Karin Branzell

Karin Branzell (24 September 1891 – 15 December 1974) was a Swedish operatic contralto (sometimes described as a mezzo-soprano), who had a prominent career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in Europe.

She was particularly noted for her singing of the music of Richard Wagner, in roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin), Venus (Tannhäuser), Erda (Das Rheingold and Siegfried), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), and Brunnhilde (Die Walküre).

She returned for a farewell season in 1951, singing Erda in Rudolf Bing's first Ring cycle[5] She sang a total of 412 performances of 21 roles with the Met.

[7] Her other appearances included the Munich State Opera, the Colon Theatre, Buenos Aires, the Bayreuth Festival (1930–31), Florence, and San Francisco (1941).

[11] Karin Branzell sang the contralto/mezzo parts in all of Wagner's operas, some of Verdi's, as well as Herodias and Clytemnestra in Richard Strauss's Salome and Elektra, the Kostelniczka in Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa and Wilhelm Peterson-Berger's Arnljot, and many other roles.

She often sang with Lauritz Melchior, who became her lifelong friend and who considered her an unmatched Brangäne in Tristan and Isolde and an unforgettable Fricka and Ortrud.

[15] In 1939 she appeared Magdalena in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Schorr and Charles Kullman, with the Met Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf (9 days after Bodanzky's death).