Arleen Augér

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Arleen Augér (spelling Auger without an accent; born September 13, 1939 in South Gate , California ; † June 10, 1993 in Leusden , Netherlands ) was an American opera singer ( soprano ).

Life

As a youth Arleen Augér sang in the church choir and took piano and violin lessons. In 1963 she graduated from California State University in Long Beach , but then decided to study singing, which she did from 1963 to 1967 in Chicago with Ralph Errolle .

She became known in 1967 through a series of concerts that she gave with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra . Although she only had three pieces in her repertoire at the time, Josef Krips , a conductor of the Vienna State Opera (director Egon Hilbert ), gave her an engagement in Vienna that same year . There she made her debut in the role of Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte . In the following years she took on more than a dozen new roles in her repertoire, u. a. the role of Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail , the role of Gilda in Verdi's opera Rigoletto and the role of Marie in Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment at the Vienna Volksoper . In 1969 she got an engagement at the New York City Opera and in 1970 in Salzburg , both as coloratura soprano in the role of Queen of the Night.

In 1974 Augér moved to Frankfurt am Main and took on several lyrical roles in her repertoire. In 1975 she made her debut at La Scala in Milan in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and then sang at various theaters in Europe, including the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow .

As a soprano interpreter in the recordings of the complete Bach cantatas under Helmuth Rilling , she gradually replaced Agnes Giebel, who had previously been the leading Bach singer, in the 1970s .

From 1971 to 1977 she taught singing at the University of Frankfurt am Main , where she moved in 1974. One of her students here was Renée Fleming . Later she also taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

On July 23, 1986, another highlight of her career was her wedding singing at the marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London , singing Mozart's exsultate, Jubilate . She also recorded this piece live as a film in April 1990 - together with Mozart's Great Mass in C minor - under the direction of Leonard Bernstein . Arleen Augér was also an important song interpreter. Just a few years before her untimely death, she took over part 9 of the 40-part complete recording of all songs by Franz Schubert for the English record company Hyperion . Her excellent coloratura technique is documented on approx. 200 LP and CD recordings.

Arleen Augér was married twice; both marriages were divorced.

Augér died of a malignant brain tumor ( glioblastoma ), which she was only diagnosed in February 1992. On May 30, 1993, the soprano fell into a coma from which she did not wake up until her death.

Quote

“In memory of Arleen Auger. An extinguished sun. "

- Donna Leon : Venetian charade . Diogenes, Zurich 1997, p. 4.

literature

  • Robert Cetti Jr .: Arleen Augér . In: OrangeCoast. The Magazine of Orange County. November 1989, p. 15, online , English, accessed on September 29, 2015.
  • Peter G. Davis: Following the songs . In: New York Magazine. February 13, 1984, p. 77, online , English, accessed September 29, 2015.
  • Ralph Zedler: Arleen Auger. Tribute to a secret star. Christoph Dohr, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-86846-109-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Rigoletto" in the State Opera. There were only two left ... In: Arbeiter-Zeitung , January 14, 1971, p. 7, top right.
  2. ↑ Arleen Auger's biography on arleen-auger-memorial-fund.org (English, archived website)
personal data
SURNAME Augér, Arleen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH South Gate , California
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1993
Place of death Leusden , Netherlands