Margarethe Bence

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Margarethe Bence ( August 13, 1930 in Kingston , New York - April 1, 1992 in Munich ) was an American opera and concert singer with a mezzo-soprano and alto voices , who mainly worked in Germany and Austria.

life and work

Bence comes from a German-American family and began her vocal studies in the United States. From 1950 to 1953 she went on concert tours as a choir singer with the Robert Shaw Chorale , after which she went to Stuttgart to continue her education. Res Fischer and Ellinor Junker-Giesen were among their singing teachers there .

First she performed as a concert alto before the audience, especially as an oratorio singer, but later also turned to the opera stage. In 1956 she became a member of the ensemble of the Württemberg State Opera in Stuttgart and stayed there for 14 years. In Stuttgart, Bence developed a broad repertoire, which ranged from the baroque to the present day and included both comic and tragic roles. During her long-term engagement, she also began a lively guest performance, first in 1959 as part of an overall guest performance by the Württemberg State Opera at the Vienna State Opera with Parsifal . In Vienna, however, she immediately took on additional engagements in Handel's Jephtha , where she appeared together with the famous tenor Fritz Wunderlich , and in Janáček's Jenůfa . In 1961 she appeared at the Opéra de Monaco in one of her prime roles, as the intriguer Annina in Rosenkavalier .

In the years 1962 to 1966 he was invited to the Bayreuth , Schwetzingen and Salzburg festivals as well as to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The singer made her debut in Bayreuth in 1962 as Rossweisse and Waltraute in the Ring des Nibelungen , in the following year she also sang the two Erda appearances in Rheingold and Siegfried and took on a smaller role in Parsifal . In 1963 she made her debut in Munich as Babekan in the world premiere of Werner Egk's engagement in San Domingo . In 1965 she returned to Bayreuth as Rossweisse, in 1966 she appeared in Schwetzingen in the world premiere of the opera Der Tod des Empedokles by Hermann Reutter and made her debut in Salzburg as Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro . The new Salzburg production by Günther Rennert , conducted by Karl Böhm , was exquisitely cast: the count couple was played by Claire Watson and Ingvar Wixell , Susanna and Figaro by Reri Grist and Walter Berry , the Cherubino by Edith Mathis . This production was extremely popular with the press and the public and remained on the festival program until 1971, with changing line-ups, but always with Bence as Marcellina.

In 1970 Margarethe Bence moved to the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as a member of the ensemble , but remained connected to the Stuttgart house as a guest. In Munich she sang in several operas by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss , but was also successful in the comic field, for example as Ludmilla and Annina. She sang the latter role in the legendary rehearsal of Rosenkavalier with the conductor Carlos Kleiber , which has also been preserved on sound carriers. At the same time, she continued her guest appearances in Berlin, Bucharest, Paris and Rome, in Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco.

In 1976 she worked for eleven years at the Vienna State Opera , during which she played innumerable maids, housekeepers and servants. Her list of roles at the Haus am Ring includes a total of 266 appearances in 27 roles. During these years she also sang at the Vienna Volksoper . She achieved her greatest successes at the State Opera with the role of Marcellina in two different operas: 54 times in Rossini's Barber of Seville and 29 times in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro .

While the singer appeared on the opera stage in a large number of works from the 20th century, in operas by Berg , Janáček , Krenek , Puccini and Richard Strauss , as well as from the post-war years Cerha , Egk , von Eine , Fortner and Henze , she sang in the concert hall mostly works from the 18th century. According to Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens , she was considered a "high-ranking Bach interpreter" and had great success in the concert hall. A series of sound documents attest to her vocal performances in cantatas, oratorios, masses and requiums by Bach , Handel , Mozart , Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Pergolesi and Vivaldi .

From the 1970s Margarethe Bence worked as a singing teacher in Vienna and at the Stuttgart University of Music . Her well-known students include the mezzo-soprano Martina Claussen and the sopranos Malin Hartelius and Anna Korondi .

Roles (selection)

World premieres

repertoire

Mountain :

  • Cloakroom and mother in Lulu

from one :

Fortner :

Handel :

Henze :

Janáček :

  • Maid, aunt, shepherdess and wife of the village judge in Jenůfa

Krenek :

Mascagni :

Massenet :

Mozart :

 

Mussorgsky :

Puccini :

Rossini :

Smetana :

Richard Strauss :

Verdi :

Wagner :

Recordings (selection)

Operas

Choral orchestral works

Sources: rateyourmusic.com, worldcat.org, naxos.com, imdb.com, tamino-klassikforum.at

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Antonio Salieri Institute for Singing and Voice Research in Music Education: ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag.Martina Claussen , accessed on November 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ Farao Classics: Malin Hartelius, soprano , accessed on November 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Bayreuth Festival  ( 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. , Short biography of Anna Korondi, accessed November 13, 2016.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bayreutherfestspiele.de  
  4. ↑ Messe en si mineur . rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  5. ↑ Bence, Margarethe . worldcat.org. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  6. ^ Classical Music Home> Margarethe Bence . naxos.com. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  7. ^ Prodaná nevesta . imdb.com. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  8. ↑ Margarete Bence . tamino-klassikforum.at. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Bence, Margarethe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera and concert singer with mezzo-soprano and alto voices
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingston , New York
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1992
Place of death Munich