Karajan artists: Wilma Lipp – first mother then daughter

Wilma Lipp was really a high-flyer. She made her debut as an opera singer at the age of 17, became a member of the Vienna State Opera at 20, had her breakthrough as “Queen of the Night” in the “Magic Flute” at 23 and recorded the opera (not for the first time!) with Karajan when she was 25 in 1950. Richard Osborne wrote about the recording, saying that it was “stylishly, often imaginatively conducted, and for the most part wonderfully well sung by a cast which showed the fabled post-war Vienna Mozart ensemble somewhere near its best.”

Karajan worked with Lipp at all “his” opera houses – the Vienna State Opera throughout his management 1957 – 1964, the Salzburg Festival, the Scala di Milan – and even at one of his rare appearances in Bayreuth.

It was the scene of their first joint live performance, “Siegfried” in 1951 with Lipp as the Woodbird, and it was the same part that brought them together six years later when Karajan created a completely new “Ring” at the Vienna State Opera. Their first production with Lipp actually acting (as Marzelline) and not only “chirping” off-stage was “Fidelio” in January 1958.

 

To be continued…

—  P.R. Jenkins