Brigitte Fassbaender

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Brigitte Fassbaender (2014)

Brigitte Fassbaender (born July 3, 1939 in Berlin ) is a German singer ( mezzo-soprano ), director , singing teacher , reciter , author and artistic director .

Life

Brigitte Fassbaender is the daughter of the actress Sabine Peters and the baritone and chamber singer Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender . She received her first vocal training from her father, who also remained her only singing teacher. Brigitte Fassbaender studied at the Conservatory in Nuremberg from 1958 to 1961 and made her debut in 1961 at the Bavarian State Opera , of which she was a permanent member of the ensemble for 10 years. Guest engagements have taken her to all leading opera houses worldwide - including Covent Garden , Teatro alla Scala , San Francisco Opera , Lyric Opera of Chicago , Metropolitan Opera , Vienna State Opera and the Opéra national de Paris . Brigitte Fassbaender was also a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival from 1972 , in 1980 she took over the mezzo part in Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the Festival in the Arena di Verona , in 1983 and 1984 she appeared as Waltraute in Götterdämmerung at the Bayreuth Festival and In 1990 she sang Clairon in Capriccio at the Glyndebourne Festival .

Brigitte Fassbaender embodied a wide range of roles in the operatic field, which not only included roles like Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (her star role from 1967 to 1988), Sesto in La clemenza di Tito , Dorabella in Così fan tutte or Charlotte in Werther (one of her favorite roles ), but also Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus , Orestes in Die Schöne Helena , Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde , the title role in Carmen , Eboli in Don Carlos , Marina in Boris Godunov , Klytämnestra in Elektra , Lady Milford in the world premiere of Gottfried von Einem's opera Kabale und Liebe (premiered December 17, 1976 Vienna State Opera) or Countess Geschwitz in Götz Friedrich's production of Alban Berg's Lulu at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1982).

She was regarded as the prototype of the »singing actress«, because for her, singing was never an end in itself, but was always associated with passion for acting, detailed work in the scenic and psychological penetration of the works. The result was an impressive stage presence, based on vocal perfection in combination with a completely natural and authentic acting performance.

Another focus of her work was concert and lieder singing. Here, too, the truthfulness of the artistic statement that reaches the listener / viewer was "ultimately more important than pure beautiful song". Brigitte Fassbaender gave annual recitals from 1983 in the Wigmore Hall in London and from 1986 at the Schubertiade . Her repertoire included songs by Franz Liszt , Richard Strauss , Johannes Brahms , Franz Schubert and Gustav Mahler . She was the first singer who - together with the pianist and composer Aribert Reimann - recorded the three great Schubert cycles ( Die Schöne Müllerin , Winterreise , Schwanengesang ). In 1992 Aribert Reimann wrote the a cappella cycle Darkened for Brigitte Fassbaender (based on nine poems by Paul Celan ), which she performed for the first time on June 26, 1993 at the Schubertiade in Feldkirch.

Over 250 CD and vinyl recordings, the majority of them in the song and concert area, document her importance as a singer. Her phonograms have received numerous prizes, including twice the renowned Gramophone Award (1987, 1992).

In 1994 she ended her career as an opera, song and concert singer. From 1995 to 1997 Brigitte Fassbaender was interim opera director at the State Theater in Braunschweig , and from 1999 to 2012 she was director of the Tyrolean State Theater . In 2002 she was appointed artistic director of the Eppaner Liedsommers. In addition, she was artistic director of the Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen from 2009 to 2017 . From 2005 to 2017, she was the successor to Wolfgang Sawallisch, chairwoman of the Richard Strauss Society (RSG) in Munich.

Regular directing has been an important part of her work since 1992. As early as 1989 she had rehearsed the Rosenkavalier as a director in Munich, followed a year later by her first own production with Rossini's Cenerentola in Coburg. With over 80 productions by now, she is one of the most renowned opera directors of today. For Brigitte Fassbaender, directing means »stimulating the imagination, inspiring, exchanging experiences, breaking down scruples and inner barriers«. Her artistic reading of the work does not follow rigid concepts or dogmatic approaches, but rather goes into the individuality of the musical drama in order to redefine and shape it from its holistic side, whereby the music is the strongest source of inspiration for the director. Exact timing with the music and the subtle, detailed elaboration of the characters (both the comic and tragic moments) are among the most important features of her directorial work. The person directing, the person on the stage, is therefore also at the center of her work. The aim is to achieve the »truthfulness of the artistic statement« and »moments of identification that also affect the viewer«.

Brigitte Fassbaender also works as a singing teacher and is committed to promoting young talented singers. She passes on her knowledge to young singers in master classes / workshops at home and abroad (including Bregenz Festival , Eppaner Liedsommer, Heidelberger Frühling , Wigmore Hall , International Hugo Wolf Academy , International Meistersinger Academy, Richard Strauss Festival and New voices ). Her students include: Juliane Banse , Michelle Breedt , Anke Vondung , Christiane Libor , Martin Mitterrutzner and Janina Baechle . She is represented as a jury member in important competitions (e.g. Das Lied. International Song Competition ), in 2012 she was jury chairman of the ARD competition for singing, in the same position in 2014 and 2018 at the International Competition for Lied Art of the Internationale Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart and in 2015 at the International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition in Vienna. In 2017 she took over the patronage of the International Meistersinger Academy in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate.

Brigitte Fassbaender translated the libretti of Jacques Offenbach's Robinson Crusoé (2006) and Michael Nyman's Love Counts (2008). In 2010 she wrote the text for Lulu - the musical (based on Frank Wedekind , music: Stephan Kanyar). The world premiere took place on May 15, 2010 in the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck. There followed on May 5, 2012 the world premiere of the musical Shylock! , for which she had also written the libretto (based on Shakespeare's tragicomedy The Merchant of Venice ; music: Stephan Kanyar). In 2019, her memoir Come out of the amazement was published , which met with a lot of public response.

In addition to writing, for Brigitte Fassbaender painting is primarily »regenerating creativity«. She created picture books for adults and children or illustrations for (children's) concerts, and she occasionally makes her work available for exhibitions.

Honors

Productions

Sound carrier (selection)

Opera / operetta

Melodrama

  • Recitation of Enoch Arden (TrV 181) by Richard Strauss ( Wolfram Rieger , Klav.) (Two Pianists, DDD 2013/14)
  • Recitation of Das Schloss am Meere (TrV 191) by Richard Strauss (Wolfram Rieger, Klav.) (Two Pianists, DDD 2013/14)

song

concert

TV recordings (selection)

Operas:

Interviews:

Literature (selection)

Web links

Commons : Brigitte Fassbaender  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cornelia Hofmann, Katharina Meinel: Documentation of the premieres from 1653 to 1992. In: Hans Zehetmair, Jürgen Schläder (ed.): Nationaltheater. The Bavarian State Opera. Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7654-2551-6 (premieres with Brigitte Fassbaender, pp. 317–329, 332–335)
  2. ↑ Performances with Brigitte Fassbaender at the Royal Opera House / Covent Garden in London
  3. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender's appearances at La Scala in Milan
  4. ^ Brigitte Fassbaender's appearances at the San Francisco Opera
  5. ^ Performance archive (Herodias in Salome , 1988) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
  6. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender's appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York
  7. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender's appearances at the Vienna State Opera
  8. ↑ Performances with Brigitte Fassbaender at the Opéra national de Paris
  9. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender's appearances at the Salzburg Festival
  10. ↑ Cast of the performance on August 7, 1980 ( memento from December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) at the Festival in the Arena di Verona
  11. ^ Performance database of the Bayreuth Festival
  12. ↑ Otto Schenk: "I can't stop". Touching and touching things , Vienna 2016
  13. ↑ First performance cast
  14. ^ Role portraits by Brigitte Fassbaender
  15. ↑ August Everding in conversation with Brigitte Fassbaender, in: Da Capo. ZDF, Mainz 1995.
  16. ^ Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski : Brigitte Fassbaender. Interviews, facts, opinions. Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-254-08351-2 , pp. 11, 21.
  17. ↑ Markus Guggenberger: "Meisterklasse KS Brigitte Fassbaender", Wotan's Opernkritik - WordPress.com, October 21, 2017
  18. ↑ Thomas Voigt: "Echo Klassik 2017: Brigitte Fassbaender" , in: crescendo. The magazine for classical music & lifestyle . Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  19. ^ Events with Brigitte Fassbaender at the Schubertiade
  20. ^ Information on the world premiere of A. Reimann's cycle Eindunkelt for alto solo on June 26, 1993 in Feldkirch
  21. ↑ Thomas Voigt: »Recapturing the audience. Brigitte Fassbaender as Opera Director in Braunschweig «, in: Opernwelt. 37 (1995), No. 6, pp. 4-5, ISSN  0030-3690
  22. ↑ »Opera legend Brigitte Fassbaender. Her second career as a director « ZDF Kultur | aspekte, March 8, 2019, video available until March 8, 2020
  23. ↑ Christine Lemke-Matwey: Brigitte Fassbaender: "What you hunt is already lost", interview , Zeit online , June 26, 2019, from Zeit No. 27/2019, June 27, 2019
  24. ^ Oswald Panagl: Brigitte Fassbaender. Chamber singer, artistic director and director , in: Oberbayerischer Kulturpreis 2015
  25. ↑ "Patron thanked" , in: neumarktonline.de , July 16, 2017, year 16, ISSN  1614-2853
  26. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender, author at Felix Bloch Erben
  27. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender: "Nothing fell into my lap". Retrieved February 6, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender: An unusual project. Christmas reading stories, with audio book. Athesia-Tappeiner Verlag, Bozen 2011, ISBN 978-88-7073-718-9 .
  29. ^ Brigitte Fassbaender as a painter , in: mein district.at , August 5, 2015.
  30. ^ Stephanie Kaiser (Red.): Biography. Brigitte Fassbaender . In: whoswho.de , accessed on August 4, 2015.
  31. ↑ Brigitte Fassbaender Order Pour le Mérite
  32. ^ Announcement of the awards from March 1, 2012 to the Federal President
  33. ↑ Press release of October 31, 2012 on the city's website, accessed on November 4, 2012.
  34. ↑ Susanne Benda: "Prize for Brigitte Fassbaender" , in: Stuttgarter Nachrichten , March 16, 2013.
  35. ↑ Ilka Trautmann: Richard Strauss Festival "I will never forget the years in Garmisch-Partenkirchen", in: Kreisbote , June 26, 2017
  36. ↑ crescendo meets: Brigitte Fassbaender , Axel Brüggemann in conversation with Brigitte Fassbaender, Echo Klassik 2017. Accessed on November 18, 2017.
  37. ↑ Peter Krause: "Only once standing ovation" , in: Welt.de . Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  38. ^ "Record critics give honorary prizes" , in: Musik heute. Klassik-Nachrichten-Journal , February 5, 2020.
  39. ↑ Discussion of the DVD in: Opera News , December 2015, vol. 80, No. 6. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  40. ^ "Challenge of cheerfulness", in: Festival time. The magazine of the Bregenz Festival , summer 2018, pp. 4–7. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Fassbaender, Brigitte
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German singer and director
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin