55 Years In Five Acts: My Life in Opera [Paperback]

Astrid Varnay (Author), Donald Arthur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2007

For Astrid Varnay, opera was the family business. The daughter of coloratura soprano Maria Javor and dramatic tenor Alexander Varnay, she literally grew up backstage at the opera. Vocally and musically trained by her mother and mentor (and later husband) Hermann Weigert, she was just twenty-three years old when she made her unofficial debut at the Metropolitan Opera as a last-minute replacement for the suddenly ill Lotte Lehmann. Varnay's critically acclaimed performance as Sieglinde in Die Walkuere catapulted her into the limelight.

Varnay reflects on her remarkable life in opera, discussing her signature roles and performances, vocal preparation and technique, interpretive acting style, and her seamless transition from leading soprano to character roles, including her switch from Elektra to Klytemnaestra in Strauss's Elektra.

Her engaging and witty memoir is filled with frank, often critical, observations about many of the most significant vocal artists, conductors, and directors of the twentieth century. She describes her lifelong friendship with operatic idol Kirsten Flagstad, the years at the Met and conflicts with Rudolf Bing, her appearances at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, and her artistic rift with Herbert von Karajan.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Soprano Astrid Varnay's career began in fairy-tale fashion. She made her operatic debut (at the Met) as a last-minute replacement for a huge star, Lotte Lehmann. Varnay was 23, and the role was Sieglinde in Die Walküre, opposite one of the greatest of all tenors, Lauritz Melchior. Though the attendant fanfare was drowned by events--Pearl Harbor was attacked the next day--she went on to a long and admired career.

If you're looking for bitchy gossip, this memoir will disappoint you. Varnay has an old-fashioned courtliness to her, and she has unfailingly glowing things to say about her colleagues--most of them. Rudolf Bing and Herbert von Karajan are pointed exceptions. Conflicts with the "austere Viennese martinet" Bing led to Varnay's absence from the Met for nearly 20 years. As the focus of her career shifted to Germany, she left New York and settled in Munich. (Though often thought to be Scandinavian--she was born in Sweden, to Hungarian parents--Varnay grew up in the United States.)

As much an actress as a singer, Varnay was praised for her powerful characterizations. She felt a kinship with Wieland Wagner, in many of whose productions she appeared at Bayreuth during the 1950s and '60s, and whose pursuit of dramatic truth mirrored her own. Varnay describes her method of probing a character, offering insights into each of her major roles. Her career had three phases: principal dramatic-soprano parts (Wagner's Brünnhilde and Isolde, Beethoven's Leonore, Strauss's Elektra); character roles, frequently with a villainous tinge (Klytamnestra, Herodias); and finally--stretching into her late 70s--cameo appearances as maids or grandmothers.

Varnay's chatty narrative includes plenty of anecdotes about colleagues like Kirsten Flagstad and Birgit Nilsson. She amusingly tells of near-disasters onstage: the Tristan who falls asleep while she's singing the Liebestod, the blackout in the middle of a performance, the listing tree that the singers have to hold up by taking turns leaning against it. Although Varnay is enough of a diva to report carefully on all her accolades, she comes across as an unpretentious working woman with a delight in the wonderful artists she has collaborated with. The only complaint with the book: not enough pictures. --David Olivenbaum --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Varnay had less of an American career than Nilsson, and Varnay's relationship with Metropolitan Opera director Rudolf Bing was often less than cordial. Both singers were strong-willed, but Varnay comes off as the tougher, more intense of the two."-- American Record Guide

"Astrid Varnay, one of the world's greatest Wagnerian sopranos, tells of her illustrious career that spanned over five decades . . . Her memoir is filled with frank, often critical, observations about many of the most significant vocal artists, conductors and directors of the 20th century. She describes her lifelong friendship with operatic idol Kirsten Flagstad, her years at the Met and conflicts with Rudolf Bing, her appearances at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals and her artistic rift with Herbert von Karajan."--Opera America

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Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern (June 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555536751
• ISBN-13: 978-1555536756
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,471,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Treat!, October 24, 2000

By 

Paul E Thomason (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 55 Years In Five Acts: My Life in Opera (Hardcover)

A lot of opera singers have published their autobiographies the last few years, but almost none are as good as what Astrid Varnay and Donald Arthur have given us here. Yes, we get some dirt (the problems with Bing and von Karajan, for instance) but, unlike others, Varnay never comes across as either bitter or bitchy. Instead it is her story and that's that. She is straightforward, tells her side of things and moves on to another subject.

She also pays the reader the compliment of assuming that if we are interested in her and her career, we will be interested in her roles, some of her reseach on the roles and why she feels the way she does about the characters she played on stage. That is not to suggest for one minute that she gets bogged down in endless tedious details. Far from it! For all of the wonderful digging into her roles, there is also always a delightful quip to go along with it. The humor is there, the talk about colleagues, but it is a refreshing departure from the usual "And then I sang in Vienna and they loved me, and then I went to Berlin and they loved me even more" story. This is obviously the very real story of a singer whose life was the theater.

What stays with me, long after finishing the book, is the enormous amount of work and unrelenting dedication Varnay put into her honeing of both her voice and her dramatic instincts. It took constant hard work, but it was a labor of love--and that love shines through on every page here. The book is the perfect companion to the live performance CDs of Varnay in her prime that are now available. And the world is a better place for having both.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing musical memoir, March 22, 2001

By 

klavierspiel "klavierspiel" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 55 Years In Five Acts: My Life in Opera (Hardcover)

In the pantheon of twentieth-century Wagnerian sopranos, Astrid Varnay ranks very high, though she is woefully underrepresented on available recordings today. Through the efforts of friends and supporters, detailed in the preface, her autobiography has been made available in English, and music and opera fans everywhere should be grateful.

Varnay's story, told calmly but with frequent flashes of wit, begins with the tale of how her parents, both opera singers, met, married, and made their careers in Europe before coming to the U.S. and settling in New York. Young Violet Varnay, as she was dubbed by a teacher who could not cope with her Hungarian name Ibolyka (little violet), worked as a secretary, waited in the Met standing room line and quietly prepared herself for an operatic career. She prepared so well with her coach and eventual husband, Hermann Weigert, in fact, that her resume was met with astonished laughter at her eventual Met audition. The powers that be were quickly won over upon actually hearing her, and her stage career began at the Met in 1941 as a last-minute replacement for Lotte Lehmann in Die Walkure. Before retiring in the late 90s, after a career spanning more than five decades, her voice and dramatic presence would take her to Bayreuth and all of the great opera houses of the world.

It is of course difficult to say how much of the structure of the book stems from the singer herself, and how much from her co-author, Donald Arthur; but one of the attractions of this memoir is the skillful mix of narrative, anecdote and self-analysis of Varnay's numerous roles. She draws portraits of her husband, family and colleagues that leap vividly from the page, without ever descending to mere bitchiness, though she does allow herself some jabs at Herbert von Karajan and Rudolf Bing. The ultimate impression is of a strong, self-aware but not overweeningly arrogant personality--someone one would like to meet and talk to in person. One is touched by her inexhaustible eagerness to perform, and her capacity for discovering insights into roles usually dismissed as worthy only of comprimaria singers. She is also not above laughing at herself, and includes some amusingly informal photographs. Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a fabulous book for opera lovers, July 25, 2001

By 

jhorro (VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 55 Years In Five Acts: My Life in Opera (Hardcover)

I have read this book over and over. Astrid Varnay has so much to offer readers who love opera. It is a great book to read through, but there are parts that take a couple of readings for a trained musician to understand. Her intelligence is evident in every word and so is her humanity. She is most knowledgeable about the works of Wagner and Strauss, so those interested in lighter opera may not be as well served, but her concepts are important for all opera singers. This book is quite honest and those who want some "dirt" on old singers, conductors and impressarios will be well-served. Go for it.