Hildegard Behrens

Published on Monday 24 August 2009 21:22

Soprano

Born: 9 February, 1937, in northern Germany.

Died: 18 August, 2009, in Tokyo, aged 72.

SHE was one of the most powerful Wagnerian sopranos of her day; indeed, many consider Hildegard Behrens ranked alongside Birgit Nilsson as an interpreter of the heavy German roles. Behrens principally made her career in New York and Germany and sang in the new production of The Ring Cycle – conducted by James Levine – at the Metropolitan Opera House to rapturous notices. The New York Times declared: "A new Wagnerian queen has emerged." It was a remarkable achievement as Behrens made her debut on the opera stage aged 34 and her huge vocal range and her facility at the top of her voice allowed her to assume the most taxing roles. "I'm a long-distance singer. The longer, the better," Behrens once said in an interview.

Because of her commitments in Bayreuth and Salzburg Behrens came to the Edinburgh Festival on just one occasion. In fact she sang only four roles at Covent Garden (Fidelio, Elektra, Tosca and Salome). The year 1978 was Peter Diamand's last as artistic director of the Festival and he booked a particularly prestigious opera programme. Apart from a revival of Carmen (with Teresa Berganza) Diamand brought Frankfurt Opera to the King's Theatre for just two performances of Janacek's hugely demanding Katy Kabanova. Behrens sang the title role with a searing agility and won huge ovations at the end of her two performances. While the production was considered "unsympathetic", the evening "was redeemed by the lustrous singing of Hildegard Behrens in the title role".

Hildegard Behrens was the youngest of seven children, studied law at Freiburg University and started singing when she was 26, making her debut in Freiburg before guesting at other German houses. Her major break came in 1976, when Herbert von Karajan saw Behrens sing Berg's Wozzeck in Dusseldorf. He booked her immediately for the following year's Salzburg Festival in the title role of Salome. The production was a sensation and Behrens became an international star. She made her debut at Covent Garden in Fidelio, of which Opera Magazine wrote: "It is always exciting to be present when a new talent reveals itself for the first time."

Her debut as Brunhilde was in the new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth in 1983. It was dubbed the English Ring as it was conducted by Georg Solti and directed by Peter Hall. It was not a total success – significantly, Solti cancelled conducting the following year – and Hall's direction was not widely praised. But Behrens, dressed in shiny black leather and sequined studs, emerged with her reputation greatly enhanced. Her Brunhilde was always intense and feminine but blessed with great sympathy in her final scene with Wotan.

In fact Behrens and Hall worked well together but she found the mercurial Solti not so easy. Some years later she was recording Fidelio under Solti in Chicago. Going up in the lift to the studios the conductor saw his soprano was sweating badly. He reassured her by saying: "Hildegard, don't be afraid of me." "I am not afraid of you, Maestro" she retorted. "I am afraid of Beethoven." In fact Behrens was never in awe of conductors such as von Karajan and Solti and, with her legal training, skilfully negotiated her own contracts.

Behrens recorded extensively and many of her performances are now classics. Apart from the von Karajan Salome, Behrens is heard on epic discs such The Ring Cycle under Solti, Der Freischutz with Rafael Kubelik, Wozzeck under Claudio Abbado and Tristan und Isolde under Leonard Bernstein. The last was particularly exceptional as it was made in just three sessions in 1980, just six weeks before she gave birth to her daughter.

She did sing concerts in London and joined the Royal Opera for the company's semi-staged production of The Ring Cycle at the Albert Hall under Bernard Haitink. In 1990 Behrens suffered from injuries sustained in New York when the scenery collapsed around her.

Behrens was a remarkable singing actress who had the rare ability to portray the thoughts and feelings of women pushed to the limits of endurance. Her preparation for every role was intense. "Taking one step onstage," she said, "is almost impossible for me if I am not secure in knowing exactly what I want to do. It's then you start to take risks – you go for what you have precisely in your mind. If you don't risk much, you don't gain much."

Hildegard Behrens is survived by a son and a daughter.