Ingrid Bjoner

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Ingrid Kristine Bjoner (born November 8, 1927 in Kråkstad , † September 4, 2006 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian opera singer . She was known worldwide as a dramatic soprano , especially in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss .

Life

Ingrid Bjoner came from a family with a total of 9 children who made a lot of music. She grew up in the country. After graduating from high school, she began studying pharmacy and took singing lessons in Oslo. In 1952 she attended a singing course from Paul Lohmann in Sweden , which brought her to Germany, and where she continued her studies in Wiesbaden . After her pharmacist studies were recognized in Germany, she also worked part-time in a pharmacy.

She got her first engagements as a singer with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, where she sang the roles of Gutrune and the 3rd Norn in a Götterdämmerung program with Kirsten Flagstad as Brünnhilde. She made her stage debut in 1957, under the direction of Kirsten Flagstad, as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Opera House in Oslo, in a production by the then Viennese director Joseph Witt , who also recommended Bjoner to Vienna .

Bjoner began her first permanent engagement in the fall of 1957 at the Wuppertal Opera House (1957–1959). She made her debut there as the 2nd lady in a new production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte , but shortly afterwards she sang Pamina. From 1959 to 1961 she was part of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein . Here she sang u. a. the Capriccio Countess, in a production by Rudolf Hartmann . In April 1959 she made her first guest appearance at the Vienna State Opera , as Donna Anna alongside Irmgard Seefried , Anton Dermota and Otto Wiener under the musical direction of Karl Böhm .

On the mediation of Hartmann, who immediately wanted to hire Bjoner permanently to Munich, she came to the Bavarian State Opera in 1959 as Figaro Countess, initially for a few guest performances . In 1961 she received her permanent engagement at the Bavarian State Opera, where she worked until 1989. Bjoner sang over 40 major roles at the Bavarian State Opera during her years in Munich. Here she sang the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1963 on the occasion of the opening of the rebuilt Munich National Theater . In 1965 she took over Agathe in a Freischütz production in Munich . In 1965 she sang her first Isolde in Munich under Joseph Keilberth .

As a Wagner interpreter, she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 1960 as Freia, Gutrune and Helmwige in Der Ring des Nibelungen . Wieland Wagner hired Bjoner for 1961 as Sieglinde, and later again in 1967 as Brünnhilde. Bjoner turned down these offers, however, as they came too early for her in her opinion. In 1986 she jumped in for a short time as Isolde in Bayreuth. She gave numerous guest appearances, especially with Wagner roles, in Hamburg, Milan and London. At the Vienna State Opera she sang about 50 evenings and performed there a. a. as Leonore in Fidelio , Turandot, Brünnhilde, Elektra, Ariadne and most recently, in December 1986, as Ortrud in Lohengrin . From 1962 to 1967 she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (including 1967 as Empress).

In a TV adaptation of Richard Strauss' Elektra , she sang Chrysothemis under the direction of Leopold Ludwig with Gladys Kuchta in the title role and Regina Resnik as Klytämnestra. This was the first color opera TV production. The first broadcast took place on the Day of Repentance and Prayer in 1968.

In 1970 she sang together with Christa Ludwig , Placido Domingo and Kurt Moll at a performance in St. Peter's Basilica in the presence of Pope Paul VI. the soprano part in Beethoven's Missa solemnis on the occasion of the papal 50th anniversary of the priesthood.

In the last years of her stage career Bjoner sang mainly Isolde, Elektra, Färberin in Die Frau ohne Schatten and Kundry in Parsifal . In the 1985/86 season she made her debut at the Karlsruhe State Theater as a sexton in Jenůfa . In February 1987, on the occasion of her 30th stage anniversary, she sang Isolde at the Oslo Opera House. In November 1989 she took over the role of Isolde in the Tristan revival at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe . In the 1989/90 season Ingrid Bjoner finally said goodbye to the stage in an unspectacular manner in a repertoire performance.

In the 1980s, she led in Oslo (1985) and Copenhagen directed the opera Elektra by Richard Strauss and sang at the same time the title role. However, she did not accept any other directorial offers. After her active career, she was professor of singing and stage performance at the Norwegian Music Academy Oslo NMH (also Norwegian Music Academy) and at the Royal Danish Music Academy in Copenhagen from 1992 to 1998 .

In 1964, King Olaf V made her a knight, 1st class of the Order of Saint Olav . In 1966 she received the Bavarian Order of Merit .

Discography (selection)

  • Handel: The Messiah (Sony BMG 1990)
  • Puccini: Turandot (cross section in German, Berlin Classics 1993)
  • Strauss: The Woman Without a Shadow (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Verdi: Aida (cross section in German, Berlin Classics 1993)
  • Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung (Melodrama 1998)
  • Weber: Oberon (Ponto 2006)
  • Weber: Oberon (Eurodisc 2008)

Note (audio documents)

  • In 2008, the Hamburg Archive for Singing Art published radio recordings by Ingrid Bjoner from 1961/1962 for the first time in a CD edition. These recordings primarily document Ingrid Bjoner's vocal performances in the youthful-dramatic (Elsa, Elisabeth, Eva, Daphne) and in the dramatic (Senta, Salome) soprano subjects.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. http://vocal-classics.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=bjoner