Rita Gorr

Although Belgian by birth and training, mezzo soprano Rita Gorr was seen as a lingering exemplory case of the fantastic French tradition of lyric/dramatic singing. Her huge, powerful device, narrowing in the very best register to a spot that was (generally) just lacking shrillness, was extremely even; simply no abrupt shifts into or from the upper body register intruded in her grand utterance. The bigger the role’s stature, the greater apt her certification for it. Although some discovered the voice’s coloration as well shiny, in the movie theater its penetrative power was electrifying and Gorr’s performing, commanding however unexaggerated, generally riveted the audience’s interest. Several recordings, manufactured in her best, testify for an indomitable tone of voice and presence. Starting her research in Ghent, Gorr afterwards went to Brussels Conservatory. She produced her stage debut in Antwerp in 1949, performing Fricka in Die Walküre. Thereafter, she was involved at Strasbourg until 1952, when she gained the Lausanne International Performing Competition and produced debuts at both Opéra as well as the Opéra-Comique, performing Magdalene in Meistersinger in the previous and Charlotte in the second option. Later for the reason that 10 years, she got received an invitation to Bayreuth, where she produced her debut in 1958 as Fricka. Gorr’s 1st appearance at Covent Backyard occurred in 1959, when she shown her imperious Amneris. La Scala noticed her for the very first time in 1960 when she undertook Kundry inside a creation of Parsifal. Two essential American debuts occurred in 1962. In the Metropolitan Opera, her 1st appearance on Oct 17 was once again as Amneris, starting a too-short romantic relationship that also taken to NY her Eboli, her Santuzza, her Azucena, and her Dalila. It had been in the second option part that she produced her magnificent debut in Chicago on November 10. Inside a creation of Samson et Dalila originally designed for Giulietta Simionato and Jon Vickers (she recommended she cannot relearn the part in French; he previously a protected disease), Gorr became a member of German Shakespearian actor-turned-heroic tenor Hans Kaart for any high-voltage overall performance of Saint-Saëns’ Biblical pageant. As the encouraging tenor clearly hadn’t fully discovered his part, Gorr stormed the stage with dramatic expert and vocal splendor, creating further enjoyment in a time of year that had currently kept Régine Crespin’s American debut. Gorr’s profession stretched more than a half hundred years. In the 1990s, she was still performing, smaller functions at main theaters and main ones at smaller sized theaters. Gorr’s status is suffered through her existence in several essential recordings, ones which have kept their put in place the catalog on the years. During her primary, she participated 1st in EMI’s creation of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites as well as such performers as Denise Duval and Régine Crespin, all beneath the composer’s guidance (much later on, she sang Madame de Croissy in another documenting of the task). Her forthright Amneris was captured using the Aida of Leontyne Cost in her primary and the complicated, really heroic Radames of Jon Vickers, all led by Georg Solti. Her Ortrud for RCA, under Erich Leinsdorf’s path, is matched up in proficiency just by Sándor Kónya’s Lohengrin, but will probably be worth hearing. Finally, her imposing Dalila for EMI brought her as well as Vickers once again for a documenting regarded as important despite indifferent performing and supplementary casting.