Friedel Beckmann

Friedel Beckmann (born April 23, 1901 ; † 1983 in Bochum ) was a German opera singer ( mezzo-soprano ).

Life

Beckmann was a student of Clemens Pabelick and Clemens Glettenberg at the Conservatory in Bochum. The stage activity began in Münster in 1927 with the third boy in Mozart's Magic Flute . In 1929, Werner Ladwig , the new head of opera there, moved her to Königsberg i. Pr. , Where she became a crowd favorite with her first appearance as a cherub in Figaro's wedding .

Other great roles were there: Gluck's Orpheus, Mignon , Azucena in the Troubadour , Jocaste in Oedipus Rex . During this season Saladin Schmitt signed a contract for Duisburg-Bochum, where many roles were added over the years, such as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser , Sieglinde in Walküre , Brangäne in Tristan and Isolde , Tatjana in Eugen Onegin , the Martha in Tiefland , Giulietta in Hoffmann's Stories , Anna Karenina in Hubay's opera of the same name.

Synchronization tasks were added for the film, for example in 1940 for Gretl Theimer in the opera comedy Lauter Liebe , directed by Heinz Rühmann .

Electrola signed an exclusive contract with Friedel Beckmann for the record, under which numerous recordings were made until the end of the war, although the increasing scarcity of raw materials soon allowed only limited production. The rank of the voice can be recognized by the fact that a number of the best singers of that musically rich and demanding era were the partners in recordings - for example Marta Fuchs , Torsten Ralf, Helge Rosvaenge , Arno Schellenberg and Wilhelm Strienz .

After a multi-year contract with the Kiel Opera House, Wilhelm Rode made a commitment to the German Opera House in Berlin. In Kiel Beckmann played the role of Marina in a guest series by Georges Baklanoff in Boris Godunow .

In the Leipzig Gewandhaus in 1941 - already during the war - the first complete recording of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the St. Thomas Boys under Günther Ramin , with Karl Erb as evangelist, in which Beckmann sang the alto part. A little later she took part in the last performance, which took place in Leipzig's historic concert hall before the total destruction, in Bruckner's Mass in F minor under Ramin's direction.

Guest tours took the artist, who at that time worked through her song repertoire musically with Michael Raucheisen and vocally with Maria Ivogün , with a Mozart tour through Bulgaria in 1941 - for this she was rewarded with a medal from King Boris; a tour through France with the Dresden Philharmonic under Paul van Kempen found the crowning glory at the Trocadéro in Paris. Beckmann sang with the Regensburger Domspatzen in Bach's High Mass under Theobald Schrems in Munich in the Odeon. Tours with Georg Kulenkampff , Marta Linz and others went through Holland, Belgium, Denmark and from Scandinavia to the Pyrenees border.

After the end of the war, Friedel Beckmann was able to establish himself again in guest performances at opera houses and in concert halls, but above all in recitals and oratorios, for example for several years in Cologne with Günter Wand in the St. Matthew Passion .

Web links

• http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Beckmann-Friedel.htm (the year of birth stored there is, however, incorrectly given as 1904)