It is a definite challenge in music to properly perform the music of Johann Strauss Jr. Waltzes require the music to be light, joyful, and to swing with the accompanying orchestra.
One of the great stars of the past to bring this music to the public was soprano Lucia Popp.
Soprano Lucia Popp was born on Nov. 12, 1939, and she was destined for an amazing career at an early age.
Born in the Slovakia, she originally set out on a course to study drama at the Bratislava Academy. She started taking voice lessons as a mezzo-soprano but eventually graduated as a soprano. At age 23, she made her professional debut in Bratislava, and in 1963 she made her Vienna State Opera debut at the request of conductor Herbert Von Karajan.
Mozart dominated her early career, particularly the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte.”
Here she is in Johann Strauss’ “Sounds of Spring”:
