Seiffert peter lucia popp biography

Lucia Popp  (November 12th 1939  - November 16th 1993)
Liebe nie war der Rechte da
by Jan Neckers

(photos courtesy Charles Mintzer collection)

Eighteen years ago my wife and I were at the Best Western Hotel on 57th Street West, preparing to go to the Met.

There came a phone call from a Dutch New Yorker Joost van Bergen who simply said: ‘Lucia Popp has died’. I’m sure I’m not alone in remembering the exact time and place when I got that sad news. I also remember very well the moment I consciously heard her voice for the first time.

I knew her name and reputation somewhat but as I was (and still am) not a great opera-Mozartean I had no records of her.
That changed overnight the moment I brought home the first complete recording of Franz Lehar’s Der Graf von Luxemburg(1968).

From the moment I heard her first utterance : ‘Heut noch werd ich Ehefrau’ I was spellbound, amazed by the silvery sound, the impeccable legato, the fine top