Grace Hoffman

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Goldie "Grace" Hoffman , also written Hoffmann , (born January 14, 1921 in Cleveland , Ohio ; † July 26, 2008 in Stuttgart , Germany ) was an American opera singer ( mezzo-soprano ) of Hungarian origin.

Life

Grace Hoffman studied literature and musicology and received her first vocal training from Lila Robeson. Her other teachers were Friedrich Schorr and Giuseppe Gentile as well as Mario Basiola in Rome.

In 1951 she won a singing competition in Lausanne. She made her debut with the US Touring Company (Wagner Opera) in 1951 as Mamma Lucia in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana . In the same year she sang the priestess in Aida at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence . In 1952 she appeared at the Stadttheater Zürich as Azucena in Verdi's Troubadour .

In 1955 Hoffman was engaged at the Stuttgart State Opera , where she was part of the ensemble until 1992. Successful guest appearances, some with the Stuttgart Ensemble, took her to La Scala in Milan in 1955 as Fricka in Die Walküre , and to the Covent Garden Opera in London (1955, 1959–61, 1964–66).

She also performed at the Munich State Opera , the San Francisco Opera , the New York City Center Opera, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Grand Opéra Paris , the Deutsche Oper Berlin , the Deutsche Oper in Düsseldorf-Duisburg, the Opéra national de Bordeaux , the State Operas of Hamburg and Dresden , at the Teatro Comunale Bologna , the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, at the Teatro San Carlo Naples, the La Monnaie Brussels, the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam, the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, the Philadelphia Opera, on Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona and at the Vienna State Opera , where she sang from 1961 to 1990. In 1958 she had a one-time engagement at the Metropolitan Opera New York as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde . In 1964 she sang Elisabetta in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at Carnegie Hall in New York .

From 1957 to 1970 she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival , in her brilliant role as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde (1957-59, 1966, 1968-70), and in the Ring des Nibelungen as Siegrune (1958, 1960-64) , as Waltraute (1960–61, 1964, 1968–69), as Second Norn (1961–64) and as Fricka (1962–64), 1967–68 also as Ortrud in Lohengrin .

In 1978 Hoffman became a professor at the Stuttgart University of Music , but continued to perform as a singer. For example, in 1988 she sang Mother Wesener in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's The Soldiers at the Opéra du Rhin Strasbourg , a role that she also played in 1990 at the Vienna State Opera.In 1989, she performed in Stuttgart as Mary in the Flying Dutchman .

Most recently she lived alone in Neckartailfingen near Nürtingen near Stuttgart, she died of pancreatic cancer in the Marienhospital in Stuttgart . Her grave is in Cleveland.

Awards

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hoffman, Grace
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoffman, Goldie (real name); Hoffmann, Grace
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Cleveland , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 2008
Place of death Stuttgart , Germany