Anni Frind

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Anni Frind (born February 3, 1900 in Nixdorf , Bohemia , Austria-Hungary , † April 8, 1987 in New Orleans , Louisiana ) was an opera and operetta singer. She performed in Dresden , Munich and Berlin and was one of the most cast lyric sopranos in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s .

Life

Anni Frind was born as Anna Gertrud Frind in a German family in Nixdorf (today Mikulášovice), a small town in Bohemia (today the Czech Republic ). Her parents were Anna and Josef Frind, who was a doctor. She studied with Eleanor Köhler-Riese in Dresden from 1914 and sang in a concert in Dresden's Kreuzkirche as early as 1916 . She completed her further music studies until 1922 with Grete Merrem-Nikisch in Dresden and also with Luise Willer .

She made her debut at the Volksoper Berlin in 1923 as Marie in the comic opera Der Waffenschmied by Albert Lortzing and received leading soprano roles in operas and operettas at the Bavarian State Opera , the Semperoper , the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at houses in other major European cities. From 1925 to 1928 she was engaged as a coloratura soubrette at the Munich State Opera. In 1928 she got the role of the nun Laura in the operetta Casanova at the Großes Schauspielhaus in Berlin , which Ralph Benatzky had arranged based on melodies by Johann Strauss . After the successful world premiere on September 1, 1928, the record label " His Master's Voice " produced the nuns' choir ( O Madonna, look at us ) from the third act with Anni Frind and the Schauspielhaus choir and orchestra. From then on she devoted herself mainly to operetta. Frind appeared two hundred times as Adele in Max Reinhardt's production of Die Fledermaus and made guest appearances on Deutschlandsender and Reichssender Berlin . She can also be heard on sound carriers together with well-known singers such as Peter Anders , Herbert Ernst Groh and Marcel Wittrisch . In addition to the operetta repertoire, Anni Frind performed popular hits with Erwin Hartung and the orchestra of Hans Bund , including Kannst du pfeifen, Johanna? (1934), with which the Comedian Harmonists were also successful at the same time .

In 1936 she recorded two titles from Max Reger's song collection “Schlichte Weisen” , Waldeinsamkeit and Des Kinder's prayer . In 2013, the recording was digitally revised and incorporated into a CD publication of works by Max Reger. Klassik.com wrote: “Reger's 'Schlichte Weisen' op. 76 [...] are anything but simple, they demand above all a clean intonation and fine phrase endings from the singer, which Anni Frind and Elisabeth Schumann are breathtakingly clean perform. "

The last record recording in Germany with Anni Frind is dated 1937. In order not to have to collaborate with the Nazis , she withdrew from the stage, according to Jürgen Schaarwächter, at the beginning of the Second World War . The Associated Press , however, reported that she had ended her career with Hitler's rise in 1933. Anni Frind returned to Nixdorf and worked as a nurse in her father's medical practice. On June 28, 1945, she married Josef Sperling (born 1907) in Nixdorf, who had been interned by the Germans. The couple first lived in Wels ( Upper Austria ) and emigrated to New Orleans in 1951 , where Anni Frind-Sperling taught as a singing teacher at Newcomb College at Tulane University from 1954 to 1956 .

The magazine High Fidelity devoted a few more lines to Anni Frind-Sperling in 1955 and reported on her wish to complete her musical archive:

“Anni Frind-Sperling, 3509 Chestnut St., New Orleans, La., Who sang in the Berlin, Munich and Dresden State Operas in Germany, is trying to complete her collection of recordings that she made under her maiden name Anni Frind. "

- High Fidelity, 1955

Anni Frind-Sperling died in 1987 at the age of 87. She was buried on April 10, 1987 in Biloxi National Cemetery , Harrison County (Mississippi) , USA.

"Nowadays she is almost completely forgotten, but despite her small number of records she was once recognized as one of the most highly valued lyrical sopranos in Germany in the 1920s and 30s."

- Jürgen Schaarwächter, 2014

literature

  • The New York Times Biographical Service , Volume 18. University Microfilms, 1987, p. 314.
  • Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens: Large singer lexicon. 3rd extended edition, Saur, Munich 2002, p. 1577.

Web links

Commons : Anni Frind  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baptism matrix of the Nixdorf community on vademecum.soalitomerice.cz, accessed on January 9, 2019.
  2. ^ The New York Times Biographical Service , Volume 18. University Microfilms, 1987, p. 314.
  3. ↑ The name Eleanor called George Henry Hubert Lascelles : Anni Frind. In: Welsh National Opera , 1987-88 Season, Rolls House Publishing Company, 1987, p. 758.
  4. ↑ a b Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens: Large singer lexicon. 3rd extended edition, Saur, Munich 2002, p. 1577. Great Opera Singers , greatoperasingers.blogspot.com, accessed on January 17, 2019.
  5. ↑ Gramophone.co.uk , accessed January 9, 2019.
  6. ^ In: Artists on the radio until about 1936 , radiomusaeum.org .
  7. ↑ Tanja Geschwind: Forgotten Treasures , in: Klassik.com, June 10, 2017 .
  8. ↑ a b Jürgen Schaarwächter in: SWR2 Musikstunde, February 12, 2014: Max Reger, der Falstaff der Musik , PDF, p. 2 , accessed on January 9, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b c 1920s European Opera Star Dies; Left Opera Because Of Hitler , AP, New York, April 9, 1987 .
  10. ↑ a b European opera star of the 1920s ... , obituary in: Orlando Sentinel , April 10, 1987 .
  11. ↑ Baptism matrix of the Nixdorf community on vademecum.soalitomerice.cz, accessed on January 9, 2019.
  12. ↑ Don White: Anni Frind . In: The Record Collector. A magazine for collectors of recorded vocal art , Volume 14/1960, London, edited by James FE Dennis, p. 153.
  13. ^ Deutsches Bühnen-Jahrbuch, 1950, p. 378.
  14. ^ High Fidelity, ABC Leisure Magazines, 1955, p. 16.
  15. ^ Obituary for Anni Frind , in: The New York Times , April 11, 1987.
  16. ↑ findagrave.com , there with the wrong date of death: The New York Times clearly wrote that she died on Wednesday (Wednesday, April 8, 1987).
personal data
SURNAME Frind, Anni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frind, Anna Gertrud (real name); Frind-Sperling, Anni (married)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German singer
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd February 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Mikulášovice
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1987
Place of death New Orleans