Emmi Leisner

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Emmi Leisner in 1912, portrait by Carl Bantzer

Emmi Leisner (born August 8, 1885 in Flensburg ; † January 11, 1958 in Flensburg) was a German opera, lied and concert singer. Her voice is described by contemporaries as deep alto .

Life

She studied in Berlin. Her career began with her appearance in the role of Orpheus at the Hellerau Festival in 1912. This was followed by two opera engagements in Berlin, namely 1913–1921 at the Court Opera and State Opera and 1923–1925 at the German Opera House . Alongside and afterwards she developed an intensive, international career as a song and concert singer, performed in Bayreuth and earned a legendary reputation as a contralto.

Her repertoire included operas by Gluck , Saint-Saëns and Wagner , arias by Monteverdi and Piccinni , Bach cantatas and songs by Brahms , Cornelius , Liszt , Mozart , Otto Nicolai , Pfitzner , Reger , Schubert and Schumann .

Her musical partners included u. a. the pianist Michael Raucheisen and the conductor Oskar Fried .

Discography

Emmi Leisner's career fell into the age of shellac, even before the advent of the long-playing record. Complete opera recordings were rare, and so no complete recording with the participation of the singer is known. Your recordings extend over at least 20 years (1924–1944).

  • 1932: Richard Wagner: Die Walküre with Emmi Leisner in the role of Fricka, probably only excerpts from the 2nd and 3rd act, studio recording with other soloists, orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, conductor: Leo Blech, CD released in 1999 (?) by Pearl
  • 1942–1944: at least 79 songs by Ludwig van Beethoven (7), Johannes Brahms (18), Peter Cornelius (12), Franz Liszt (2), Otto Nicolai (1), Hans Pfitzner (1), Max Reger (7) , Franz Schubert (1), Robert Schumann (17), Richard Strauss (1), Carl Maria von Weber (1) and Hugo Wolf (11), studio recordings with Michael Raucheisen (piano). - For the CD release from 2005 see there (with web link). The numbers given refer to this CD release.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Tessmer, Neue Musik-Zeitung, year 42, 1921, p. 128, digital copies see s: Neue Musik-Zeitung . A reviewer of the Viennese magazine Der Merker speaks of a "heavy dark organ": Issue of June 1, 1917, p. 436, digital copies see s: Der Merker .
  2. ↑ KJ Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . 3rd edition 1997, Volume 3, p. 2038.
  3. ↑ There is no recording in Karsten Steiger: Operas. A directory of all recordings. All composers and their works on vinyl, CD and laser disk . 1st edition. Florian Noetzel (original edition) and Cormoran (license edition), Wilhelmshaven (original edition) and Munich (license edition) 2000, ISBN 3-517-09119-7 .
  4. ^ Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. From 1907 to the present (=  digital library . Special volume). Directmedia Publishing GmbH, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89853-032-9 , p. 16486 .
personal data
SURNAME Leisner, Emmi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (mezzo-soprano / alto)
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Flensburg
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1958
Place of death Flensburg