Martha Mödl

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Grave of Martha Mödl; Munich, Ostfriedhof

Martha Mödl (born March 22, 1912 in Nuremberg ; † December 17, 2001 in Stuttgart ) was a German opera singer ( mezzo-soprano , later dramatic soprano ) and two-time chamber singer . In addition to Astrid Varnay and Birgit Nilsson she was one of the "three great Wagnerian postwar prima donnas" and was a celebrated Clytemnestra in Elektra by Richard Strauss .

Life

Martha Mödl attended the Institute of the English Misses ( Congregatio Jesu ), a catholic but secular secondary school for girls , where she obtained her Abitur. She took piano lessons for twelve years. After a long job as a commercial clerk, she did not begin her vocal studies until the age of 28 in her hometown, thanks to a local patron, and after the war she was one of the leading singers in her field on all major stages in the world. She began her career in Remscheid in 1943 as a mezzo-soprano with typical roles such as Hansel, Mignon, Cherubino and Carmen . In the last months of the war she had to turn artillery shells, but her contract in Remscheid was still valid, so that she could immediately resume her career. In 1945 she moved to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg (whose house she was connected to almost continuously until her death), where she made her debut as Carmen. This was followed by engagements in Hamburg , Munich , Rome , Milan , Vienna , at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York .

In Bayreuth in the post-war years, after switching to the highly dramatic soprano subject Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde ), Brünnhilde ( Der Ring des Nibelungen ) and Kundry ( Parsifal ), she sometimes alternated with her famous colleagues Astrid Varnay and Birgit Nilsson . After a vocal change back to the mezzo subject in the sixties, Martha Mödl devoted herself increasingly to the character subject and did not close herself to so-called " new music ". Composers such as Hans Werner Henze , Giselher Klebe , Walter Haupt , Wilfried Hiller and Aribert Reimann particularly valued her dramatic intensity.

At the Gandersheim Cathedral Festival in 1978 she played the title role in The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca ; In 1980 she received the " Roswitha-Ring " as the most outstanding actress. In 1988 she was awarded the Silver Leaf of the Dramatiker Union and in 1999 the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art .

Until the beginning of 2001 she could be seen on stage, among other things at the Saarland State Theater in Saarbrücken , in Düsseldorf as Golde in Anatevka or in her great parade age role as Countess in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades at the Opera of the City of Cologne, the Vienna State Opera and on Mannheim National Theater . At the end of 2000 she sang in the new production of the opera Die Gespenstersonate by Aribert Reimann, which was originally composed for her .

She is buried in Munich's Ostfriedhof .

Honors

Repertoire / parts (selection)

Discography (selection)

  • Beethoven: Fidelio. Vienna 1953 (Theater an der Wien, live) - Furtwängler - Leonore (Replica)
  • Beethoven: Fidelio. Vienna 1953 - Furtwängler - Leonore (EMI)
  • Beethoven: Fidelio. Vienna 1955 (reopening of the State Opera, live) - Böhm - Leonore (Orfeo 1955), several awards a. a. Diapason d'or
  • Cerha : Baal , WP Salzburg 1981 - Christoph von Dohnanyi - Baal's mother (Amadeo / Polygram)
  • von Eine : Kabale und Liebe , UA Vienna 1977 - von Dohnanyi - Mrs. Miller (ORF)
  • Fortner : Blood Wedding , Stuttgart 1961 (live) - Leitner - mother (SDR 1961)
  • Henze : Elegy for young lovers , Berlin 1962 - Henze - Countess (DG)
  • Janáček : Jenůfa , Vienna 1964 - Jaroslav Krombholc - sexton (ORF 1964)
  • Janáček: Jenůfa. Zurich 1986 - Christian Thielemann - Alte Buriya
  • Klebe : Gervaise Macquart , Düsseldorf 1995 (live) - János Kulka - Bazouge (WDR 1995)
  • Mussorgsky : Boris Godunow, Munich 1957 - Eugen Jochum - Marina (Myto)
  • Nicolai : The Merry Wives of Windsor (DEFA 1950)
  • Offenbach : Die Banditen , Cologne 1980 - Steinberg - Fürstin (WDR 1980)
  • Offenbach: Hoffmanns Tales , Cologne 1950 - Eugen Szenkar - Giulietta (WDR 1950)
  • Orff : Antigonae , Stuttgart 1956 - Leitner - Antigonae (SDR 1956)
  • Orff: Antigonae, Munich 1957 - Wolfgang Sawallisch - Antigonae (BR 1958)
  • Orff: Oedipus the Tyrann, Hamburg 1961 - Winfried Zillig - Jokasta (NDR 1961)
  • Puccini : Gianni Schicchi , Munich 1973 - Sawallisch - Zita, called the old woman, Buosos Base (Orfeo 1973)
  • Purcell : Dido and Aeneas , Hamburg 1958 - Schmidt-Isserstedt - Dido (NDR 1958)
  • von Schillings : Das Hexenlied, Cologne 1991 (WDR live) - Jan Stulen - recitation (CPO)
  • Schoeck : Penthesilea , Stuttgart 1958 - Leitner - Penthesilea (SDR 1958)
  • Schultze : Schwarzer Peter , Cologne 1979 (WDR) - Schultze - Queen (cook)
  • Strauss: Elektra , Florence 1950 (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino live) - Dimitri Mitropoulos - Klytämnestra (Cetra)
  • Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier , Edinburgh 1952 - Schmidt-Isserstedt - Octavian (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Strauss: The woman without a shadow , Munich 1963 (reopening of the National Theater, live) - Joseph Keilberth - Amme (DG)
  • Strauss: The Woman Without a Shadow, Mannheim 1964 - Heinz Wallberg - Amme (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Strauss: Elektra, Salzburg 1964 (live) - von Karajan - Klytämnestra (Orfeo 1964), Awards: Opera Le Timbre de Platine u. ffff Télérama
  • Strauss: Elektra, Düsseldorf 1964 (live) - Arnold Quennett - Klytämnestra (Orfeo 1964)
  • Strauss: Elektra, Rome 1965 - Antal Doráti - Klytämnestra
  • Strauss: Elektra, London 1965 - Edward Downes - Klytämnestra
  • Strauss: Salome , Geneva 1967 - Sebastian - Herodias (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Strauss: Die Schweigsame Frau , Munich 1971 - Sawallisch - Housekeeper (Orfeo 1971), Award: Classica
  • Strauss: Elektra, Stuttgart 1971 - Kleiber - Klytämnestra
  • Strauss: Elektra, Rome 1971 - Sawallisch - Klytämnestra
  • Strauss: Elektra, Hamburg 1975 - Horst Stein - Klytämnestra
  • Strauss: Elektra, Kiel 1976 - Klaus Tennstedt - Klytämnestra (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Strauss: Elektra, Berlin 1977 - Marek Janowski - Klytämnestra (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Strauss: Salome, Munich 1977 - Fritz Rieger - Herodias (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Stravinsky : Oedipus Rex , Cologne 1951 (WDR) - Stravinsky - Iocasta (Gebhardt)
  • Sullivan : The Pirates of Penzance , Cologne 1968 - Franz Marszalek - (Gala)
  • Tschaikowsky : Pique Dame , Vienna 1965 - Gustav Kuhn - Gräfin (Hamburg Archives for Singing Art)
  • Tschaikowsky: Queen of Spades , Buenos Aires 1981 - Janowski - Countess (Otrantomax)
  • Tschaikowsky: Pique Dame, Cologne 1981 - Gerd Albrecht - Countess (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame, Dortmund 1983 - Hans Wallat - Countess
  • Tschaikowsky: Pique Dame, Cologne 1988 - Kitaenko - Gräfin (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades. Vienna 1992 - Ozawa - Countess (Premiere Opera)
  • Verdi : The Power of Fate , Hamburg 1952 - Schmidt-Isserstedt - Preziosilla (Eurodisc)
  • Verdi: Macbeth , Berlin 1950 (Admiralspalast live) - Keilberth - Lady Macbeth (Myto)
  • Verdi: A masked ball , Cologne 1951 (WDR) - Fritz Busch - (Calig)
  • Verdi: A masked ball. Hamburg 1965 - Nino Sanzogno - (Opera Depot)
  • Wagner : Parsifal , Bayreuth 1951 (live) - Knappertsbusch - Kundry (Teldec)
  • Wagner: Götterdämmerung. Bayreuth 1952 (live) - Keilberth - Gutrune, Third Norn (Paragon)
  • Wagner: Tristan und Isolde , Bayreuth 1952 - von Karajan - Isolde (Orfeo d'Or 1952, Bayreuth Festival live), several awards a. a. German Record Critics' Prize
  • Wagner: Parsifal. 1953 (live) - Clemens Krauss - Kundry (Arlecchino)
  • Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung , Rome 1953 (RAI Roma live) - Furtwängler - Brünnhilde (EMI)
  • Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung. Bayreuth 1953 (live) - Keilberth - Brünnhilde (Golden Melodrama)
  • Wagner: The Valkyrie. Bayreuth 1954 (live) - Keilberth - Sieglinde (melodrama)
  • Wagner: Parsifal. Bayreuth 1956 (live) - Knappertsbusch - Kundry, alto solo (Telefunken)
  • Wagner: Götterdämmerung. Bayreuth 1967 (live) - Böhm - Waltraute (Philips)
  • Siegfried Wagner : The Angel of Peace, London 1975 - Head - (Living Stage)
  • Siegfried Wagner: Sonnenflammen, Wiesbaden 1979 - Köhler - (Omega Opera Archive)
  • Weill : The rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny , Stuttgart 1967 - Leitner - Leokadja (Opera Depot)
  • Zeller : The Bird Dealer , approx. 1967 - Adelaide - (Telefunken).

TV recordings (selection)

  • Beethoven: Fidelio. Vienna 1955 (dress rehearsal) - Böhm - Leonore (NBC archive)
  • Richard Rodney Bennett : Napoleon is coming (A Penny for a Song) , Munich 1969 - Dohnanyi - Hester - (ARD)
  • Boris Blacher : 200,000 thalers , Berlin 1969 - Hollreiser - Ettie-Mennie (ARD 1970)
  • Richard Heuberger : The Opera Ball - Richter - (ARD)
  • Carl Millöcker : The Begging Student - Wallberg (ARD 1971)
  • Millöcker: Gasparone - TV
  • Strauss: Arabella - Solti - card opener (Unitel 1977)
  • Strauss: The silent woman - Sawallisch - housekeeper (ARD 1973)
  • Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress - Bender - Mutter Goose (Munich 1977)
  • Tchaikovsky: Queen of Spades - Albrecht - Countess (ZDF 1981)
  • Verdi: A Masked Ball - Sanzogno - Ulrica (ZDF 1966)
  • Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - Mende - Begbick (ARD 1970).

Literature (selection)

  • Martha Mödl: That was my way. Conversations with Thomas Voigt. Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-932529-08-1 . (with disco and videography)
  • Harold Rosenthal: Sopranos of Today. London 1956.
  • Wilibald Gurlitt (Ed.): Riemann Musiklexikon . Person part L – Z. 12., completely reworked. Edition. Mainz u. a. 1961, p. 231.
  • Carl Dahlhaus (Ed.): Riemann Musiklexikon. Supplementary volume, personal section L – Z. 12., completely reworked. Edition. Mainz u. a. 1975, p. 205.
  • Harold Rosenthal: Great Singers of Today. London 1966. (Reprint New York 1977).
  • Walter Erich Schäfer : Martha Mödl. Hanover 1967 (with discography).
  • Harold Rosenthal: Mödl, Martha. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . 12th volume, London a. a. 1980, ISBN 0-333-23111-2 , p. 454.
  • Ludwig Baum: Martha Mödl. Stations. Exhibition for the 40th anniversary of the stage. Nuremberg 1982.
  • Lanfranco Rasponi: The last Primadonnas. New York 1982.
  • Jürgen Kesting : The great singers of our century. Düsseldorf u. a. 1993, ISBN 3-430-15389-1 , pp. 540-543 and 1072.
  • John Hunt: Six Wagnerian Sopranos: Unfortunately, Flagstad, Varnay, Mödl, Nilsson, Jones. London 1994.
  • Harold Rosenthal: Mödl, Martha. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. 3rd volume, London a. a. 1997, ISBN 0-333-73432-7 , p. 127.
  • Thomas Voigt: Laudation for Martha Mödl. In: Yearbook / Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Volume 14, 2000, pp. 777-780.
  • Burkhard Laugwitz: A long life on stage. Conversation with the singer Martha Mödl. In: The orchestra. 07/2001. (portraits.klassik.com) .
  • Max Ernst: Martha Mödl: »I live when I'm on stage«. In: Grünwalder portraits. Volume 30, 2002, pp. 29-31.
  • Alan Blyth: Martha Mödl, 1912-2001. In: Opera. Volume 53, 2002, pp. 311-314.
  • Kurt Malisch: Mödl, Martha. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Person part 12. Kassel / Stuttgart a. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1122-5 , col. 293.
  • Walter Herrmann, Adrian Hollaender: Legends and Stars of the Opera. From Gigli to Callas to Domingo and Netrebko. Graz 2007, ISBN 978-3-7011-7571-0 .

Web links

Interviews

Individual evidence

  1. Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . 3rd, expanded edition. Volume 6, 2000, p. 529. (CD-ROM version).
  2. ^ Walter Herrmann, Adrian Hollaender : Legends and Stars of the Opera. From Gigli to Callas to Domingo and Netrebko. Graz 2007, ISBN 978-3-7011-7571-0 , p. 42.
  3. Cornelia Hofmann, Katharina Meinel: Documentation of the premieres from 1653 to 1992. In: Hans Zehetmair, Jürgen Schläder (ed.): Nationaltheater. The Bavarian State Opera . Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7654-2551-6 (premieres with Martha Mödl, pp. 315, 318, 323–325, 327, 329, 334–335; photo p. 108).
  4. Martha Mödl's appearances at the Vienna State Opera .
  5. ^ Performances with Martha Mödl at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
  6. Performances with Martha Mödl at the Bayreuth Festival .
  7. a b Uwe Harten: Mödl, Martha . In: Austrian Music Lexicon online. May 6, 2001, accessed November 2, 2018.