Hertha Töpper

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Hertha Mixa-Töpper (born April 19, 1924 in Graz ; † March 28, 2020 in Munich ) was an Austrian opera and oratorio singer who showed great vocal versatility in the 1950s and 1960s and worked as a contralto and mezzo-soprano a . a. often worked with Ferenc Fricsay ( Le nozze di Figaro , Oedipus Rex , Great Mass ).

Life

Hertha Töpper, daughter of a music teacher, studied singing at the opera school of the state conservatory in her hometown before graduating from high school. She made her debut at the Graz Opera in 1945 as Ulrica . The first Bayreuth Festival after the Second World War in 1951 engaged them for Wagner's Ring Cycle. Further invitations followed. In the same year she made her debut as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and provoked storms of enthusiasm. A year later Töpper became a permanent member of the ensemble at the Bavarian State Opera, where she took part in the world premiere (August 11, 1957) of Paul Hindemith's opera Die Harmonie der Welt .

Töpper was in demand nationally and internationally, especially as Dorabella , Fricka , Brangäne , Octavian , Judith , Carmen . She has made guest appearances at all the major opera houses in the world, in London, Vienna, Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rome, Zurich, etc. Highlights of her career have been her engagements at the Salzburg Festival and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In addition to her operatic career, she also gained a legendary reputation as a song, oratorio and concert singer. Especially as a Bach interpreter (with Karl Richter ) she set high standards. In 1955 she was awarded the title of Bavarian Chamber Singer as an award and recognition of her artistic work .

Töpper's fame at the time was based on both a reliable, highly adaptable singing technique and a distinctive, Iberian-looking face and a self-assured, charismatic stage appearance, whereby its advantages were "in strong expression and in tasteful phrasing, less in vocal range" ( Herrmann / Hollaender 2007 , P. 84). In her professional relationship with Fricsay and Richter, Töpper was, so to speak, the deep counterpart to Maria Stader .

In 1949 she married the composer Franz Mixa (1902–1994). From 1971 to 1981 she was professor for singing at the Munich Music Academy (today Munich University of Music and Theater ). Her students were: Ulrike Buchs-Quante , Camilla Ueberschaer , Elisabeth von Magnus and Brenda Mitchell .

Hertha Töpper died on March 28, 2020 at the age of 95 in Munich and was buried in the Solln forest cemetery.

honors and awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johannes Martin: Karl Richter in Munich (1951–1981) - Contemporary witnesses remember. Conventus Musicus, 2013, p. 208 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  2. ↑ Obituary , Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 1, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Töpper, Hertha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mixa-Töpper, Hertha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (alto) and (mezzo-soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 2020
Place of death Munich