Ernestine Färber-Strasser

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Ernestine Färber-Strasser , b. as Emma Färber (May 12 or 15, 1884 in Königsberg - unknown place, after 1955), was a German chamber singer of the alto vocal class . From 1913 she was part of the ensemble of the Munich Court Opera and made guest appearances in Amsterdam, Vienna, Zurich and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. Due to the large range of registers of her voice, she was also able to take on many roles conceived for mezzo-soprano . Her career was de facto ended after the National Socialists came to power in 1933. She had to flee.

She was married to the Austrian painter Benjamin Strasser .

life and work

The singer was born in East Prussia as the daughter of the businessman Benjamin Färber. No information is available about her training, only contradicting information about the beginning of her stage career. What is certain is that she made her debut either in Aachen or in Leipzig. In the New Theater Almanach for the years 1911 and 1912 she is listed as a member of the ensemble at the Leipzig Opera House , admittedly as Emma Färber . There she was given her first specialist roles as a beginner. In 1912 she appeared in the Dutch premiere of Humperdinck's Königskinder in Amsterdam. In the 1912/13 season she was a member of the ensemble at the Stadttheater Aachen . In 1913 she was committed to the Munich Court Opera , where she was able to achieve numerous successes in the course of the following eight seasons and where she was appointed chamber singer .

In 1915 she married the Austrian painter Benjamin Strasser . The couple had at least one daughter. In 1921 she returned to Leipzig for one season, after which she made guest appearances at well-known European theaters and made several concert tours to Spain, England and Switzerland. In 1923 she took over the nurse in Mussorgski's Boris Godunow at the Zurich Opera House . In London in 1924 she sang Fricka and Waltraute in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen , conducted by Bruno Walter , there also the Brangäne. In 1927 she was a guest at the Vienna State Opera as a wet nurse in Richard Strauss's Frau ohne Schatten . From 1925 to 1930 she was an ensemble member of the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart. Until 1931 she continued to make several guest appearances at the Munich Opera.

In 1934 the family was forced to leave their comfortable apartment in Munich. The anti-Semitic pressure of the population and the rulers increased steadily, so that the singer decided to flee to Switzerland. Her daughter took her with her. Her husband followed a few months later, but went to England in 1939 to be able to support the family financially. There he was interned in 1940 as an "enemy alien". He was only able to return to his wife and child in Switzerland in 1945. In 1951 the family emigrated to the United States. Benjamin Strasser, exhausted from the turmoil of the Nazi years and exile, died in New York in 1955.

Ernestine Färber-Strasser also fell ill. She returned to Zurich with her daughter. All financial reserves were used up, mother and daughter were destitute. In 1956, she applied for redress in Stuttgart. After that there is no sign of life.

rank

The contralto had a large, voluminous voice and was best known for her composition of Wagner and Strauss parts, including Fricka and Brangäne. Kutsch / Riemens: "In addition to her singing skills, she made an impact on the stage with her distinctive appearance and her talent for acting".

repertoire

Opera (selection)

Bizet :

Luck :

Mozart :

Mussorgsky :

Richard Strauss :

 

Tchaikovsky :

Verdi :

Wagner :

concert

Ernestine Färber-Strasser was also a popular song interpreter. Her broad repertoire included songs by Franz Liszt , Max Reger , Franz Schubert , Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf . She also sang with a large orchestra, for example on February 7, 1917 at the Wiener Musikverein in Beethoven's Missa solemnis under Franz Schalk .

Audio documents

All of the singer's records are extremely rare and difficult to find. Three recording cycles are known:

  • In 1921 she took for the German Grammophon the Wiegenliedchen (op. 49, no. 3) by Richard Strauss on. Your piano accompanist was Bruno Seidler-Winkler.
  • In 1922, six titles followed for the Vox-Schallplatten- und sprachmaschinen-AG based in Berlin (the Habanera of Carmen , the incantation scene of Ulrica from the masked ball and four songs - Above all the tops is Ruh by Franz Liszt, When the linden tree blooms and Des Child's Prayer by Max Reger and The Abandoned Maiden by Hugo Wolf)
  • In early 1925 she recorded again for Deutsche Grammophon.

Commemoration

Your name can be found on a memorial plaque for Nazi victims in the Stuttgart State Opera , which was unveiled on April 7, 2016 by Minister Theresia Bauer together with the artistic director of the Stuttgart State Theater.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wiener Symphoniker : Concert program on February 7, 1917, 7:30 p.m. , accessed on March 30, 2019
  2. ↑ MusicWeb International: Richard Strauss (1864-1949), Selected songs Recordings 1901-1946 , accessed on 30 March 2019
  3. ^ Vox: Artist Discography , accessed March 30, 2019
  4. ^ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg : Memorial plaque for Nazi victims unveiled in the Stuttgart State Theater , accessed on March 30, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Färber-Strasser, Ernestine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dyer, Ernestine; Färber, Emma (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer with an alt / contra-alto voice
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1884 or May 15, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH after 1955