Bella Paalen

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Bella Paalen , actually Isabella Pollak ( July 9 or December 9, 1881 in Pásztó , Austria-Hungary - July 28, 1964 in New York ), was an Austro-American opera singer with an alto voice . She was at the k. u. k. Hofoper engaged in Vienna, later the State Opera, was appointed chamber singer there in 1933 and had to leave the country after the National Socialists came to power in Austria because of her Jewish origins .

life and work

Bella Paalen was the daughter of Ernst Pollak (1851–1935) and Laura Pollak nee. Jamnitz (1858-1935). The father came from Jungbunzlau , the mother from Vienna, where her two brothers Benno Fred Dolbin (1883–1971) and Otto Friedrich Pollak (1885–1915) were born. Paalen's second brother and her parents also died in Vienna. In 1912 her brother Benno Fred changed his family name to Dolbin.

She studied singing with Rosa Papier-Paumgartner and Johannes Ress . In 1904 she made her debut at the Düsseldorf Opera House - as Fidès in Meyerbeer's Der Prophet . In 1905 and 1906 she was at the Graz City Theater . The Viennese court opera director and composer Gustav Mahler heard her in Graz as the soloist of his 3rd symphony , was impressed and committed her to his house.

K. u. k. Court Opera in Vienna

From September 1, 1907 to September 1, 1937 the artist was a member of the ensemble of the k. u. k. Court Opera and from 1918 the Vienna State Opera. She sang leading roles there, but also medium, small and small parts. She was involved in two Viennese premieres, in 1907 as Kate Pinkerton in Puccini's Madame Butterfly and in 1911 as Annina in Rosenkavalier by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss . This role became her prime role in Vienna, she sang Annina in a total of 173 State Opera performances.

She appeared 58 times as Amneris in Verdi's Aida on the stage of the Vienna State Opera, 54 times as Rosalia in d'Alberts Tiefland , 46 times as Herodias, 39 times as Ortrud, 32 times as Klytämnestra and 31 times as Ulrica. She was part of the cast of the Viennese masked ball in 1924, which is still legendary today , with Richard Tauber as Gustaf III, Mattia Battistini as René Ankarström and the women Vera Schwarz (Amelia), Bella Paalen (Ulrica) and Selma Kurz (Oscar). In the 31 seasons in which the artist was engaged at the Vienna Opera, she demonstrated her versatility. She liked the difficult Wagner subject as well as German opera and Viennese operetta , she sang the Italian and French subjects, but also works from the Slavic repertoire. And she proved herself to be a step in for smaller and larger games. Each time she took on the title role in Carmen , in which she had otherwise always embodied Mercedes, and Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana , furthermore twice the Wigelis in distress and once each Gertrud in Hans Heiling and, surprisingly, on January 17, 1913 Helmsman in the Flying Dutchman , a tenor role.

Paalen was closely connected to the State Opera and was awarded the title of chamber singer in 1933 for her achievements .

Guest performances

Paalen made guest appearances - parallel to her engagement at the Vienna Opera - in Holland, Spain, England and in Czechoslovakia. In 1911 and 1912 she sang Fricka in the Walküre with the Amsterdam Wagner Society . In 1925 she made a successful guest appearance at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London - in four Wagner roles (as Ortrud, Magdalene, Mary and Fricka) and as Annina in Rosenkavalier . In between 1934 and 1937 she sang two smaller sections at the Salzburg Festival , in Corregidor by Hugo Wolf and the Elektra by Richard Strauss . According to Kutsch / Riemens, these guest performances brought her "great successes".

Emigration and Living in the United States

Since it was no longer safe for Paalen due to her Jewish origins in Vienna, she emigrated to the United States in 1939 with the help of Lotte Lehmann . Her brother BF Dolbin , a press illustrator, had also fled Germany to the USA. "The late time of their escape from the Vienna of the Nazis points out that she had felt well protected themselves by their 30-year membership at the Vienna State Opera." The singer could be, like her brother, in New York down, could find no commitment, however. From then on she worked as a singing teacher until 1959. She received US citizenship in 1944 and died in New York in 1964.

Roles (selection)

premiere

  • 1934: Marietta in Bittner's Das Veilchen - Vienna State Opera, conductor: Clemens Krauss (December 8)

repertoire

Bizet :

  • Mercedes and title role in Carmen

d'Albert :

Delibes :

Giordano :

Engelbert Humperdinck :

Kienzl :

Lortzing :

Mascagni :

Meyerbeer :

Millöcker :

Mozart :

Puccini

Smetana :

  • Háta and Ludmila in The Bartered Bride

Johann Strauss :

Richard Strauss :

Tchaikovsky :

Verdi :

Wagner :

wolf

Wolf-Ferrari :

Audio documents

Texts

  • Words of remembrance. In: Aufbau (New York), Vol. 13, February 21, 1947, No. 8. 7, col

literature

  • Karl J. Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Volume 2: M - Z. Munich: Saur 1987 (* July 9th)
  • Franz Hadamowsky , Alexander Witeschnik : Hundred Years of Vienna Opera on the Ring [anniversary exhibition]. Vienna: Action Committee 100 year celebration of the Vienna State Opera 1969, p. 100
  • Erich Hermann Müller: German Musicians Lexicon , Dresden 1929
  • Walter Pass, Gerhard Scheit, Wilhelm Svoboda: Orpheus in exile . The expulsion of Austrian music from 1936-1945, Vienna 1995
  • Horst Seeger : Opernlexikon , Berlin 1978 (1987)
  • Theo Stengel , Herbert Gerigk : Lexicon of Jews in Music . With a list of titles of Jewish works. Compiled on behalf of the Reich leadership of the NSDAP on the basis of official, party-officially checked documents. In: Publications of the institute of the NSDAP. For Research on the Jewish Question, Vol. 2, Berlin 1940
  • Eva Weissweiler : Eliminated! The Lexicon of Jews in Music and its Murderous Consequences , Cologne 1999
  • Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Eds.), International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945 , Vol II, 2 Munich: Saur 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 882

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl-Josef Kutsch, Leo Riemens: Large singer lexicon . 4th edition. tape 5 : Menni – Rappold. KG Saur Verlag , Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-11598-9 , p. 3486 f .
  2. ^ Piet Hein Honig, Hanns-Georg Rodek : 100001. The show business encyclopedia of the 20th century. Showbiz-Data-Verlag, Villingen-Schwenningen 1992, ISBN 3-929009-01-5 , p. 720.
  3. ^ Horst Seeger : Opernlexikon . Florian Noetzel Verlag Wilhelmshaven 1987. Page 495. ISBN 3-7959-0271-1
  4. ↑ : Wilhelm Kosch (Ed.): Deutsches Theaterlexikon . Volume II. Hurka – Pallenberg De Gruyter, Berlin [et al.] January 1971. Page 1722. ISBN 978-3-907820-29-2 (accessed via De Gruyter Online)
  5. ^ Felix Czeike : Historical Lexicon Vienna . tape 4 Le – Ro. Kremayr & Scheriau / Orac, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-218-00748-8 , p. 477 ( digitized version ).
  6. ^ A b Institute for Newspaper Research Dortmund : Dolbin, Benedikt Fred (1883-1971): Nachlass. In: Federal Archives : Central Database of Legacies. 2005, accessed January 18, 2017 .
  7. ^ Marriage register
  8. ^ Biographical database and lexicon of Austrian women at the University of Vienna : Paalen Bella, b. Isabella (Izabella) Pollak (Pollack) / opera singer , accessed January 2, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Paalen, Bella
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pollak, Isabella (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (alto)
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1881 or December 9, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Pásztó
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1964
Place of death new York