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Guide to the Kirsten Flagstad Collection
ARS-2004-01
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Title: Kirsten Flagstad collection,
Date (inclusive): 1923-1962
Collection number: ARS-2004-01
Creator:
Flagstad, Kirsten
Extent:
86 sound tape reels
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Abstract: Collection contains recordings of Kirsten Flagstad and Waldemar Alme in performances and interviews.
Language:
German.
Collection is open for research. Listening appointments may require 24 hours notice. Contact the archive Operations Manager.
Property rights reside with the repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators of the documents
or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded
Sound.
Kirsten Flagstad collection, ARS-2004-01. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biography / Administrative History
Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962), an operatic soprano, spent the first 18 years of her career in Scandinavia, singing opera, operetta
and musical comedy. After performing Isolde in 1932 at the National Theatre, Oslo, she was invited to Bayreuth, where her
performances in small Wagnerian roles led to invitations to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, to the San Francisco Opera,
and to Covent Garden. She became known for her Wagnerian roles, particularly Sieglinde, Isolde and Brunnhilde. In 1941, Flagstad
returned to Norway to join her husband who was later arrested as a Nazi collaborator and died awaiting trial in 1946; she,
herself, was acquitted of any wrongdoing. In 1948, Flagstad returned to Covent Garden, performing there, and in other European
venues, until 1951. Retiring from the operatic stage in 1953 after a performance of Dido and Aeneas at the Little Mermaid
Theatre in London, she continued to give recitals, make recordings, primarily off Wagner and Norwegian composers, and was,
for a few years, the director of the Norwegian State Opera.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains recordings of Kirsten Flagstad from the early 1920s until her death in 1962. The recordings are from
live radio broadcasts, commercial discs, live performances, recording sessions, and private recordings. It also includes interviews,
recordings of Waldemar Alme, piano accompanist to Kirsten Flagstad, and a gift compilation given to Kirsten Flagstad on her
deathbed. Conductors, interviewers and other performers on the recordings include Lauritz Melchior, Arnold Gábor, Ludwig Hoffmann,
Gertrud Påalson-Wettergren, Emanuel List, Julius Huehn, René Maison, Kathryn Meisle, Set Svanholm, Edwin MacArthur, Alfred
Wallenstein, Artur Bodanzky, Oivin Fjelstad, Sigvart Fotland, Maria Müller, Rudolf Bockelmann, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Karen-Marie
Flagstad, Karl Böhm, John Gurney, Eleanor Lamont, Knud Hagermann-Lindencrøne, Sir Adrian Boult and Torstein Gunnarson.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Flagstad, Kirsten, 1895-1962.
Flagstad, Kirsten, 1895-1962--Interviews.
Alme, Waldemar.
Operas.
Operas--Excerpts.
Songs (High voice).
Piano music.
Live sound recordings.