Elisabeth Grümmer

Elisabeth Grümmer was among the favorite German sopranos of the center two decades from the twentieth century. She was created Elisabeth Schilz in Alsace-Lorraine. When the French regained the place in 1918, her family members transferred to Meiningen. She examined drama on the university, and started an effective career being a stage and film celebrity. Her stage schooling included schooling of her tone of voice. She transferred to Aachen after relationship to Detlef Grümmer, the concertmaster from the orchestra there. She stated that it had been the audio of his violin, when he performed cantabile, legato, that led her to comprehend the type of performing. The music movie director at Aachen in those days was Herbert von Karajan, who ensemble her among the Rose Maidens in Wagner’s Parsifal (Aachen, 1940). Quickly she sang the best part of Octavian in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, with her high, slim figure producing her specifically convincing with this leading man part. (One critic rhapsodized that she “appeared as if a Botticelli Madonna in Gluck’s Orpheus.”) In 1942 to 1944 she was involved at that Duisberg Opera while the principal soprano for lyrical functions. During the battle, her spouse was killed within an air flow raid, in the cellar of their house, keeping his violin. She stated he was her just love, rather than remarried. Following the end from the battle, she became a member of the Städtische Oper of Western Berlin (right now the Deutsche Oper), that was her main professional association throughout her profession, remaining with this major organization through 1972. Her English debut was at Covent Backyard in 1952, accompanied by an Edinburgh Event in 1952, and she made an appearance at Bayreuth from 1957 to 1961. Her American debut was with the brand new York Town Opera in Der Rosenkavalier (as the Marshallin) in 1967. She sang seven occasions using the Metropolitan Opera for the reason that same 12 months, as Elsa in Lohengrin. The 1st six of the had been on tour; the seventh was her just appearance in the Metropolitan Opera Home itself. By that point critics have been noticing some deterioration of her tone of voice on / off for a couple of years, but, as she stated during the tour, “Granny can still get it done.” She also made an appearance at Glyndebourne, the Hamburg Staatsoper, in East Berlin and Dresden, the Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Rome Opera, and Teatro Colón. She excelled in the greater commendable and lyrical roles-the Marshallin, Octavian, the Countesses of Mozart (the Relationship of Figaro) and Strauss (Capriccio), Pamina, Euridice in Gluck’s Orpheus, Ilia in Idomeneo, Eva in Meistersinger, and Elsa in Lohengrin, Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, and sang Ellen Orford in the 1st German creation of Britten’s Peter Grimes. By all accounts, her dramatic teaching offered her well, rendering her portrayals even more convincing. It’s been suggested that this vocal decline from the 1960s was due to an ill-advised consider the dramatic soprano repertory. She sang Electra in Idomeneo in 1961 and 1962 at Salzburg, and Dona Anna in Don Giovanni soon afterward. Like a documenting artist, she produced several significant discs, however the surplus of her tone of voice type (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Lisa della Casa, Irmgard Seefried, and Sena Jurinac had been all close contemporaries) supposed that she hardly ever documented her leading Strauss jobs within their entirety. She was a observed recitalist, but was amazingly stiff for the reason that style of performing on recordings. Her farewell stage functionality was on the Deutsche Opera in 1972 (as the Marshallin). She positively trained in Lucerne and Paris after her stage pension.