Maria Olszewska

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Maria Olszewska with the actor Joseph Schildkraut , 1932

Maria Olszewska , also Maria Olczewska (born August 12, 1892 in Ludwigsschwaige ; † May 17, 1969 in Klagenfurt ) was a German opera singer ( alto / mezzo-soprano ).

Life

The artist was born as Marie Berchtenbreiter on August 12, 1892 in Ludwigsschwaige, a wasteland between Wertingen and Donauwörth (Pfaffenhofener Flur). Her musical talent, which was encouraged by her parents, was shown early on. She studied singing as a private student with Karl Erler in Munich. She then worked as a concert and operetta singer. The conductor Artur Nikisch advised the young woman to devote herself to the opera and arranged for her to work at the city theater in Krefeld. There the singer made her debut as a page in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser . Then she was engaged for a short time at the Stadttheater in Leipzig, where she sang Wagner roles. There she sang among others Brangäne, Fricka, Erda and Waltraude. In 1920 Maria Olszewska went to the Hamburg State Opera, where she stayed until 1923. Here she sang u. a. Carmen in the opera of the same name, the mother of the young farmer Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana and Brigitte in the world premiere of the opera Die tote Stadt .

From 1924 to 1930 the artist worked at the State Opera in Vienna. There she thrilled the audience as the most beautiful and elegant Rosenkavalier (Ludwig 2000, p. 212). In Vienna, as Robert Stolz and his wife Einzi said in an interview, she was one of the superstars . Mentioned further reported about the singer:

Even their numerous feuds made headlines ... Perhaps the most notorious of these scenes happened during a Viennese performance of the 'Valkyrie' in the 1920s: Mizzi (= Maria Jeritza ) sang the Sieglinde and brought Fricka, Maria Olszewska, into it Rage that she actually spat on her (Stolz 1986, p. 122).

In addition to her permanent engagement in Vienna, she had further engagements at the Städtische Oper Berlin and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The artist was awarded the title of Bavarian Chamber Singer for her long-term work at the Munich Festival .

At the beginning of 1930 Maria Olszewska made a tour of the USA, starting from Chicago, where she sang until the end of the season. The tour took the artist and her ensemble through all of the country's major cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Louisville, Memphis, Dallas, Tulsa, San Antonio, El Paso, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. In particular, the Rosenkavalier , with Maria Olszewska as Octavian, thrilled the American audience.

Maria Olszewska has appeared on the world's great opera stages. She sang in Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy, in the USA, where she made her debut as Brangäne on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1933, in Argentina etc. In Paris and London she sang in 1930 and 1935 in Munich Prince Orlofsky in the operetta Die Fledermaus . In addition to the roles in Richard Wagner's musical dramas, the Klytämestra in Elektra , Amneris in Aida , Ulrica in Ein Maskenball , Dalila in Samson and Dalila , Frau Fluth in Die Lustigen Frauen von Windsor and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier were among her brilliant roles.

The artist also acted in several films. Your film partners included u. a .: Irene von Meyendorff , the very young Maria Schell , Oskar Sima , Otto Tressler and Attila Hörbiger .

From 1947 to 1949 Maria Olszewska taught as a professor of singing at the Academy of Music in Vienna and in 1948 became a lecturer at the Vienna State Opera. From 1951 to 1955 she performed at the Vienna Volksoper . There she played in operettas by Johann Strauss such as Eine Nacht in Venice , Der Zigeunerbaron and Wiener Blut .

The artist married the hero-baritone Emil Schipper (1882–1957) in 1925 . The marriage soon ended in divorce.

She found her final resting place in the park of Rottenstein Castle in Carinthia , Austria.

Discography (selection)

  • Living past. Maria Olszewsak (recordings 1922–1929), (Label: Naxos)
  • Der Rosenkavalier (Label: Pearl)
  • Four German Contraltos of the Past (Label: Preiser Records)

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • R. Stolz and E. Stolz: The whole world is sky blue . Bergisch Gladbach 1986
  • Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Second volume: MZ . Bern / Stuttgart 1987, Sp. 2168-2169
  • G. Ludwig: Maria Olszewska, a world-famous opera singer from the Altkreis Wertingen . In: Historischer Verein Dillingen (Hrsg.): Yearbook of the Historischer Verein Dillingen an der Donau . Dillingen 2000, published by 1001, pp. 208-215

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Olszewska, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Olczewska, Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (alto / mezzo-soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigsschwaige
DATE OF DEATH 17th May 1969
Place of death Klagenfurt