Ortrud in Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’ (1850)
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Classical music's most 'Maleficent' women
8. Ortrud in Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’ (1850)
This sorceress is married to Count Friedrich and manipulates him like a veritable Lady Macbeth. Among other mischievous doings, she turns people into swans – which admittedly could be much worse. Maleficent rating: two. Richard Paul Frank is Telramund and soprano Luana DeVol as Ortrud in this 2006 picture from the New York Met.
