25 Facts About Christa Ludwig

Christa Ludwig was a German mezzo-soprano and sometime dramatic soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, lieder, oratorio, and other major religious works like masses, passions, and solos in symphonic literature.

Christa Ludwig's performing career spanned almost half a century, from the late 1940s until the early 1990s.

Christa Ludwig sang at many international opera houses and festivals, including at the Vienna State Opera from 1955 to 1994, and at the Metropolitan Opera in many roles.

Christa Ludwig is remembered for roles such as Mozart's Dorabella, Beethoven's Leonore in Fidelio, Wagner's Kundry, and both Octavian and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.

Christa Ludwig is widely recognised as having been one of the most significant and distinguished singers of the 20th century.

Christa Ludwig had the ability to impart dramatic urgency to a performance, the hallmark of a great singer.

Christa Ludwig's father, Anton Ludwig, who began his singing career as a baritone and later moved into the tenor repertory, was an opera administrator, and her mother, Eugenie Besalla-Ludwig, was a mezzo-soprano who sang at the Aachen Opera during Herbert von Karajan's period as conductor.

Christa Ludwig grew up in Aachen, where her first voice teacher was her mother.

Christa Ludwig made her stage debut in 1946 at the age of 18 as Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss at the Oper Frankfurt, where she sang until 1952.

Christa Ludwig joined the Vienna State Opera in 1955, where she became one of its principal artists and was awarded the title Kammersangerin in 1962.

Christa Ludwig performed with the company for more than thirty years in 43 opera roles and 769 performances.

Christa Ludwig first performed in the US at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Dorabella in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in 1959.

Gifted with a bright, warm voice; Miss Christa Ludwig was a lively and believable Cherubino.

Christa Ludwig's singing was precise and even, each tone clear and true, and her Italian rippled along like a second music.

Christa Ludwig subsequently sang 121 performances in 15 roles with the Met, where she quickly became one of the audience's favourites.

Christa Ludwig appeared at the Bayreuth Festival first as Brangane in Tristan und Isolde in 1966.

Christa Ludwig first appeared at the Royal Opera House in London in 1968 as Amneris in Verdi's Aida.

Christa Ludwig ventured briefly into the spinto and dramatic soprano repertoire with performances as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth, the Dyer's Wife, the Marschallin and Leonore in Fidelio.

Christa Ludwig performed as a soloist with orchestras, including works by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler and Strauss.

Christa Ludwig was one of few women to tackle and record Schubert's Winterreise.

Christa Ludwig sang Bach's music and recorded many of his large vocal works, such as the St Matthew Passion conducted by Otto Klemperer in 1961, with Peter Pears as the Evangelist and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the voice of Christ, and the Mass in B minor the same year, Karajan's third recording of the work, with Leontyne Price, Nicolai Gedda, Gerard Souzay and her husband Walter Berry.

Christa Ludwig recorded Bach's Christmas Oratorio conducted by Karl Richter in 1965, with Gundula Janowitz, Fritz Wunderlich and Franz Crass.

Christa Ludwig performed Mahler's Second Symphony with Bernstein in 1967.

From 1957 to 1970, Christa Ludwig was married to the bass-baritone Walter Berry; they had a son.

Christa Ludwig died at her home in Klosterneuburg, Austria in April 2021, at the age of 93.