi's Trovatore in 1912. She first sang Leonora at the Met in 1907. This lovely aria was written in true bel canto style with long flowing phrases ornamented with trills. It is a challenge to any soprano, but to hear a great Wagnerian voice limpidly sing Leonora's prayer with such purity and stylistic assurance is remarkable. The Act 4 duet, "Mira, di acerbe lagrime" was recorded by Gadski with Pasquale Amato as Count di Luna. It is an intense and dramatic recording of the whole scene. Both singers make the interaction between their characters alive and seething with emotion. Their resonant voices project brilliantly as they hold nothing back. Gadski demonstrates that she is able to sustain Verdi's bel canto line, as well as intense dramatic climaxes at full volume. The fact that Gadski had such skill is a testament to her early training.
Johanna Gadski was born on 15 June 1872 in Anklam, Prussia, and was a student of Frau Schröder-Chaloupka in nearby Stettin. She must have been a precocious student because, when she made her 1889 debut as Agathe in Der Freischütz at the Kroll Theatre in Berlin, she was only 17. After several years at provincial German theatres, in 1895 she began to expand her career internationally. That year she toured Holland and then joined Walter Damrosch's German opera company in the United States, making her debut as Elsa. She created Hester Prynne in his opera, The Scarlet Letter at that time. She remained with Damrosch four seasons. In 1899 she made her debut at Covent Garden as Elisabeth and later in the same year sang Eva at Bayreuth. Exactly ten years after her debut in Berlin, Gadski had become an international star.
Her first appearance at the Metropolitan was in concert on 11 December 1898. She substituted for Milka Ternina as Elisabeth in Philadelphia a year later on 28 December 1899, and made her official Met debut in New York as Senta on 6 January 1900. As I have indicated, Gadski's remarkable versatility had enabled her to assume an amazing variety of roles by 1903. She did not appear at the Met from 1904 to 1906, during which time she concertized throughout the United States. Also during this period she studied the role of Isolde with Lilli Lehmann, and performed it upon her return to the Met in 1907. By this time she had added all three Brünnhildes to her repertoire.
Gadski went on to sing in such unusual operas as François Boieldieu's La Dame Blanche, Leo Blech's Versiegelt, and Friedrich Smetana's Die Verkaufte Braut (The Bartered Bride). A wonderful duet with Albert Reiss from this opera is included in Volume 1 of The Complete Johanna Gadski. Among her more unusual records is the aria "An allen Zweigen" from Ludwig Thuille's Lobetanz which was given its first American performance in 1911 with Hermann Jadlowker in the title role and Gadski as the princess. She lightens her voice and maintains a bright tone throughout. The aria has little dynamic range, but the lyricism she achieves is lovely.
Shortly after the turn of the century, Lionel Mapleson, the house librarian, recorded live performances from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. On the best of these cylinders you are carried back in time and can actually sense the excitement in the opera house as these legendary singers performed. The great basso, Edouard de Reszke and Gadski can be heard in the third act duet from Les Huguenots between Marcel and Valentine, recorded on 24 January 1903. They both give exhibitionist performances that all but raise the roof of the opera house. Gadski soars effortlessly into the stratosphere as de Reszke rhythmically bounces up and down the scale. Somehow they manage to end up together to a great deal of applause from the audience. Their huge voices penetrate the surface noise on these old cylinders, and their singing has a grandeur that reflects the "golden age."
Migliorini was most critical of Gadski's numerous recordings of German Lieder. Since these songs demand great subtlety and a wide range of dynamics, the primitive acoustical process presented a hurdle to be overcome. Few singers managed to communicate this repertoire successfully on the early discs. But Gadski had concertised extensively and clearly felt this music deeply. Her recordings of Wagner's five "Wesendonck Lieder" with orchestra were undoubtedly the first complete set to appear on record. I find them haunting; Gadski's voice is perfect for these songs, her tones have a velvety texture and her articulation of the text has many expressive accents that heighten the pervading inwardness of the songs. From "Der Engel" to the rhapsodic "Schmerzen" to the concluding "Träume," Gadski seems sensitive to every nuance. The whole group sounds seamless as they flow into one another.
The tensions brought about by WWI ended Gadski's Met career in 1917. Her accompanist, Frank La Forge later described a party at her home during which the German baritone, Otto Goritz sang a parody celebrating the 1915 sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania by a German submarine. There were more than 100 Americans aboard. It hardly helped when this incident was publicized, but even without that controversy, anti-German feelings were running high. It was not until 1920 that Wagner was again performed at the Met, and another year before the operas were once again sung in German. Although La Forge never again played for Gadski after that party, he later described her as being considered "the greatest Wagnerian soprano the world had produced."
The impressario, Sol Hurok, brought Gadski back to the United States in 1926 for a series of highly successful Wagnerian concerts. This led Hurok to organize a German Opera Company starring Gadski that toured ten cities giving performances of Wagner's Ring cycle. Another company was formed in 1928, and the tours continued through 1930. Gadski's own company appeared in 1930-31 and she was planning to return for another tour when she tragically died after an automobile crash in Berlin on 22 February 1932.
A 1903 New York Times review of Gadski's first Met Brünnhilde in Walküre described her performance: "It was full of superb vigor, of life and impulsive energy, of statuesque dignity and thrilling solemnity... her voice seemed fuller, richer, more resonant, and more perfectly in command than ever before." After her return to New York, in 1929, the ever critical W. J. Henderson wrote: "Mme. Gadski reappeared last evening after her long absence with her voice, always one of more than ordinary beauty, in astonishingly good condition. Her upper tones especially had brilliance, resonance and power."
Her career had covered forty years of possibly the greatest period in operatic history, and Gadski played a significant role at several major opera houses during this time. One might say that her dependability and lack of temperamental display placed her in the shadow of the extroverted Fremstad and Destinn, to name just two. But those very qualities lend these recordings a serious tone that touches the core of German music and support the ringing climaxes of Verdi. Forgotten for decades, Johanna Gadski is once again revealed as a great artist.
© Harold Bruder, 1999