Hugo Wolf:
22 Lieder aus dem Italienischen Liederbuch

Mozart:
Non temer, amato bene
L’Ameró saró costante

Händel:
Psalm 112

Irmgard Seefried (1919-1988) made her debut in 1939 (or 1940) at the Aachen Stadttheater as

Priestess in Aida. She was engaged for that opera house by Herbert von Karajan. In 1943 she

made her debut at the Vienna State Opera as Eva in Die Meistersinger under Karl Böhm, and then

remained a member of the company (1953-1954). She appeared at the Covent Garden Opera in

London from 1947 to 1949, and also in Milan (La Scala), Salzburg, Edinburgh, etc. She made her

Metropolitan Opera in New York debut in November 1953 as Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro).

Irmgard Seefried had a very distinctive voice and a totally natural delivery. Her warm tone and

appealing personality made her a successful Susanna, Fiodiligi, Eva, and Cleopatra, and she was

an admired Lieder singer.

This CD portrait is exclusively comprised of examples from her best years, beginning with her

very first recording, Handel’s Psalm 112, made in 1943, and ending with the Lieder for soprano

from Hugo Wolf’s Italian Liederbuch, recorded by Deutsche Grammophon in 1954