Pilar Lorengar

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Pilar Lorengar (actually Pilar Lorenza Garcia ; born January 16, 1928 in Saragossa , Spain ; † June 2, 1996 in Berlin ) was a Spanish opera singer (soprano).

Life

Lorengar studied eight years with Angeles Otein and then in Berlin with Carl Ebert and Hertha Klust . In 1949 she made her debut as a choir singer at the Teatro de la Zarzuela , Madrid, where she was engaged for several years. In 1952 she appeared for the first time as a soloist in Barcelona in "Beethoven's Ninth" and in the Brahms Requiem .

She made her operatic debut in 1955 as Cherubino in Aix-en-Provence , then at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata . The Glyndebourne Festival debut followed a year later, in 1958 appearance at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Pamina in the Magic Flute .

In 1958 she was also engaged at the Städtische Oper Berlin , where she remained one of the most popular artists in the ensemble until the end of her career. When the Deutsche Oper Berlin opened on Bismarckstrasse in 1961 , she sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni in the opening premiere directed by Ferenc Fricsay . In 1963 she was awarded the exclusive title of chamber singer .

Mozart's operas have been a focus of Pilar Lorengar's artistic activity over all of her years in Berlin: she sang Fiordiligi, Countess, Donna Elvira and Pamina in various productions, including Donna Anna in a few performances. She also sang lyrical parts from the German, Italian and French repertoire. She could be heard as Regina in Mathis der Maler or Agathe im Freischütz , as Mimi in La Bohème and Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly and as Michaela in Carmen and Melisande in Pelléas et Mélisande . But she also celebrated great success in the Slavonic subject, first as Marie in The Bartered Bride , later in the title role of Jenůfa and as Tatjana in Eugene Onegin . She has very carefully expanded her repertoire: in the German subject she first proved herself as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , later also as Elsa in Lohengrin . From the mid-1960s onwards she delighted her Berlin audience more and more often in more dramatic roles in Italian, such as Elisabeth in Don Carlos , Violetta in La traviata , the title role in Tosca and Desdemona in Otello .

A travel career was not to Pilar Lorengar's taste. Continuous work in an ensemble was the most important requirement for her artistic development and perfection. Nevertheless, over the years she has appeared at all the major opera houses in the world: in 1961 she appeared for the first time in Salzburg in the Idomeneo , and in 1966 she made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Don Giovanni's Donna Elvira. Between 1966 and 1982 she sang 16 parts of her repertoire in more than 150 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. She has performed in Vienna and Milan, London and Paris and has performed repeatedly at the Glyndebourne Festival. Several tours also took her to Japan. On the concert stage she has given recitals in which she likes to put songs by Spanish composers alongside songs by German and French composers. In addition, she has made many guest appearances in concerts by the major symphony orchestras: she was in demand with the Berlin Philharmonic as well as with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Pilar Lorengar deliberately refrained from exploring the dramatic Italian subject. She has repeatedly refused offers to sing Aida or Amelia in Un ballo in maschera , thus saving her voice from overexertion and wear and tear. This is how she sounded in the last performances in which she was on stage, strikingly youthful, her voice had lost none of the bright, shining sound and the high altitude was secure and shone as effortlessly as ever. She would have gladly sung a few roles by Richard Strauss , but she did not do so because she feared that her ability to do justice to the subtleties of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's language would not be sufficient.

Her last triumph in Berlin was the Valentine in John Dew's staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots in 1987 .

On October 1, 1994 she received the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin . Pilar Lorengar died of cancer in her adopted home Berlin in 1996 at the age of 68.

literature

  • Werner Elsner, Max W. Busch: Pilar Lorengar. A portrait . Stapp, Berlin 1985.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/04/arts/pilar-lorengar-is-dead-at-68-a-spanish-soprano-in-berlin.html
personal data
SURNAME Lorengar, Pilar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lorenza Garcia, Pilar (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Zaragoza , Spain
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1996
Place of death Berlin