Erna Schlueter

Erna Schlüter (born February 5, 1904 in Oldenburg , † December 1, 1969 in Hamburg ) was a German opera singer ( highly dramatic soprano ).

Life

Erna Schlüter made her debut in 1922, initially as an alto at the State Theater in Oldenburg . After her stage debut as the Third Lady in The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, she got the first specialist role with Azucena in Verdi's opera The Troubadour . In the 1924/25 season she designed Orpheus in Christoph Willibald Gluck's baroque opera Orpheus and Eurydice in Oldenburg .

In 1925 she moved to the Nationaltheater Mannheim , where her voice developed into a highly dramatic soprano. Erna Schlüter sang Dalila in Samson and Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns , Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss . In addition, she sang first roles in Richard Wagner's stage works with Ortrud in Lohengrin , Erda and Fricka in Das Rheingold . In 1930 she made her debut in Mannheim at the age of 26 as Brünnhilde in Siegfried von Richard Wagner.

Between 1930 and 1940 Erna Schlüter belonged to the ensemble of the Städtische Bühnen Düsseldorf under Walter Bruno Iltz . She made her debut as Ortrud. In the Italian class in Düsseldorf she sang Elena in The Sicilian Vespers by Giuseppe Verdi , Tosca in Tosca by Giacomo Puccini , Leonora in The Troubadour by Giuseppe Verdi and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . In 1933 she took part in the world premiere of the opera Der Rossknecht by Winfried Zillig . In 1934 Isolde appeared in Richard Wagner's musical drama Tristan und Isolde . In a performance of his opera Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Richard Strauss personally, Erna Schlüter sang the title role in 1934.

In 1936 she made guest appearances at the Frankfurt Opera and sang all three Brünnhildes in Wagner's tetralogy that also in outdoor performances at the 1939 in Gdansk located Sopot Forest Opera interpreted. One of the first international guest performances was an appearance as Brünnhilde in complete Ring performances in Barcelona . Wilhelm Furtwängler invited Erna Schlueter to a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1936. Her first surviving radio recording was made in Stuttgart in 1938. Erna Schlüter sang Brünnhilde in Die Walküre at the side of the famous Rudolf Bockelmann as Wotan.

In 1938 Erna Schlüter was appointed chamber singer in Düsseldorf . In 1940 she accepted a permanent engagement at the Hamburg Opera House, where she stayed until the end of her career as a singer in 1956. At the beginning of the 1940s she added the Leonore in Ludwig van Beethoven's opera Fidelio to her repertoire . In 1941 she appeared at the Maggio Musicale Florenz as Isolde in Tristan und Isolde , also with this part in 1942 at La Scala in Milan . In 1943 she took part in Verdi's Requiem in Vienna . The Vienna Philharmonic played under Hans Knappertsbusch .

In 1947 Erna Schlueter was engaged at the Metropolitan Opera New York. She was obliged to perform two series of performances as Marschallin and Isolde. But in the United States there was a clear rejection of her commitment, both among large parts of the audience and the American press, which was directed less against Erna Schlueter as a personality and singer, but more against her origin from Germany two years after the end of the war. Erna Schlueter was not supported by the management of the Met during her five-month stay in the USA. After only one performance of Der Rosenkavalier and Tristan und Isolde with Max Lorenz as stage partner, the contract for further appearances was not fulfilled by the management of the Metropolitan Opera.

In 1947 Wilhelm Furtwängler signed Erna Schlüter as Isolde at the Berlin State Opera , under whose direction she also took part in performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's opera Fidelio at the Salzburg Festival in 1948 as Leonore .

The next milestone in her career followed with Erna Schlüter's guest appearance as Elektra in Richard Strauss's one-act play Elektra in London in 1947. Erna Schlüter celebrated one of her greatest triumphs under the musical direction of Sir Thomas Beecham and in the presence of the aged Richard Strauss. Richard Strauss thanked her warmly and saw in her the fulfillment of Elektra, just as Wilhelm Furtwängler had seen in her the fulfillment of Isolde. In 1953 she returned to London as Elektra for the coronation celebrations of Elizabeth II .

In Hamburg in 1947 Schlüter sang the teacher Ellen Orford in the German premiere of the opera Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten . The Hessischer Rundfunk signed her and Erna Schlueter traveled to Frankfurt to take part in complete recordings of the Wagner operas Die Walküre as Brünnhilde and Rienzi as Adriano and Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten as a dyer. Günther Rennert, the director of the State Opera at the time, neglected the singer only at her Hamburg headquarters. After 1950 Schlüter could only be heard there as Elektra and Marschallin. Erna Schlüter prepared with the sexton in the opera Jenufa by Leoš Janáček for a change of subject, which she performed impressively at the Hamburg State Opera in 1953/54. But an illness forced her to say goodbye on the stage.

The obituary in the world described Erna Schlüter's voice as follows: “Her soprano, who had a rich ability to differentiate between a brilliant development of power and a brilliant pianissimo, had its own brilliance. Their game was inspired by the power to idealistic upswing, which was mixed with warm feelings. "

Erna Schlüter was buried in the Gertrudenfriedhof in Oldenburg . On the occasion of her 100th birthday, her grave was given a new stone and a bronze plaque designed by the sculptor Rita Westermann, as well as another bronze plaque that reminds of this great singer at the house where she was born. In January 2005, a private initiative in Oldenburg founded the Erna-Schlüter-Gesellschaft Oldenburg. The society awards a singing prize for young singers. The first prize winners in 2005 were the soprano Anja Metzger and the tenor Daniel Behle . In June 2007 the mezzo-soprano Katerina Hebelkova received the Erna-Schlüter-Prize. In May 2010 the prize was awarded to the soprano Mareke Freudenberg and the bass-baritone Derrick Ballard. In 2013 the prize was awarded to mezzo-soprano Geneviève King, and in 2015 to mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit.

Audio documents

CD edition Erna Schlueter

Arias, scenes, concert pieces, songs by Beethoven, Weber, Marschner, Halévy, Wagner, R.Strauss, Wolf, Stephan, Braunfels / 2 boxes with 5 CDs / Hamburg archive for vocal art

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio

with Erna Schlüter (Leonore), Lisa Della Casa, Julius Patzak, Rudolf Schock, Ferdinand Frantz

Vienna Philharmonic, conductor: Wilhelm Furtwängler

Live recording 1948, Salzburg Festival - Myto 991.H.025

Halévy: La Juive (sung in German)

With Erna Schlüter (Rachel), Joachim Sattler, Otto von Rohr

Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, conductor: Kurt Schröder

Radio recording 1951, Frankfurt - Walhall 0029

Marschner: Hans Heiling

With Erna Schlüter (Queen of the Earth Spirits), Rudolf Gonszar, Hanna Claus, Cornelius van Dyck

Symphony Orchestra of the Hessian Radio, conductor: Winfried Zillig

Richard Strauss: Elektra

with Erna Schlüter (Elektra), Gusta Hammer, Annelies Kupper, Robert Hager

Orchestra of the Hamburg Opera, conductor: Eugen Jochum

Radio recording 1944, Hamburg - Line Music / Cantus Classics 500356

Richard Strauss: Elektra

With Erna Schlüter (Elektra), Elisabeth Höngen , Ljuba Welitsch , Paul Schöffler

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham

Live recording 1947, London - Myto 981.H.004

Richard Strauss: The woman without a shadow

With Erna Schlüter (dyer), Annelies Kupper , Diana Eustrati, Karl Kronenberg, Heinrich Bensing

Symphony Orchestra of the Hessian Radio, conductor: Winfried Zillig

Radio recording 1950, Frankfurt - Ponto / Mitridate PO 1015

Richard Wagner: Rienzi

With Erna Schlüter (Adriano), Günther Treptow , Trude Eipperle

Symphony Orchestra of the Hessian Radio, conductor: Winfried Zillig

Radio recording 1950, Frankfurt - Urania URN 22157

Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde (Acts 2 and 3)

With Erna Schlüter (Isolde), Ludwig Suthaus , Gottlob Frick , Margarete Klose

Staatskapelle Berlin, conductor: Wilhelm Furtwängler

Radio recording 1947, Berlin (Admiralspalast) - Archipel ARP-CD 0029

Richard Wagner: The Valkyrie

With Erna Schlüter (Brünnhilde), Ferdinand Frantz , Adam Fendt, Aga Joesten, Otto von Rohr

Symphony Orchestra of the Hessian Radio, conductor: Winfried Zillig

Radio recording 1948, Frankfurt - Line Music / Cantus Classics 50075 - 50076

Richard Wagner: The Valkyrie (Acts 2 and 3)

with Erna Schlüter (Brünnhilde), Rudolf Bockelmann, Fritz Krauss, Maria Reining, Helene Jung

Orchestra of the Reichsender Stuttgart, conductor: Carl Leonhardt

Radio recording 1938, Stuttgart - Preiser PR 90207

Richard Wagner: Die Walküre - proclamation of death from the 2nd act
Richard Wagner: Siegfried - final scene 3rd act

Erna Schlüter (Brünnhilde), Joachim Sattler

Symphony Orchestra of the Hessian Radio, conductor: Kurt Schröder

Radio recording in 1947, Frankfurt

contained in: Joachim Sattler sings Wagner - Preiser PR 89193

literature

• Theater archives in Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Hamburg; Archive City of Oldenburg; booklet
• Erna Schlüter on her 100th birthday . Program for the matinee in the Oldenburg State Theater, 2004
• Marlene Warmer: "The heroine of great operas": career paths of the Oldenburg singer Erna Schlüter (1904–1969) . Erna Schlüter Gesellschaft, ISBN 978-3-89995-876-8 , 104 pages, 27 b / w illustrations, paperback, 1 CD (67 minutes running time)
• Schlueter, Erna. In: KJ Kutsch, L. Riemens: Großes Sängerlexikon , Volume 6, KG Saur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-11598-9 , pp. 4216-4217

Web links

• Works by and about Erna Schlüter in the catalog of the German National Library
• Erna Schlüter Society Official website
• The singer Erna Schlueter . maxalvary.blogspot.com
• Erna Schlüter at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
• Klaus Ulrich Spiegel: HEROINE IN THE SHADOW - Erna Schlüter - a great highly dramatic between the eras

Individual evidence

1. ^ Die Welt , December 3, 1969
2. ↑ Klaus Nerger: The grave of Erna Schlueter. In: knerger.de. Accessed December 1, 2019 .