Margarete Düren

Margarete Düren (born September 24, 1904 , † around 1988 in Cologne ) other names Margarethe Düren , Margarethe Düren-Herrmann , Margarete Düren-Herrmann was a German opera singer ( soprano ).

Life

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In 1937 Düren was the first interpreter of “Heimatlied” and “Ein Walzer zu zwei” (Slow Waltz) from the operetta Monika by Nico Dostal . In Leipzig she met the chamber and opera singer Josef Herrmann (1903–1955). They often appeared together, for example in Figaro's wedding of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and in Albert Lortzing's Undine . They were both engaged at the Semperoper and made recordings together.

Herrmann and Düren married some time later and settled in Dresden on Tiergartenstrasse. Josef Herrmann moved his musical work more and more to Berlin . The marriage between the courted hero-baritone Herrmann and the soprano Düren was already in crisis, remained childless and was divorced after the war.

One day before the Wall was closed, Magarethe Düren decided to take the last train from Dresden to the west with her dachshund and a small suitcase. Over there she had to start a new existence. She sang as a guest in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.

Düren finally found her calling in Cologne , where she lived in a one-room apartment directly across from Cologne's Opernplatz. The petite, blonde, beautiful singer had a natural voice, unbridled temperament and enormous assertiveness, which is why she remained actively involved with the Cologne Opera for over 30 years until her death. After many years of engagement there she worked as a prompter and as a valued singing teacher for important opera singers, and was able to work out the head resonance, the height. As a prompter, she relentlessly but humorously told the singers why they had sung badly, and gave tips on how to improve the vocal technique after the break. Your criticism was taken seriously and was even desired. Before each performance, she checked changes in the orchestral material and asked the soloists personally whether they had been informed about them. This was especially necessary for guest singers who only had an hour's rehearsal or who joined the group directly. At the same time, she agreed to work as a prompter. She gave out inserts for singers from the box, brought together several voices, knew the text weaknesses, had the right timing so that singers could easily follow the lyrics, even took care of breathing when conductors were too slow. During rehearsals, she was extremely helpful with pitch problems. Through her singing career, she had the appropriate interpretation variants for every aria - in every vocal subject.

She was best friends with world star Edda Moser and Sybille Hampe, the wife of long-time Cologne opera director Michael Hampe.

Discography (selection)

• ABC of the art of singing in Germany. Part 1. (Record: 1927–1949). Line Music, Hamburg 2002, DNB 358191521 .
• Willy Treffner. (Record: 1939–1943; overall title: Lebendige Past ), Preiser, Vienna 2001, DNB 35896718X .

Web links

• Works by and about Margarete Düren in the catalog of the German National Library