Luise Helletsgruber

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Luise Helletsgruber ( May 30, 1901 in Wienerherberg - January 5, 1967 in Sattledt-Giering ) was an Austrian opera singer with a soprano voice who performed at the Vienna State Opera , the Salzburg Festival and the Glyndebourne Festival .

Life

Helletsgruber studied in Vienna and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1922 - as a young shepherd in Wagner's Tannhäuser . The singer remained a member of the ensemble of the Haus am Ring until 1942. She quickly developed a broad repertoire, especially as a lyrical soprano , with a focus on Mozart parts. She had a lovable and charming stage presence as well as a slim but powerful voice and impressed audiences in Vienna, Salzburg and Glyndebourne as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro , as Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and as Dorabella in Così fan tutte . Her lyrical roles also included Eva in Wagner's Mastersingers of Nuremberg , Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen and Marguerite in Gounod's Faust . In some cases she also took on more dramatic roles, such as Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin or Liù in Puccini's Turandot , the latter with Jan Kiepura as Kalaf.

Together with Erika Rokyta and Jella Braun-Fernwald , she went on tour in the mid-1920s. Until 1938 she sang leading roles at the Salzburg Festival , for example in 1931 and 1935 to 1938 Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio . She also took on the latter role in 1936 on the occasion of the reopening of the converted Salzburg Festival Hall . Arturo Toscanini conducted it and Lothar Wallerstein staged it in sets by Clemens Holzmeister . The ensemble included Lotte Lehmann as Leonore, Koloman von Pataky as Florestan, Carl Bissuti , Alfred Jerger , Anton Baumann and Hermann Gallos .

Her essential contribution to music history was her participation in the first five seasons of the Glyndebourne Festival in the south of England, which was founded in 1934 by John Christie and his wife, the singer Audrey Mildmay , the conductor Fritz Busch and the director Carl Ebert . There she was an ensemble member of a renowned international cast and took on leading roles in four Mozart operas. Three of them, the three Da Ponte operas , were recorded on sound carriers and have been continuously available since then. They were critically praised as outstanding and excellent. In 1934 Helletsgruber made her debut in Glyndebourne as Dorabella and Cherubino, and in 1935 she also sang First Lady in the Magic Flute . In 1936 she took over Donna Elvira for the first time and continued to sing Cherubino and First Lady. Even after the annexation of Austria in March 1938, she managed to take part in the English festival.

Another important sound document by Helletsgruber is Beethoven's Ninth , a recording with the Vienna Philharmonic under Felix von Weingartner , recorded in two parts in 1935 and 1938.

Luise Helletsgruber and her husband Karl Friedrich Alois Lehr (1896–1967) died as a result of a car accident.

Audio documents

Occupations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The singer's date of birth is not guaranteed. Discogs names "born 30 May 1901 in Wienerherberg", see [1] , AllMusic, Glyndebourne and Naxos name the year 1898.
  2. ↑ Salzburg Festival , participation by Luise Helletsgruber from 1935 to 1938, accessed on July 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ Musica: Monthly for all areas of musical life, Volume 18, p. 102.
  4. ↑ Marcus Felsner: Operatica: Approaches to the world of opera , Königshausen & Neumann 2008, p. 25.
personal data
SURNAME Helletsgruber, Luise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Helletsgruber, Louise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 5th January 1967
Place of death Vienna