Margarete Klose

Mezzo-soprano Margarete Klose was perhaps one of the most powerful, vocally accomplished performers of her period. The sleekness of sound she created, volcanic in its outpouring, was flawlessly positioned and unfaltering in its uniformity. Of her contemporaries, maybe just Italian mezzo Ebe Stignani may be regarded as comparable. Even taking into consideration the much less forward, much less liquid sound from the German vocabulary where she customarily sang, Klose were able to simulate the stunning legato of the greatest Italian performers — and having a still even more smooth integration of registers. Many recordings, captured live, verify her power. Her “Entweihte Götter!” from the next action of Lohengrin wrested from a Vienna Staatsoper market in 1938 a fireplace surprise of applause, obviously audible on disk. Furthermore, her Brangäne contrary Kirsten Flagstad’s wonderful Isolde within a live 1937 Covent Backyard functionality staggers the senses — two large voices exchanging long-breathed phrases, pouring forth volley after volley of expressive build, especially at the start of Action II. Klose examined with Bulteman and Marschalk in Berlin prior to making her 1927 stage debut in Ulm as Manja in Kálmán’s Gräfin Mariza. The next year, she became a member of the business at Mannheim where she continued to be until 1931. While at Mannheim, she participated in the 1930 Wagner series on the Paris Opera, creating an extremely advantageous impression. Upon departing Mannheim in 1931, Klose became a member of the Berlin Staatsoper and continuing with that firm for 18 years. The 1930s, the time where she got into her prime, noticed debuts at various other essential theaters. She sang in London from 1935. Klose’s launch to the United kingdom public occurred in Lohengrin, where her darkly resounding Ortrud supplied a thrilling counterpoint towards the vocal silver of Elisabeth Rethberg’s Elsa. At that time, she was hailed by critics as the rank German mezzo. In 1937, Klose consolidated her position with Brangäne, Fricka, and Waltraute. In those years, the performers alternating in her assignments had been Kerstin Thorborg, Karin Branzell, and Sabine Kalter, an estimable firm of mezzos. From 1936, Klose became a significant artist on the Bayreuth Celebration, performing Ortrud (under Furtwängler), Brangäne, Fricka, Waltraute, and Erda. The Rome Opera beckoned in 1939 and, ultimately, she sang in Vienna, Spain, at Salzburg, and in both North and SOUTH USA. Klose remaining the Berlin Staatsoper in 1949 to become person in the Berlin Städtische Oper where she remained until time for the Staatsoper in 1958. She retired through the stage in 1961. Klose’s just engagement with an American opera business was one time of year in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA. In 1953, she sang Brangäne, Fricka, and Ulrica using the huge-voiced soprano Gertrud Grob-Prandl and Clitemnestre reverse the Elektra of Inge Borkh. Before her American debut, she participated inside a German radio creation of Strauss’ Salome where the name part was sung by Astrid Varnay and Herodes by Julius Patzak. Klose’s repertory included a lot of the great functions for dramatic mezzo-soprano. Furthermore to her vaunted Wagner and Strauss interpretations, she was a superlative Verdi vocalist, albeit generally in the German vocabulary. She was a well known Orfeo, where her commendable tone of voice and innate dignity flawlessly embodied Gluck’s hero. Iphigénie in the same composer’s Iphigénie en Aulide was also a stirring entertainment, strong in tone of voice, technique, and existence. The Kostelnicka in Janácek’s Jenufa was another role where Klose produced a stunning impression.