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Ludwig Weber was among the great basses of the twentieth century. His voluminous and beautiful voice, at once dark and imposing, was flexible enough to make him a superb Osmin, while its soaring top allowed him to fashion climaxes that were shattering in their impact. His soft singing, based on an unfailing legato, added a dimension to his art beyond that of many other singers, regardless of vocal register. He was a protean artist, menacing in roles of villainous intent, while flooding the stage with an incomparable humanity in parts needing spiritual depth. During the post-WWII reopening season of the Bayreuth Festival, for example, he was both a warmly compassionate Gurnemanz in Parsifal and the very embodiment of implacable evil as Hagen in Götterdämmerung (both captured on recording).

Weber originally considered a career as a painter, but his splendid voice caused him to rethink that direction and concentrate on a career in music instead. In 1919, he began studies with Alfred Boruttau in Vienna and the following year he made his debut at the Vienna Volksoper as Fiorello in Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia. In the 1920s, he sang at both Düsseldorf and Cologne before being engaged for the Munich Wagner Festival in 1931. His impressive voice and authoritative interpretations led to his engagement as a member of the Bayerische Staatsoper in 1933 and Weber spent nearly two decades in Munich singing many of the largest roles in the bass repertory. He sang the role of Holsteiner, Commandant of the Enemy Army in the 1938 premiere of Strauss' Friedenstag at Munich. From 1945 until his retirement, Weber was a member of the Vienna Staatsoper.

Beginning in 1936, Weber established an association with opera in London. His Pogner in the opening night Meistersinger (April 27) was found somewhat severe, but his noble voice and superb acting were found highly commendable. Two nights later, Weber's Gurnemanz drew from critic Ernest Newman the opinion that his performance was unsurpassable. In other Wagner operas, Weber was complimented for his powerful Hunding and for his "superbly Mephistophelean Hagen." The following year, Weber returned to add Daland and to repeat his King Marke in Tristan, singled out for its originality and depth. For the 1938 London season, Weber added his richly detailed Rocco in Fidelio and his slyly acted Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, singing the role with "consummate ease."

The Second World War made Weber unavailable to London for the duration, but he made a welcome return in 1947 with the Vienna Staatsoper, singing the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Rocco. When he rejoined the London company (now the Royal Opera House) for the 1949 - 1950 season, it was to dominate the Ring with his superlative singing and acting.

During his years in Munich and Vienna, Weber's Baron Ochs in Rosenkavalier ripened to a level second only to Richard Mayr's and his Boris was legendary. At the Salzburg Festival in 1947, he was part of a star-studded cast in the premiere of Gottfried von Einem's Dantons Tod. It was at Bayreuth, however, that Weber found artistic immortality, blending his eminence and experience with Wieland Wagner's vision to create unsurpassed realizations of Wagner's bass roles.

While Weber's top and bottom registers remained virtually unimpaired until his retirement, increasing unsteadiness and wayward intonation plagued his middle voice. These old-age failings, however, cannot detract from Weber's reputation as an artist of the highest ranking.

Mezzo-soprano Margarete Klose was one of the most powerful, vocally accomplished singers of her time. The sleekness of sound she produced, volcanic in its outpouring, was perfectly placed and unfaltering in its consistency. Of her contemporaries, perhaps only Italian mezzo Ebe Stignani might be considered comparable. Even considering the less forward, less liquid sound of the German language in which she customarily sang, Klose managed to simulate the beautiful legato of the best Italian singers -- and with a still more seamless integration of registers. Several recordings, caught live, attest to her authority. Her "Entweihte Götter!" from the second act of Lohengrin wrested from a Vienna Staatsoper audience in 1938 a fire storm of applause, clearly audible on disc. Likewise, her Brangäne opposite Kirsten Flagstad's magnificent Isolde in a live 1937 Covent Garden performance staggers the senses -- two huge voices exchanging long-breathed phrases, pouring forth volley after volley of expressive tone, especially at the beginning of Act II.

Klose studied with Bulteman and Marschalk in Berlin before making her 1927 stage debut in Ulm as Manja in Kálmán's Gräfin Mariza. The following year, she joined the company at Mannheim where she remained until 1931. While at Mannheim, she participated in the 1930 Wagner series at the Paris Opera, creating a very favorable impression. Upon leaving Mannheim in 1931, Klose joined the Berlin Staatsoper and continued with that company for 18 years.

The 1930s, the period during which she entered her prime, saw debuts at other important theaters. She sang in London beginning in 1935. Klose's introduction to the British public took place in Lohengrin, where her darkly resounding Ortrud provided an exciting counterpoint to the vocal gold of Elisabeth Rethberg's Elsa. At the time, she was hailed by critics as the ranking German mezzo. In 1937, Klose consolidated her status with Brangäne, Fricka, and Waltraute. In those years, the singers alternating in her roles were Kerstin Thorborg, Karin Branzell, and Sabine Kalter, an estimable company of mezzos.

Beginning in 1936, Klose became an important artist at the Bayreuth Festival, singing Ortrud (under Furtwängler), Brangäne, Fricka, Waltraute, and Erda. The Rome Opera beckoned in 1939 and, eventually, she sang in Vienna, Spain, at Salzburg, and in both North and South America. Klose left the Berlin Staatsoper in 1949 to become a member of the Berlin Städtische Oper where she stayed until returning to the Staatsoper in 1958. She retired from the stage in 1961.

Klose's only engagement with an American opera company was one season in San Francisco. In 1953, she sang Brangäne, Fricka, and Ulrica with the huge-voiced soprano Gertrud Grob-Prandl and Clitemnestre opposite the Elektra of Inge Borkh. Just prior to her American debut, she participated in a German radio production of Strauss' Salome in which the title role was sung by Astrid Varnay and Herodes by Julius Patzak.

Klose's repertory included most of the great roles for dramatic mezzo-soprano. In addition to her vaunted Wagner and Strauss interpretations, she was a superlative Verdi singer, albeit usually in the German language. She was a respected Orfeo, where her noble voice and innate dignity perfectly embodied Gluck's hero. Iphigénie in the same composer's Iphigénie en Aulide was also a stirring recreation, strong in voice, technique, and presence. The Kostelnicka in Janácek's Jenufa was yet another role in which Klose made a striking impression.

The elder of the famous Konetzni sisters -- both opera singers -- from Vienna, Anny Konetzni was born in 1902. Though in later years, she exclusively sang soprano roles, Anny Konetzni began her career as a contralto. She grew up in a musical family and then went to the Vienna Conservatory to study voice under Erik Schmedes. After private lessons with voice guru Jacques Stuckgold in Berlin, Konetzni made her professional debut at the Vienna Volksoper in 1925, still singing contralto. But by the time she appeared in a Paris Ring cycle in 1929, she had assumed her mature soprano guise. Her career grew at a healthy pace throughout the 1930s. First she filled miscellaneous roles at independent theaters throughout Germany, then she found regular homes at the Berlin Staatsoper and the Vienna Staatsoper. Covent Garden and La Scala audiences were the next to enjoy her luxurious, strong dramatic voice and then for the 1934 - 1935 season she joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York. WW II wreaked a certain amount of havoc on her career, but from war's end until her retirement from the stage in 1955, she was among the most sought after German sopranos, even if she never quite attained the status that her younger sister Hilde enjoyed. Following her retirement, Anny Konetzni taught voice at the Vienna Academy for a few years. She died in the autumn of 1968.