Kirsten Flagstad, by many considered the greatest dramatic soprano ever, created a huge sensation when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 2 February 1935. Overnight she became big star in USA.
Kirsten Flagstad ranks among the greatest singers of all time. Her voice has been called "the voice of the century". "No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone." (New Grove)At Metropolitan Opera she sang all the great Wagner roles. Flagstad's debut at the Met, as Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre on the afternoon of February 2, 1935 created a sensation. The soprano was virtually unknown in the United States at the time. The performance was broadcast nationwide on the Met's weekly syndicated radio program. Days later, Flagstad sang Isolde (Tristan and Isolde), and later that month, she performed Brünnhilde in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung for the first time.
Her decision to stay in occupied Norway during the war made her unpopular in the Unites States. General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York Rudolf Bing invited her back to sing at the Metropolitan in 1950 to protests from people who erroneously thought she was a Nazi. After the war she made great success at Covent Garden, London, where she sang 1948-52. Kirsten Flagstad made numerous recordings.
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