Johanna Geisler

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Johanna Geisler , also Johanna Geissler , actually Johanne Elisabeth Meyer (born May 28, 1888 in Hanover ; † November 3, 1956 in Munich ) was a German opera singer ( soprano ) and actress who married the important conductor Otto Klemperer . She also appeared under the pseudonyms Johanna Klee and Hanne Klee .

Life and accomplishments

Johanna Geisler was born in Hanover in 1888 as the daughter of the single seamstress Sofie Meyer. She took her last name Geisler from her foster parents , who took over the child following a newspaper advertisement. As a child she sang in the church choir, where it was suggested that she try it as a choir volunteer at the theater; so at the age of fifteen she became a paid choir singer at the Hanover Opera House . At the age of sixteen she left her foster parents' apartment and within a short time moved to the Dessau theater and then to Wiesbaden . In 1906, at the age of eighteen, she had a child under socially desperate circumstances, the daughter Carla (1906–?), Whose father, an officer, she did not want to (“could”) marry. The foster mother, now a widow, moved in with her. Johanna Geisler, who only saw her mother as a child and only briefly, did not leave her child in the hands of someone else, but spared him this fate that she experienced herself.

Johanna Geisler worked her way up to a soubrette and a celebrated soloist at the Mainz City Theater. Despite the previous years of singing as the second alto in the opera choir, she succeeded in expanding her solo voice to the coloratura soprano of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute . At the Cologne Opera, Johanna Geisler proved herself in great operatic roles with a varied repertoire that encompassed all stylistic epochs.

At the beginning of 1917 Otto Klemperer conducted Beethoven's Fidelio in Cologne , in which she sang the role of Marzelline ; In 1919 she married the important conductor . She had two other children with him, the actor Werner Klemperer (1920-2000) and Lotte Klemperer (1923-2003). She brought her daughter Carla into the marriage. Under the Cologne chief conductor Otto Klemperer, she made major appearances for many years in Cologne and at foreign guest appearances until they emigrated together in 1933. Eva Weissweiler described Otto Klemperer in her book . A German-Jewish artist's life (2010) also the life of Johanna Geisler, especially her years with Klemperer. Her youngest daughter Lotte Klemperer published a book in 1983 about her mother's fate in the years up to her parents' wedding in 1919: Johanna Geisler's personal files .

Johanna Geisler's stylistic versatility and reliability is emphasized in many documents that her daughter carefully researched after her mother's death. A press excerpt from 1919 shows her skills at the premiere of the Missa Sacra , a composition by Otto Klemperer:

"The soloists, first and foremost Ms. Geisler-Klemperer, who amazingly mastered the exorbitantly difficult first soprano part, [...] unreserved praise."

- Newspaper criticism after the performance of a contemporary composition

Johanna Geisler also had a special talent for acting, which was evident in her facial expressions while singing. Even in her early engagements at the theater, she therefore not only had to sing choral solo roles, but also often appeared as an actor. In 1928 she played in Coburg , the Amalie in Schiller's robbers and had in 1929 a small appearance in William Dieterle's last silent film , Louis the Second, King of Bavaria . There was no further in this direction. A newspaper review later reproduced by Otto Klemperer (in his book Über Musik und Theater , Berlin 1982) reads:

“Fräulein Geisler [sic] as the housemaid Adele [in Johann Strauss's bat ] was simply unsurpassable. Her singing and acting skills combine to form an inseparable whole and a unified and first-class performance ... which one can completely enjoy. "

There is only one (incompletely preserved) radio recording of her voice: in December 1932 she sang the part of the old woman in the opera Das Höllisch Gold by Julius Bittner under the direction of Erich Kleiber .

Singing roles (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The personal files of Johanna Geisler , 1983, p. 13.
  2. ↑ See the personal files of Johanna Geisler , 1983, p. 30 f. In addition, one reads about social disadvantages, for example having to provide the theater dressing room for their choir stage appearances while the male members were provided with them ( Die Personalakten 1983, p. 20).
  3. ↑ See Die Personalakten , 1983, p. 14.
  4. ↑ Die Personalakten , 1983, p. 32.
  5. ↑ Lotte Klemperer: The personnel files of Johanna Geisler . Fischer TB 1983.
  6. ↑ From: The personal files of Johanna Geisler , p. 137.
  7. ↑ Lotte Klemperer: The personnel files 1983.
  8. ↑ Quoted from Eva Weissweiler 2010, p. 132.
personal data
SURNAME Geisler, Johanna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geissler, Johanna; Meyer, Johanne Elisabeth (real name); Johanna Klee; Hanne Klee
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (soprano) and actress
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 1956
Place of death Munich