Hildegard Behrens (1937-2009)

German soprano Hildegard Behrens was born 9 February 1937. She died at a hospital in Tokyo on Tuesday 18 August 2009.

Hildegard Behrens's career as a singer began in 1971. In 1973 she became an ensemble member of Deutschen Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg and (in 1974) also a member of Oper Frankfurt. After some minor roles she sang Marie in Alban Berg's "Wozzeck".

Hildegard Behrens's international career rocketed when Herbert von Karajan offered her the lead role in Richard Strauss's "Salome" at the Salzburg Festival in 1977.

Her career centred around the operas of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Mozart. She can be heard as Brünnhilde on the recordings of Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by respectively James Levine (also released on DVD) and Wolfgang Sawallisch (also released on VHS). Behrens delivered a wonderful performance as Isolde on Leonard Bernstein's recording of Tristan und Isolde (1981). The video above is taken from the concerts that were used for this recording.

Hildegard Behrens sang Brünnhilde at the Bayreuth Festival in the Peter Hall / George Solti Ring (1983-86).

Hildegard Behrens appeared regularly on opera stages all over the world, with conductors like Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, Leonard Bernstein, James Levine and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Hildegard Behrens at Bayreuth

1983

Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

See all Ring productions at Bayreuth here

1984

Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

1985

Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

1986

Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Hildegard Behrens sings Brünnhilde on the Sawallisch Ring and Isolde on Leonard Bernstein's recording of Tristan und Isolde. See clip above from concerts used for this recording.

Said about Hildegard Behrens

Working with Hildegard Behrens was one of the most rewarding experiences of my operatic career. The interesting thing about her was that her physical life sprang directly from her musical life. So many singers make music, and paste on the rest, as it were. She was organic, in an extraorinary way. Working with her, it was never dangerous to talk about drama, philosophy or notation - a joy!
Peter Hall in Opera

She was certainly a unique singing actress, so special and so truthful to the characters she portrayed. Sometimes this may have come at the expense of the vocal line, but for me hers was always a radical, human appropach, not a heroine giving a performance. By nature, she had unique stage presence.
Nikolaus Lehnhoff in Opera

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