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Vienna (AP) - The soprano Christa Ludwig is dead. The native of Berlin died on Saturday at the age of 93 in her adopted home Klosterneuburg near Vienna, as the family of the Austrian news agency APA confirmed.
Ludwig was one of the great opera stars of the 20th century.
In 2018 she received the Opus-Klassik award for her life's work.
For almost half a century, Ludwig stood on all the major stages in the world.
Ludwig once described her work in the spotlight, surrounded by the stars of classical music, as “living in a dream world”.
Outside of the opera, she always wore blinkers.
The only thing that was important was the perfect appearance.
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Ludwig had celebrated her stage farewell in 1994 after 769 appearances in the Vienna State Opera.
The former State Opera director Ioan Holender once praised Ludwig only said goodbye once, to the big difference from very many.
He described her as a "truly God-gifted artist".
Her talent showed up early.
As an eight-year-old Ludwig already mastered the great aria of Mozart's Queen of the Night.
In Aachen, in addition to school, she also attended the conservatory, where she received lessons in piano, cello, flute and music theory.
However, she only studied singing with her mother.
Ludwig's repertoire included the most important alto and mezzo-soprano roles from Mozart to Bela Bartok, but also numerous dramatic soprano roles.
Her brilliant roles include the Marschallin in "Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss, Kundry in Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" and Leonore in Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio" or Giuseppe Verdi's Lady Macbeth.
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In addition, Ludwig increasingly proved to be a brilliant song interpreter, especially of the romantic and late romantic works by Schumann, Brahms and Mahler.
Ludwig made his debut in 1946 as Prince Orlofsky in «Fledermaus» at the Städtische Bühnen in Frankfurt. After stints in Darmstadt and Hanover, she came to the Vienna State Opera in 1955, where she was to sing a total of 43 roles. Since her first appearance at the Salzburg Festival in 1955, she has been a regular guest there as well as in Bayreuth and at many other important music festivals and venues - including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Grand Opera in Paris and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
A life apart from music was never an option for the resolute and articulate singer.
"It is our duty to life to make use of our talent."
Ludwig was born in Berlin in 1928.
Both parents were singers and their mother became their singing teacher.
With “good genes and Prussian discipline” she achieved a world career within a very short time.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210425-99-348501 / 4