Martha Rohs

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Martha Rohs , also Marta Rohs ( June 2, 1909 in Saarbrücken - July 27, 1963 in Vienna ) was an opera singer with an alto voice . For many years she was a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera and was appointed Austrian Chamber Singer .

life and work

Her first teacher was her father. Then she had her voice trained in Paris (with Julia Berl-Lilienfeld ), Leipzig (with Suse Blümel ) and Saarbrücken (with Katharina Nicklas ). At first she worked as a concert singer. She made her opera debut in 1932 at the Stadttheater Aachen. She was engaged in Heidelberg for one season, and for three seasons - from 1934 to 1937 - at the Zurich Opera House . The focus of her repertoire was on Mozart and Richard Strauss, she also sang tragic roles in Verdi and Wagner's, many comic operas and operettas. Her star roles were all trouser roles : Orpheus, Cherubino and Octavian, as well as Ramiro, Sesto, Hansel, Prince Orlofsky and composer.

In 1936 she began to perform as a guest. For example, she sang the Cherubino in Covent Garden in London, in Vienna, Salzburg and in 1943 in The Hague, the Octavian also in London, Vienna and Salzburg and in Paris, the Orpheus in The Hague. She has also made guest appearances at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, at La Scala in Milan , in Rome, Amsterdam and Brussels.

In 1937 he was engaged for many years at the Dresden State Opera (until 1944) and at the same time an engagement in Vienna. After her first guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera , for example as Cherubino, she was signed up as a member, first from September 1938 to September 1941, then after the fall of the Nazi regime from September 1947 to August 31, 1959. From 1938 to 1941 she entered she regularly performs at the Salzburg Festival . In the 1940s she was one of the “celebrated singers in the mezzo-soprano and alto subject” and, according to Kutsch / Riemens, was able to establish herself as a crowd favorite in Vienna thanks to her “dark-timbred, expressive voice”. At the same time, she fitted in well with the famous Vienna Mozart ensemble and also took on medium and small roles. So she sang the Second Lady in the Magic Flute 110 times between 1948 and 1957 . As Cherubino she was seen and heard 64 times at the Vienna State Opera, as Octavian 57 times, as Frau Reich 46 times and 37 times as Prince Orlofsky. In 1949 she returned to the Salzburg Festival as Sesto in La clemenza di Tito . Serious illness in the late 1950s resulted in her largely retiring from the stage. In 1959 and 1960 she only appeared in small roles, for example as Grimgerde in Die Walküre or as a maid in Elektra .

She was also successful in the concert hall. For example, she sang the alto solo in Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1939 and the alto solo in Beethoven's Ninth in 1942, at the Salzburg Festival in 1942 the alto solo in the Verdi Requiem , conducted by Karl Böhm , and in 1949 Brahms' Alto Rhapsody (op. 53), conducted by Josef Krips . She also gave recitals, for example in Berlin in 1938 or on November 10, 1944 accompanied by Viktor Graef at the piano in the Mozart Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus . It is noteworthy that this concert was able to take place because after the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, a complete theater ban was imposed over the entire territory of Hitler , which also affected musical performances. On this evening Rohs sang works by Haydn , Beethoven , Schumann , Hugo Wolf and “foreign folk songs” arranged by Möller (Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Venetian).

She was married to the actor Fred Liewehr (1909-1993). The couple had a son, Florian Liewehr (1945-2014), who, like his father, became an actor. She was buried in the southwest cemetery. Later, husband, daughter-in-law and son found their final resting place in this grave site.

Roles (selection)

World premieres

repertoire

Auber :

Bizet :

Flotow :

Giordano :

Luck :

Handel :

Humperdinck :

Lortzing :

Menotti :

Millöcker :

Mozart :

Nicolai :

Offenbach :

Pepusch / Britten :

 

Pfitzner :

Prokofieff :

Puccini :

Salmhofer :

  • Katja in Ivan Tarassenko

Schmidt :

Johann Strauss :

Richard Strauss :

Stravinsky :

Soup :

Tchaikovsky :

Verdi :

Wagner :

Audio documents

There are very few records of her voice, for example at DGG. The Edition Belvedere has published excerpts from the Vienna State Opera by the Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Rheingold , with the singer as Magdalene and Grimgerde. There are also operettas on smaller labels from the later years.

Commemoration

In 2009 a path on the periphery of Vienna, in the Hörndlwald of Vienna-Hietzing , was named after her in memory of the artist , the Martha-Rohs-Weg .

See also

source

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ biografiA , Lexicon of Austrian Women: Rohs Mart (h) a, bew. Liewehr , Volume 3, PZ, accessed on June 27, 2020
  2. ^ Wiener Konzerthaus: Martha Rohs, Alt , accessed on June 27, 2020
  3. ^ Friedhöfe Wien : Search for the deceased , accessed on April 27, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Rohs, Martha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rohs, Marta; Liewehr, Martha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer with an alto voice
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Saarbrücken
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1963
Place of death Vienna