Anny Ahlers

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Anny Ahlers (1932)

Anny Ahlers ( Anni Ahlers ) (born December 21, 1907 in Hamburg , † March 14, 1933 in London ) was a German singer and actress .

Life

Anny Ahlers was born in Hamburg in 1907. Already at the age of four she performed as a dancer in a circus . After studying singing, she got a role in the operetta Casanova , which Ralph Benatzky had arranged based on melodies by Johann Strauss . With this role she became known in Berlin. On September 25, 1926, Anny Ahlers played the title role in the world premiere of the Eduard Künneke operetta Lady Hamilton (conductor: Franz Marszalek ) in Breslau .

Her roles included the exotic Princess Laya in Paul Abraham's revue operetta " The Flower of Hawaii ". In the Vienna premiere of the operetta “The Violet from Montmartre” with music by Emmerich Kálmán , she sang the “ Parisian Nanon”. In 1932 Anny Ahlers appeared together with Richard Tauber at the Berlin Metropol Theater in the world premiere of the operetta “Das Lied der Liebe”. For it was Erich Wolfgang Korngold dressed the classic operetta "The Lace Handkerchief Queen" by Johann Strauss in a modern guise. Richard Tauber also recorded two arias from them, but the tenor Marcel Wittrisch was Anny Ahlers' musical partner when the duets were recorded . The recording of the duet Geliebte Frau, sei mein was made with the orchestra of the Metropol-Theater under Franz Schönbaumsfeld in 1932.

Anny Ahlers (seated) with Richard Tauber in the Metropol-Theater , Berlin

She worked in the sound films The Carnival Fairy by Emmerich Kálmán and The Marquise of Pompadour . The review wrote at the time: “The slender, classy Anny Ahlers puts on a remarkable nervous-hysterical film star parody. This operetta singer turns out to be more and more a film artist by grace, as a diva who blends brilliantly into the turbulent plot in her madness. ”Another film with Anny Ahlers was Die verliebte Firma , also the first directorial work by Max Ophüls . In it she sang the song I'd love to be really in love . The composition came from Bruno Granichstaedten .

Historic tombstone in the women's garden

In the autumn of 1932 Anny Ahlers then appeared in London for several months as Dubarry in the operetta of the same name , which Theo Mackeben had arranged based on a model by Karl Millöcker . Although Anny Ahlers spoke hardly any English and had learned the dialogues and lyrics by heart purely phonetically, the performances were a great triumph.

Anny Ahlers suffered from tuberculosis , which was made worse by the cold, damp London weather. Since she still wanted to take the stage, Anny Ahlers reached for morphine , on which she eventually became addicted, to numb the pain . On March 14, 1933, she threw herself out of the window of her London hotel.

At the instigation of her mother, her urn was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg. Her tombstone was moved to the women's garden, which opened in 2001 . A plaque donated by friends with the inscription “renowned for genius in dramatic art” can still be found in the church in Shipley. In 2005 a painting by Anny Ahlers was offered in the English art trade for the equivalent of 150,000 euros and was acquired by a private collector.

Filmography (complete)

  • 1928: Casanova
  • 1931: The Marquise of Pompadour
  • 1931: The carnival fairy
  • 1931: The real Jacob
  • 1931: Cabaret program No. 5 (short film)
  • 1931: The love branch
  • 1932: The company in love

literature

  • Kurt Gänzl: The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theater . 2nd ed., Schirmer, New York 2001, p. 19.

Web links

Commons : Anny Ahlers  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anny Ahlers on tombstone photo at genealogy.net .
  2. ↑ Anni Ahlers , biography at garten-der-frauen.de .
  3. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Anny Ahlers .
personal data
SURNAME Ahlers, Anny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German singer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1933
Place of death London