Astrid varnay biography

Astrid Varnay is one of the key singers in the post war era at Bayreuth, singing the roles of Brünnhilde, Isolde, Ortrud, Kundry, Senta - and also Sieglinde, Gutrune and 3. Norn (the same years she sang Brünnhilde!).

Her full name was Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay.

Astrid Varnay at the Bayreuth Festival

Hans Hotter: “At Bayreuth in the '50s there were only two Brünnhildes, Astrid Varnay and Martha Mödl and they were perfectly contrasted. You simply could not compare them because each excelled in her own very different way. Astrid was always for me the great actress. Her acting was so good that you could not decide whether she was trying to be the character or whether she actually was the character. She has such a dynamic quality that she was able to project and to fire the onlooker's imagination, to create contact. That for me was her great quality – the performer, the actress, the personality. And she was always a helpful artist, very controlled. She was a really refreshing colleague, relaxed, understanding –though one had to try hard not to laugh at her jokes on stage!” (In Penelope Turing: Hans Hotter. Man and Artist)

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

Tristan und Isolde (Isolde)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Lohengrin (Ortrud)
Tristan und Isolde (Isolde)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Lohengrin (Ortrud)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde, Sieglinde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Gutrune, Brünnhilde)

Der fliegende Holländer (Senta)
Die Walküre (Sieglinde, Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde, Norn dritte)

Der fliegende Holländer (Senta)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Norn dritte, Brünnhilde)
Parsifal (Kundry)

Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)
Parsifal (Kundry)

Lohengrin (Ortrud)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde, Norn dritte)

Der fliegende Holländer (Senta)
Lohengrin (Ortrud)

Lohengrin (Ortrud)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Lohengrin (Ortrud)
Die Walküre (Brünnhilde)
Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)
Parsifal (Kundry)

Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Siegfried (Brünnhilde)
Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Parsifal (Kundry)

Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)
Parsifal (Kundry)

Götterdämmerung (Brünnhilde)

Selected Biographies