Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld

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Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld (photography by Walter Möbius, 1881)

Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld (born Eugénia Malvina Garrigues ; December 7, 1825 in Copenhagen - February 8, 1904 in Karlsruhe ) was an opera singer with a soprano voice who was engaged at a number of important German opera houses.

In April 1860 she married the tenor Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and together with him accepted an engagement at the Royal Court Theater in Dresden . In 1865 the couple sang the title roles in the world premiere of Richard Wagner's love opera Tristan and Isolde in Munich.

life and work

Eugénia Malvina Garrigues was the sixth of eight children of Magdeburg's commercial councilor Jean Antoine Henri Garrigues (1782-1857) and his wife Nannette Palmier (1796-1854), a German of French origin. Malvina's father was a Huguenot descendant who first emigrated to Sweden and later settled in Denmark , a grandson of the court assessor Moyse Garrigue . He was appointed Portuguese consul in Denmark by Queen Maria II of Portugal. Her first name is sometimes given as Malwina and Malwine , but Malvina is the correct spelling. Contrary to occasional claims of Brazilian or Portuguese descent, their German-French parents clarified their origin. Because of the position of her father, Malvina was baptized in the Portuguese consulate in Copenhagen.

She studied with Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García in Paris and made her debut in Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil in Breslau in 1841 , where she was engaged until 1849. From 1849 to 1853 she was engaged at the Ducal Saxon Court Theater , where she appeared alternately in Coburg and Gotha . In 1854 she was committed to the Grand Ducal Court Theater in Karlsruhe . There she sang together with the ten years younger hero tenor Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld in several operas, including Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots . The two married in April 1860. In the same year Ludwig and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld were signed to the Dresden Semperoper . Malvina put her own career on hold after the wedding to support her husband.

First Isolde

Isolde, Munich, 1865
Isolde , Munich , 1865

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde was originally supposed to have its world premiere in Rio de Janeiro and then in Karlsruhe. December 3, 1859 had already been set for this. Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Malvina Garrigues were planned as Tristan and Isolde. In a letter to his wife Minna from October 1859 regarding the Karlsruhe plans, Wagner regretted: “None other than the voiceless Garrigues zur Isolde. This is not even entirely decided yet; Much lies too low for it, because it can only make itself audible at high altitudes. ”The premiere did not take place in Karlsruhe.

A second attempt to perform the opera in Karlsruhe with the pair of singers failed because the Vienna Court Opera did not release its singers for the secondary roles, but wanted to premiere the opera itself. In Vienna, too, a date has already been set for the premiere, October 1, 1861, which also could not be kept. During Wagner's stay in Biebrich , Malvina and Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld stayed with the composer for a fortnight in July 1862. Under Wagner's guidance and with Hans von Bülow at the piano, they studied the title roles of Tristan and Isolde for the premiere planned for the winter in Dresden. After the final failure of the Vienna attempt at the world premiere after 77 rehearsals, it was planned for Dresden and Weimar, always with Malvina and Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld in the leading roles. But even these plans failed. The opera was henceforth unplayable.

When King Ludwig II of Bavaria gave Wagner the possibility of a new attempt at the world premiere in 1865 at his Munich court opera, Wagner remembered Biebrich's piano rehearsals and chose the couple as the main actor. The premiere was to take place on May 15, 1865, conducted by Hans von Bülow . Even the dress rehearsal on May 11th - in the presence of the king and 600 invited guests - represented the “fulfillment of the impossible” for Wagner, but shortly before the premiere his furniture was seized and he learned of the life-threatening illness of his wife Minna , who was stayed in Dresden and finally Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld stood in front of his door and admitted with tears that his wife, due to her hoarseness, made worse by a steam bath the night before, could not sing on that day. One source named "cold and heartache", others "hoarseness". The singing couple traveled to Bad Reichenhall for a cure, Wagner tirelessly encouraged his “lions”, sometimes also referred to as his “beloved bumblebees”, by means of letters, and on June 10, 1865 the world premiere could actually take place. The singing achievements were generally praised, only the "indecency" of the work was criticized. The next day Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld wrote to his father:

“The effect was immense, one that steadily increased from the first to the last act. [...] In addition to the greatest happiness, we also feel a good portion of pride; I will stumble more often today, I know that, because my gaze will not so easily sink back to the common earth anytime soon. We have accomplished something that nobody will imitate us anytime soon; we have finally achieved it, the big, big goal. "

The fourth performance

The Schnorr von Carolsfeld couple as Wagner's lovers, photographed by Joseph Albert , Munich 1865

After the three acclaimed performances on June 10, 13 and 19, 1865, the couple went to the Tegernsee to relax , where Wagner followed them for a few days. On June 23, the king received an invitation to schedule a fourth performance within eight to ten days. This took place on July 1, 1865. In her recollections from 1883, the singer writes: “The telegram put my husband into the most terrible excitement, to whom I was at a loss, as it was completely new to me about the otherwise indifferent man. To my worried question as to whether he was feeling uncomfortable, he replied with the counter-question: "And you?" - "I'm hoarse, but contrary to expectations, the evil should subside and, above all, you should feel free: why shouldn't we take the risk a fourth time? The greater the honor! ""

Wagner encouraged his singing couple in writing: “My beloved bumblebee couple! Whoever says A must also say B! - I think you'll have to get serious for Saturday. The king rages after this last performance and fears, the more it postpones it, - that it will receive new harassment again. So he has asked for a fortnightly extension of your vacation (to Dresden) [...] So, full of work! Follow by example: give up hypochondria, you get nothing from it. How much nicer it is, on the other hand, to plunge into the desert and devour harmless hikers with roaring! "

Everyone involved agreed that the fourth was the most successful performance in the series. The audience cheered. Hans von Bülow: “As beautiful as the most beautiful poet's dream.” Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld: “It was the most perfect performance, and we - which seldom happened - were satisfied with ourselves.” Wagner: “In the fourth performance - in the last act - the feeling of iniquity in this outrageous feat; I called out: this is the last performance of Tristan and it must never be performed again. "

On July 12th, the king ordered a separate performance with excerpts of Wagner's most important works, with the Tristan actor taking on four tenor roles, all of Wagner's works that have not yet premiered. He gave the role of the Lodge (in a fragment from the Rheingold ), Siegmund's Liebeslied (from the Walküre ), the heroic song of Siegfried during the forging of the sword (from the then unfinished Siegfried ) and the aria of Walther von Stolzing (from the Meistersingers from Nuremberg ). On July 15, 1865, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld sang another Wagner role, Erik in the Flying Dutchman , while his health was bad. He died on July 21, 1865 - only three weeks after the fourth and last performance of Tristan und Isolde - at the age of 29. The cause of death could not be clarified. Contemporary reports spoke of jumping gout . In his last hours, the singer was delirious and is said to have pulled his hair out. His last words are said to have been: “Goodbye, Siegfried! Comfort my Richard! "

His wife sank into a deep depression and never performed again.

Life after Isolde

After Ludwig's death, the singer was comforted and accompanied by her student Isodore von Reutter . The young woman offered herself as a medium and held spiritualistic séances with Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld, which were supposed to open a communication with the deceased husband. Malvina wrote long letters to her husband and received answers in the form of dreams. Isodore von Reutter was inspired by the longing to be married by King Ludwig, and her teacher developed the idea that she was destined to marry Richard Wagner. This plan would meet with the approval and blessing of the deceased husband. Malvina was supported most vehemently by Isodore.

In November 1866 the two ladies, knowing that Hans von Bülow had just left, traveled to Tribschen near Lucerne to inform Richard Wagner of the marriage plans. Of course, to their surprise, they found the heavily pregnant Cosima von Bülow there, who received them in the drawing room while Wagner worked upstairs. Wagner, called in, got the impression that Malvina had fallen hopelessly in love with him. The two ladies were eventually complimented out. This was followed by violent correspondence between Malvina, Wagner and the king, who was first informed of the adulterous relationship between Wagner and Cosima through Malvina shortly after he had written a letter at Wagner's instigation to save Hans von Bülow's honor, which was also leaked to the press was. None of the weddings intended by Isodore and Malvina took place, but in 1870 Cosima's divorce and the legitimation of her relationship with Wagner, to whom she had meanwhile given three children.

Later Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld taught singing in Frankfurt . Her students included the tenor Heinrich Gudehus , who sang the first Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival in 1886 , and the soprano Rosalie Miller , who later also became a renowned vocal teacher.

She composed several songs based on texts by Heinrich Heine and Lord Byron , which she dedicated to Jenny Lind . She also published her own poems and those of her husband, who is also said to have been a talented painter.

death

Gravestone at the old Annenfriedhof in Dresden

At the age of 78 she died in a hospital in Karlsruhe, was cremated in Heidelberg and buried at the Alten Annenfriedhof in Dresden, near her husband, who had died 39 years earlier.

Aftermath

Dame Gwyneth Jones , a long-time Wagner heroine who had also sung Isolde herself, embodied Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld in 1983 in the mini-series Wagner - The Life and Work of Richard Wagner . Her love and life story was also worked up in a one-woman show for the stage, O, Malvina! , re-portrayed by Gwyneth Jones.

literature

  • Ludwig Eisenberg : Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld . In: Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century. Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p. 902 ( daten.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  • Carl Henri Nicolai Garrigues: An ideal pair of singers: Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld born Garrigues. Two interwoven images of life, based on my own and contemporary letters, diary sheets, memoirs and reports. Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen / H. Wendt, Berlin 1937 (not viewed).
  • Sabine Kurt, Ingrid Rückert, Reiner Nägele (eds.): Richard Wagner. The Munich period (1864–1865). (Catalog for the exhibition in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek from March 15 to May 28, 2013) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86906-476-5 . (First publication of letters by Cosima and Hans von Bülow on Tristan and Isolde , including 16 of the 39 surviving letters from Cosima to Malvina)
  • Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Ludwig. In: Large song dictionary . (CD-ROM) 3rd edition, 2000, pp. 21879-21882.
  • CHN Garrigue: Silhouettes of Garrigues and some other profiles. Orbis Publishing House, Prague 1930.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ relatório 1849 . Minister dos negocios estrangeiros, p. 14 (Portuguese), accessed on November 12, 2016.
  2. ^ A b c John Warrack: Schnorr von Carolsfeld (neé Garrigues), Malvina . In: Laura Williams Macy: The Grove Book of Opera Singers . Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 435.
  3. ^ Giacomo Meyerbeer , Robert Ignatius Letellier: The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer: The years of celebrity, 1850-1856 . Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, 1999.
  4. ↑ a b jrank.org
  5. ↑ Eric Blom: Dictionary of Music .
  6. ↑ Richard Wagner: About Tristan and Isolde , sayings of the master about his work, compiled by Edwin Lindner. Leipzig 1912, p. 122. In another letter to his publisher, Wagner justified the Karlsruhe postponement with the "very poor occupation of the subject of a first female singer" in Karlsruhe, which in turn meant garrigues.
  7. ↑ Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld at isoldes-liebestod.net
  8. ^ Vienna - Rejection of "Tristan and Isolde" and flight from debt . Wagner 200; accessed on October 28, 2016.
  9. ^ Kerstin Decker : Nietzsche and Wagner: History of a love-hate relationship , accessed online at books.google.at
  10. ↑ a b xs4all.nl The Androom Archives; Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  11. ^ Carl Friedrich Glasenapp : The life of Richard Wagner , 5th book; zeno.org
  12. ^ Alan Walker : Franz Liszt: The final years, 1861–1886 .
  13. ↑ Music by Women Composers ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.artsventure.net
  14. ↑ Lied and Art Song Texts Page  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.lieder.net  
  15. ^ Gwyneth Jones site

Remarks

  1. ↑ The seizure was based on a promissory note from Paris, which had been bought by a Munich opponent of Wagner. More on this in Carl Friedrich Glasenapp : Das Leben Richard Wagner , 5th book; accessed on October 28, 2016 at: zeno.org Wagner's wife Minna survived the acute crisis of June 1865, but died on January 25, 1866 in Dresden.
  2. ↑ Eduard Schelle in the Viennese press : "The poem is an absurdity in every respect, the music, with the exception of a few parts, the refined brew of a dead, pathological fantasy."
personal data
SURNAME Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Malvina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Garrigues, Eugénia Malvina (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese opera singer with a soprano voice, lyric poet and composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1904
Place of death Karlsruhe