Marga Höffgen

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Marga Anna Johanna Höffgen (born April 26, 1921 in Mülheim an der Ruhr , iaQ wrongly also: Müllheim (Baden) ; † July 7, 1995 in Müllheim ) was a German contralto who was primarily an interpreter of oratorios and passions (especially by Johann Sebastian Bach ) gained fame and was identified as an opera singer with the role of Erda from Das Rheingold und Siegfried .

life and career

After attending school in her hometown of Mülheim an der Ruhr, Marga Höffgen studied at the Folkwang University in Essen with Anna Erler-Schnaudt, then at the Berlin University of Music with Hermann Weißenborn and made her debut as a concert alto in Berlin in 1952 in a performance of the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwängler . A year later she celebrated another great success with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1953 in a performance of the same Passion under the direction of Herbert von Karajan . This began her great career as an oratorio and song singer.

She gave concerts all over Europe and was particularly successful at the major international festival events in a comprehensive repertoire. Since 1960 she sang at the Bayreuth Festival (1960–64 and 1967–75) as well as at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, at the Vienna State Opera and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. a. always likes the operatic role of Erda in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . At the Bayreuth Festival in 1964 and 1967-75 she also sang the 1st norn in "Götterdämmerung". In the course of her brilliant career she sang under the direction of Karl Böhm , Eugen Jochum , Kurt Thomas , Günther Ramin , Karl Münchinger , Karl Richter and Helmuth Rilling as well as the conductors named below.

Her other stage roles included Filipjewna in Tchaikovsky's "Eugen Onegin" and Arnalta in Monteverdi's "Incoronazione di Poppea".

family

Married to the conductor of the Freiburg Bach Choir Theodor Egel (1915–93), she lived in Müllheim (Baden). The youngest daughter Barbara Egel-Nicolescu (contralto) also had a successful career as a singer. Her twin brother Thomas Egel-Goldschmidt is professor for violin at the Musikhochschule Würzburg and works part-time as a painter and sculptor in his studio in Müllheim. Martin Egel , another son, also became a successful singer. The oldest son Hanspeter Egel-Fischer worked as a singer, director and dramaturge at various theaters and most recently as chief dramaturge at the Bremen theater.

Honors

Discography

Operas

Passions, oratorios, masses

literature

  • City of Mülheim an der Ruhr (Ed.): Ruhr Prize for Art and Science 1962-1974 , pp. 47–50.
  • Horst Ferdinand: Marga Höffgen . In: Baden-Württemberg biographies . Vol. 4, pp. 152–154 ( online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bayreuth Festival, Marga Höffgen . Website of the Bayreuth Festival, article on the biography of Marga Höffgens. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ Sigrid Umiger: Biography: Hans Peter fluke fishing , Badische Zeitung, March 2nd 2011, accessed on August 24, 2013


personal data
SURNAME Höffgen, Marga
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Höffgen, Marga Anna Johanna (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German contralto
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Mülheim an der Ruhr
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1995
Place of death Muellheim (Baden)