Pinch Hitter

To most unknown singers the chance never comes in a lifetime. But it came to short, plump-cheeked, 23-year-old Astrid Varnay--the chance to stride the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in a big part. Soprano Lotte Lehmann fell ill, Soprano Varnay donned the blond wig and nightie of Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walkuere. Though she had never appeared on any stage, she sang that hapless housewife's role with such easy assurance that critics all but ho-yo-to-hoed.

That happened a fortnight ago. Last week an even bigger part fell vacant --Die Walkuere's Bruennhilde. Helen Traubel, herself pinch-hitting for Kirsten Flagstad (immured in Norway for the duration), took cold. Astrid Varnay found herself dressed up again ; this time in a red wig, a hand-me-down cuirass and tunic of one of the Valkyrie maids, a man's heavy helmet. Again the debutasters were amazed.

Soprano Flagstad was partly responsible. Years ago, when she sang an audition in Oslo, a baby cried in the next room. It was Astrid Varnay. Flagstad made friends with the elder Varnays, a coloratura soprano and a stage director at the Stockholm Royal Opera. Soon the Varnays moved to the U.S. When Flagstad followed, she learned that Astrid had a voice and sent her to her own teacher, Hermann Weigert.

Photographers last week found that Soprano Varnay lived near a poor pushcart section of Manhattan (see cut). In the past year she had sung only in three small town recitals, booked by Columbia Concerts. Last week her managers read Soprano Varnay's press notices--and got busy.

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