Ingeborg Hallstein is a German coloratura soprano, born in Munich on May 23, 1936. This is a very well-produced voice, with no tension in the swallowing muscles and incredible breath control. You can hear her breath control very evidently in the Brahms Lied below.
I haven’t been on this particular soapbox in a long time, but I will say it again; we don’t have this type of singing at all today. Her pitches are accurate, and her diction is impeccable.
Mozart, Schon lacht der holde Frühling K.580
Schon lacht der holde Frühling
Auf blumenreichen Matten
Wo sich Zephire gatten
Unter geselligem Scherze
Wenn auch auf allen Zweigen
Sich junge Blüten zeigen
Kehrt doch kein leiser Trost
In dieses arme Herz
Da sitze ich und weine
Einsam auf der Flur
Nicht um mein verlornes Schäfchen
Nein, um den Schäfer Lindor nur
Mozart, Already sweet spring K.580
Already, sweet spring is smiling
Upon flower-filled meadows
Where the zephyrs mingle
In convivial play
Even though on every branch
Young blossoms appear
No gentle comfort comes
To this poor heart
There I sit and weep
Alone in the field
Not for my lost little lamb
No, only for the shepherd Lindor
Schubert, excerpt from Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Op[. Posth. 129 D. 965
Der Frühling will kommen,
Der Frühling, meine Freud’,
Nun mach’ ich mich fertig
Zum Wandern bereit.
Je weiter meine Stimme dringt,
Je heller sie mir wieder klingt.
Schubert, excerpt from the Shepherd on the Rocks, Op. posth 129, D965
Spring is coming,
Spring, my joy,
I shall now make ready to journey.
The further my voice carries,
The clearer it echoes back to me.
Lorzing, Zar und Zimmermann, “Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch’ Mädchen”
MARQUIS
Lebe wohl, mein fland’risch Mädchen,
Wider Willen muss ich fort;
Doch ich liebe dich von Herzen,
Darauf geb ich dir mein Wort.
Teurer weit als meine Seele
Bist du, o Geliebte, mir!
Und keiner andern soll’s jemals gelingen,
Mir auch entfernt nur gefährlich zu sein;
Konnt’ ich dein Herz, deine Liebe erringen,
Kann ich auch ewige Treue dir weihn!
MARIE, MARQUIS und CHOR
Ewige Treue will ich/er ihr weihn.
Ich/ Er will ewige Treue der Teuren weihn.
MARQUIS
Gib mir diese seidne Locke,
Auf dem Herzen ruhe sie,
Meiner holden Maid aus Flandern,
Die ich wider Willen flieh,
Ihrer werd ich mich erinnern,
Wenn mich Kampf und Schlacht umgibt.
Doch wirst du auch einstens meiner gedenken
Der dir gehöret mit Herz und mit Sinn,
Und eine Träne der Wehmut mir schenken,
Wenn ich nicht mehr unter Lebenden bin?
Wirst du auch meiner zärtlich gedenken,
Teures Mädchen, der dir stets gehöret mit Herz und Sinn?
MARQUIS, MARIE und CHOR
Der dir gehört mit Herz und Sinn;
Wirst du mein auch gedenken mit Herz und Sinn?
Loring, Tsar and Carpenter, “Farewell, my Flemish maiden”
MARQUIS
Farewell, my Flemish maiden,
Against my will I must depart;
Yet I love you with all my heart,
I give you my word on that.
You are far dearer to me than my own soul
O my beloved!
And no other shall ever succeed
In posing even the slightest threat to me;
If I could win your heart, your love,
I can also pledge eternal fidelity to you!
MARIE, MARQUIS, and CHORUS
I/He will pledge eternal fidelity to her.
I/He will devote eternal fidelity to my beloved.
MARQUIS
Give me this silky lock of hair,
Let it rest upon my heart,
My sweet maiden from Flanders,
Whom I flee against my will,
I will remember her,
When battle and strife surround me.
But will you, too, one day remember me,
Who belongs to you with heart and soul,
And shed a tear of sorrow for me,
When I am no longer among the living?
Will you also remember me tenderly,
My dearest girl, who always belongs to you with heart and soul?
MARQUIS, MARIE, and CHORUS
Who belongs to you with heart and soul;
Will you also remember me with heart and soul?
R. Strauss, “Morgen”, Op. 27
Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen
Und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde,
Wird uns, die Glücklichen, sie wieder einen
Inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde …
Und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen,
Werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen,
Stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen,
Und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen …
R. Strauss, “Tomorrow”, Op. 27
And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the path that I shall take,
It will unite us, happy ones, again,
Amid this same sun-breathing earth …
And to the shore, broad, blue-waved,
We will quietly and slowly descend,
Speechless we shall look into each other’s eyes,
And the speechless silence of bliss will fall on us …
Ingeborg Hallstein
May 23, 1936
Ingeborg Hallstein was born in Munich in 1936, the daughter of soprano and voice teacher Elisabeth Hallstein and a painter. At age 16, while still in school, she began studying voice with her mother, a well-known art song singer of the 1920s.
In 1957, the 21-year-old Hallstein received her first engagement at the Passau City Theater, where she made her debut as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème. In 1958, she was engaged by the Basel Theater.
In August 1960, Hallstein made her debut as Rosina in Mozart’s La finta semplice at the Salzburg Festival, to which she returned repeatedly throughout her career. In 1966, she appeared in the world premiere of the opera Die Bassariden by Hans Werner Henze. From there, she was also engaged by the then artistic director Rudolf Hartmann at the Bavarian State Opera, where she was a permanent member of the ensemble from 1961 to 1973.
The opera roles she sang on stage in the years that followed included Konstanze (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Gilda (Rigoletto), Violetta (La traviata), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Aminta (Die schweigsame Frau), Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Ninetta (The Love for the Three Oranges), Fiorilla (Il turco in Italia), Isabella (L’Italiana in Algeri), Marzelline (Fidelio), Despina (Così fan tutte), Norma (Norma), and Adele (Die Fledermaus).
She made guest appearances at all the major opera houses around the world. She sang at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Stuttgart State Opera, and the Vienna State Opera; at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires; at the Royal Opera House in London under Otto Klemperer; in Stockholm, Helsinki, and Amsterdam; and at the Salzburg Festival and the Munich Festival. In 1962, under Herbert von Karajan, she performed one of her signature roles—the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute—at the Theater an der Wien on the occasion of its reopening.
With her clear voice, which reached into the highest registers, she ranks among the most significant coloratura sopranos of the second half of the 20th century. In addition to opera and operetta, art songs were another artistic focus for Ingeborg Hallstein, which she pursued in numerous recitals both at home and abroad.
In addition to her opera and concert activities at home and abroad, she appeared in numerous radio and television productions of operettas and operas and also performed in major television variety shows.
In 1978, Hallstein was appointed professor of voice at the University of Music in Würzburg. Due to her increasing teaching workload, she subsequently began to gradually withdraw from the stage. She worked in Würzburg until 2006.