Thursday 31 January 2013

Dido and Aeneas Hamburg 1955

This is another unusual recording to feature Martha Modl, following on from the Edinburgh Rosenkavalier. I am not sure if the great Wagnerian soprano sang this role often, this is the only example I have been able to find. Of course, she was following in the very noble tradition of Kirsten Flagstad who sang this role more than a hundred times between 1951 and 1953, recording it for EMI. The other stand-out name among the cast is a young Herman Prey, a notable Figaro and Pappageno in the 1960s, again singing a role here that otherwise is absent from his discography. The recording is in moderate sound, but a good example of the varied and interesting repertoire to be found in regional opera houses in Germany after the war.

Henry Purcell Dido und Aeneas
Opera in three acts - sung in German
Hamburg - 14 January 1955
Dido, Königin von Karthago - Martha Mödl
Aeneas, Prinz von Troja - Hermann Prey
Belinde, Didos Vertraute - Dora Lindgreen
Zauberin - Gusta Hammer
Gespenst - Fritz Göllnitz
Eine Frau - Dorothea Förster-Dürlich
Hexen - Lisa Bischof, Ursula Zollenkopf
Ein Matrose - Kurt Marschner

NDR Chor und Sinfonie-Orchester, Hamburg

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
http://rapidshare.com/files/1375684306/DidoModl1955.mp3