Johanna Gadski

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Johanna Gadski

Johanna Emilia Agnes Gadski (born June 15, 1872 in Anklam , Pomerania , † February 22, 1932 in Berlin ) was a German opera singer ( soprano ).

Life

Johanna Gadski made her debut as a student of Anna Schroeder-Chaloupka at the age of 17 at the Kroll Opera in Berlin. Engagements in Stettin, Mainz and Bremen followed. As a member of the ensemble of the touring opera "Damrosch Opera Company" of the German-American conductor and composer Walter Damrosch , she first traveled to the United States of America in 1895. Here she sang not only classical roles but also the role of Hester Prynne in the world premiere of Damrosch's opera The Scarlett Letter . After guest appearances at the Covent Garden Opera in London and at the Bayreuth Festival (both in 1899), Johanna Gadski came to the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1900 , where she celebrated great triumphs as the first soprano of the house until 1917, especially as a Wagner singer. She was there in 25 roles on stage, in total she was seen in New York in 455 performances. In between she came back to Germany for guest appearances at the Berlin Court Opera , the Munich Opera Festival and the Salzburg Mozart Festival (a forerunner of the Salzburg Festival ).

Johanna Gadski had been married to the German North American representative of the arms manufacturer Krupp, Hans Tauscher, a reserve officer, since 1898. In 1916, Tauscher was accused of high treason by Canada, but acquitted. Nevertheless, Johanna Gadski had to leave America in 1917 because the USA entered the First World War. (From then until 1921, operas in German were no longer performed at the Metropolitan Opera.) The New York audience said goodbye to the singer with a performance of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde , in which she sang the female title role, which was specially arranged for her . From then on she worked mainly as a song singer in Berlin. One of her piano accompanists was Selmar Meyrowitz . But Gadski came back to the USA for two years from 1928 with his own traveling opera troupe, the German Opera Company , and sang opera roles again during this time.

The singer, who was considered one of the best Wagner interpreters of her time, but also an excellent Mozart singer, was also very committed to new works. During her time in New York, she took part in the premieres of Der Wald by Dame Ethel Smyth (1903), Lobetanz by Ludwig Thuille (1911) and Versiegel von Leo Blech (1912). Contemporaries also praised her acting talent.

The voice of Johanna Gadski, who died on February 22, 1932 in Berlin as a result of a car accident, has been recorded on around 100 shellac records and Mapleson cylinders . Many songs and arias can still be bought on CDs or MP3s today.

Games (selection)

Discography (selection)

  • The Complete Johanna Gadski: Volume 1. Victor Recordings 1903-1909. 2 CDs, Swarthmore / USA, Marstone 1999
  • The Complete Johanna Gadski: Volume 2. Victor Recordings 1910-1917 and "Mapleson Cylinder Recordings". 3 CDs, Swarthmore / USA, Marstone 1999
  • Johanna Gadski Vol. 1, Historical Recordings from 1903-12, CD, HAFG (Hamburg Archive for the Art of Singing), 2008
  • Johanna Gadski Vol. 2, Historical Recordings from 1904-16, CD, HAFG (Hamburg Archive for the Art of Singing), 2008

Web links

Commons : Johanna Gadski  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See biographical text about Johanna Gadski von Harold Bruder for the record company Marstone, published on the company's website: www.marstonrecords.com.
  2. ↑ Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Electronic edition of the third, expanded edition. Directmedia, Berlin 2004.
  3. ↑ Article Johanna Gadski in: Alain Pâris: Lexicon of Interpreters of Classical Music, dtv / Bärenreiter, Munich, Kassel 1992
  4. ↑ keyword Johanna Gadsky in Hugo Riemann music lexicon, Tenth Edition, edited by Alfred Einstein, Max Hesse Verlag, Berlin 1922
personal data
SURNAME Gadski, Johanna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gadski, Johanna Emilia Agnes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Anklam , Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1932
Place of death Berlin