Dame Gwyneth, 85 today

Dame Gwyneth, 85 today

Opera

norman lebrecht

November 07, 2021

The great Wagnerian soprano Gwyneth Jones was born on November 7, 1936 in Pontypridd, Wales.

She sang leading roles at Bayreuth from 1966 to 1982.

Comments

  • TishaDoll says:

    Indeed she is/was great in Wagner, Strauss and Turnandot. The curious London Wagner Society needs to remember that.

    • Paul Dawson says:

      Did that issue ever get resolved? When it comes to Wagner, Dame Gwynneth vs a society of enthusiastic amateurs can surely have one very obvious result.

  • Rob says:

    Happy birthday Gwyneth!

  • AndrewB says:

    Happy Birthday Dame Gwyneth! Great memories of her Covent Garden Turandot and Isolde.

  • Garry Humphreys says:

    Penblwydd hapus!

  • KANANPOIKA says:

    She also had the SISU to record Sibelius’
    “Luonnotar”….with Dorati and the LSO, a
    landmark rendition, with non-Finnish forces, that offers many revelations.

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    Llongyfarchiadau a penblwydd hapus Gwyneth.

  • Gareth@skgj.co.uk says:

    I think she was born in Pontnewydd, that other great singing Jones was born in Pontypridd. And let’s not forget the third member of the Trinity, Shirley Bassey. How Wales produces them! Happy Birthday Dame Gwyneth, whether in Verdi, Wagner or Strauss you reign supreme. Great singer, great actress. For proof just watch the final moments in the Kleiber Rosenkavalier DVD….those top notes and that final turn to leave. Brava.

  • Gareth Jones says:

    Sorry not Pontnewydd its Pontnewynydd!

  • Micaela Bonetti says:

    Chapeau bas, Madame!

  • Gary Freer says:

    Unforgettable in the Chereau/Boulez Ring televised by the BBC in the early 1980s.

  • Anonymous says:

    Great friend of my parents. Never forgot her Welsh roots! London’s Wagner society were most unkind to her. Disgusting.

  • E says:

    Happy Birthday, Dame Gwynneth, and many more. I treasure the memory of evenings listening to this at the Met… in tears as you sang.
    Thank you, thank you for the
    purity and honesty with which you inhabited this role…and so many others.

  • Una says:

    Happy birthday, Gwyneth! You have left us all with such wonderful memories and recordings.

  • Alexander T says:

    Great? Good certainly.

  • Sean says:

    Many happy returns to one of the greats! I was lucky enough to catch her Brunnhilde in the CG Ring in 1978, one of my most treasured musical/theatre memories to this day.

  • Ernest says:

    I met Dame Gywneth backstage with Dame Eva after Elektra at Covent Garden or was it Frau Ohne Schatten? She signed my programme and happily obliged for a photo with me and Dame Eva joined in too. I was so happy that night. Some years later, I met her in Tokyo in one of Tadatsugu Sasaki’s star studded galas at the Suntory Hall and she happily signed the photo too! Those are the stuff of memories in addition to her wondrous Elektra, Barak’s wife and Turandot plus her matchless Isolde. I wish her many more happy, hale and hearty years ahead. Happy Birthday!!

  • Mike_T says:

    Looking at all the ‘thumbs’ in the posts above, I can see that at least one member* of the London Wagner Society has dropped in… 🙂

    *a.k.a. churlish tw@

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