Mimi Coertse

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Mimi Coertse in the foyer of the Johannesburg Opera House with her portrait bust

Maria Sophia "Mimi" Coertse (born June 12, 1932 in Durban , South Africa ) is a South African opera singer ( soprano ) and has been an Austrian chamber singer since 1966 . After Jacoba Susanna (Nunez) Holtzhausen , she was the first internationally known opera singer on her continent.

In 1998, Mimi Coertse and Neels Hansen founded the "Black Tie Ensemble" for young South African singers from disadvantaged groups.

Life

Coertse comes from a long-established farming family. She passed her matric at the Afrikaans- speaking Hoër Meisjiesskool Helpmekaar in Johannesburg . Already in her youth she sang songs, accompanied by her older brother on the piano. She began her vocal studies in South Africa with Aimée Parkerson in 1949. She completed her further training in Europe: from September 1953 in London , then briefly in The Hague and from January 27, 1954 in Vienna with Maria Hittorff and at the same time at the Academy of Music and performing arts in the opera class of Josef Witt. Her stage career began with a performance of the opera class in the Schönbrunn Palace Theater on July 1, 1955 ( Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss , in which Mimi Coertse appeared as Zerbinetta).

Mimi Coertse in front of the stage door of the Vienna State Opera

The Vienna Academy for Music and Performing Arts presented its graduates in an opera concert in Bad Aussee in mid-July 1955 , Coertse sang arias by Zerbinetta , Queen of the Night , and Traviata ; The conductor was Hans Swarowsky . After graduating from the academy, State Opera Director Egon Seefehlner recommended the young singer "... do not graduate anywhere else, the Vienna State Opera with its large repertoire system will be in touch."

Vienna State Opera: View of the auditorium
View of the Royal Opera House

At the age of 23 Coertse became the youngest permanent member of the Vienna State Opera. Her first role - in a guest performance by the State Opera in the Teatro San Carlo in Naples - was the 1st flower girl in Parsifal under Karl Böhm . Then he engaged her permanently at the Vienna State Opera. Years later, in Naples, she sang the Merry Widow with Giuseppe Di Stefano .

"Queen of the Night"

On March 17, 1956, Mimi Coertse made her debut at the Vienna State Opera as Queen of the Night in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute, followed by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London . She sang this role more than 500 times in five languages ​​in numerous countries, in 61 performances in Vienna alone by 1961. During these years she performed as Queen of the Night at the Theater Basel , at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (where Vittorio Gui had brought her), at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and at the Athens Festival , where she performed in the ancient arena in performed at a great distance from the conductor and orchestra, and on August 30, 1960 in the Kleiner Festspielhaus at the Salzburg Festival, conductor Joseph Keilberth .

In a new production of Verdi's Rigoletto on April 6, 1956 at the Vienna Volksoper, she sang her first Gilda. 33 performances followed at the State Opera until 1971. This was also the case with the tenor Luciano Pavarotti in his first appearance on April 27, 1963 as Duke of Mantua .

"Constanze"

She sang her next role as a permanent member of the ensemble on September 5, 1956: Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail . Mimi Coertse has performed this role more than three hundred times worldwide, for example at the Salzburg Festival in 1956 with George Szell as conductor. In Vienna there were 102 performances by January 27, 1973 (her last appearance for the time being). In the premiere on October 4, 1965 with the conductor Josef Krips , Fritz Wunderlich was her partner in the role of Belmonte.

The tenor Anton Dermota was her stage partner in several roles, including Belmonte, Rudolf Schock , Julius Patzak and Luigi Alva . Fritz Wunderlich sang Belmonte since 1963. After his death, Peter Schreier , William Blankenship and Werner Hollweg took over the role. At least 18 conductors led these performances, such as Lovro von Matačić , Alberto Erede , John Pritchard and Hans Swarowsky . The kidnapping was also played in the Redoutensaal of the Vienna Hofburg .

The four women around Hoffmann

In the double premiere of Hoffmann's Tales at the Vienna State Opera in October 1957, she sang the puppet Olympia both times under Antonino Votto . In his 1967 production Otto Schenk worked on all of Hoffmann's women (also) with Mimi Coertse at the Vienna State Opera. Irmgard Seefried and Anja Silja had also sung all female roles in front of her. In the opening performance of the Johannesburg Opera House in 1962, she sang all four women’s roles with Hoffmann in Afrikaans for the first time .

"Violetta Valéry"

After Gilda, Coertse studied Violetta Valéry in Verdi's La Traviata . From 1959 to 1971 she sang the role under conductors such as Glauco Curiel, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli , Oliviero de Fabritiis, Nino Verchi, Argeo Quadri, Carlo Franci and Giuseppe Patané .

"Lucia di Lammermoor"

Graz Opera

The Graz Opera House took their account from November 1960 Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor on the board. Mimi Coertse sang a series of performances there that was acclaimed by critics and the public. Coertse's performance in Graz in the title role of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma , premiered on January 13, 1962, was similarly successful. Coertse subsequently sang Lucia in the Vienna Volksoper (première on February 16, 1965, conductor Argeo Quadri). As Edgardo, Alfredo Kraus was one of her singing partners there.

A historical reminiscence

“The South African soprano Mimi Coertse sparked enormous enthusiasm in Graz in the 1960s with her Lucia and later with her Norma. Opera fans stormed the performances. I also remember her Lucia with the great Alfredo Kraus at the Vienna Volksoper in 1965. Thanks to youtube, you can listen to a large part of the mad scene [...] interpreted by Mimi Coertse - an interpretation that is still absolutely valid today! "

- Hermann Becke, : THE OPERA FRIEND

Operetta and musical

She also devoted herself to the operetta , starting in 1960 for two summers in the Redoutensaal of the Vienna Hofburg as Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow with Johannes Heesters , then also with Eberhard Waechter as Danilo. In the opening presentation of the Theater an der Wien - after years of restoration - on July 17, 1962 Mimi Coertse sang for the first time in Vienna Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss , later one of her signature roles. In the Spring Parade of Robert Stolz (premiered at the Vienna Volksoper on 25 March 1964) she played the singer Hansi Gruber.

Coertse also worked as a musical singer. The first performance of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide in German took place in the large broadcasting hall of the Funkhaus Wien in April 1963 . In the radio adaptation and direction of Marcel Prawy with the orchestra and choir of Radio Wien and the musical direction of Samuel Krachmalnick Voltaire's novella read among others the castle actors Blanche Aubry and Heinrich Schweiger , Rudolf Christ and Mimi Coertse sang .

More roles

Mimi Coertse sang Frasquita in a series of performances of the opera Carmen in 1957 (musical direction Herbert von Karajan , with Jean Madeira , Giuseppe Di Stefano , George London and Hilde Güden ). In the same year she appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival as a member of the Covent Garden Opera in the role of Zerbinetta. In Don Giovanni she designed Donna Elvira from 1961 to 1963 and Donna Anna from 1965 to 1971.

Mimi Coertse was able to develop her comic talent as Concepción in Maurice Ravel's Spanish Hour in a production by Otto Schenk . The premiere was on October 20, 1964 in the Vienna Volksoper (conductor Peter Maag , German version by Marcel Prawy, stage design by Günther Schneider-Siemssen , with Michel Sénéchal as Gonzalvo, Oskar Czerwenka as Ramiro and Marcel Cordes as Don Inigo Gomez). This performance was filmed for Austrian television under Schenk's direction .

On March 1, 1968 Richard Strauss's Die Schweigsame Frau was performed for the first time at the Vienna State Opera. The conductor was Silvio Varviso , and Hans Hotter's production was based on the performance at the Salzburg Festival in 1959, where he designed Sir Morosus. It sang Oskar Czerwenka , William Blankenship, Robert Kerns , Hilde Rossel-Majdan , Renate Holm and in the title role Mimi Coertse. As a result, Coertse made a name for herself as a Strauss singer.

Another success was her debut as the slave Liu in Puccini's Turandot , Birgit Nilsson sang the title role , and James King sang Prince Kalaf.

Coertse was known for her reliability and readiness for action, even in smaller games. She sang the short appearance of Fiakermilli in Richard Strauss' Arabella with the dreaded yodelers from 1959 to 1973 in all new productions at the State Opera in 25 performances. She sang the First Angel in Palestrina by Hans Pfitzner there from 1956 on the occasion of her takeover from the Theater an der Wien under the direction of her teacher Josef Witt until 1973, until she left the State Opera, in 19 performances.

Coertses last roles in Strauss productions of the State Opera were in 1971 the Aithra in the Egyptian Helena , conductor Ernst Märzendorfer , with Gwyneth Jones , Jess Thomas and on April 1st 1972 the Daphne , conducted by Horst Stein , with Edita Gruberová as Hermione. On January 27, 1973, Mimi Coertse's years in Vienna ended with her 102nd kidnapping from the Seraglio after 468 performances. The subsequent management under Egon Seefehlner organized a belated farewell performance: On December 14, 1978, chamber singer Mimi Coertse made a role debut as Elisabeth von Valois in Verdi's Don Carlos . The conductor was Berislav Klobučar , Simon Estes sang King Philip II.

In concerts she occasionally presented songs from her homeland sung in Afrikaans.

Return to South Africa

In 1973 Coertse returned to South Africa and from then on lived in Pretoria . According to her own statements, she founded the discussion group Kontak for Afrikaaner women around 1976 in order to get in touch with women from other population groups. Right-wing Afrikaans of the Wit Kommando infected their “music room”, so that numerous memories of the Vienna period were lost. For the opening of the Johannesburg Opera House in 1962, she sang the three female roles in Hoffman's Tales in Afrikaans.

Until 1978 she performed several times in Vienna. In South Africa she gave concerts and appeared in films, including with the satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys , where she played herself. Coertse promoted classically trained young singers, among other things from the 1980s with the concert series Debut with Mimi . In the 1981/82 season she sang Konstanze again in English at the Nico Malan House in Cape Town in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail ; she gave an “elegant, theatrical rather than vocally convincing performance (with transposed aria and not entirely clean coloratura)”.

In 1998 she founded the Black Tie Ensemble for young talents with Neels Hansen and from 1958 onwards she donated the Mimi Coertse-beurs scholarship . Supported singers include Johan Botha , Kobie van Rensburg and Sibongile Mngoma . A first biography appeared in 1976; another biography, created with her participation, was published in 2007.

Mimi Coertse has been married three times and has two adopted children.

The South African singer Miriam Makeba remembered an encounter with Mimi Coertse; she liked Coertse and her music.

reception

Opernwelt article from July 1965.

Her portrait bust is in the foyer of the opera in Johannesburg, there is a rose named after her, the opera coordinated the program according to its dates.

The composer and first violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic Fritz Leitermeyer dedicated 4 songs in Afrikaans for high voice [and piano] to Mimi Coertse in 1964 : op. 25

Concerts (selection)

Discography (excerpt)

Filmography

  • 1959: Nooi van my hart
  • 1967: The Spanish Hour (TV movie)
  • 1985: Skating On Thin Uys
  • 1990: Adam (TV movie)
  • 1992: The Prince van Pretoria

Honors

  • 1961: Medal of Honor from the South African Academy of Science and Art
  • 1963: Rose breeding: Mimi Coertse, JA Heroldt, South Africa, cross between Queen Elisabethx Constantia-Rose
  • 1966: Austrian chamber singer
  • 1967: Mimi Coertse-Rose, taken over by Christenson Nursery, Tulln near Vienna
  • 1969: Mimi Coertse-Rose in Hamburg
  • 1985: Order of Meritorious Service (South Africa)
  • 1990, 1st January: Opera workshop in the marble hall of the Vienna State Opera, artist talk Volkmar Parschalk with the musical ambassador of South Africa, Ö1.
  • 1996: Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art
  • 1998: Honorary doctorate from the University of Pretoria
  • 2002: In the tea room of the Vienna State Opera presentation of the Vienna Golden Town Hall Man and presentation of (her) book Mimi Coertse, a Viennese woman from South Africa by Helmuth Furch , together with Eva Hilda Smolik and Elfriede Werthan . Festive hour with Marcel Prawy, Otto Schenk, Heinz Holecek , Johan Botha , Lillian Barylli-Fayer and others. Mr. Prawy presented a recording of "her" coloratura aria by Kunigunde from the German-language premiere of Candide by Leonard Bernstein in 1963 in Vienna.
  • 2004: she was chosen in the list of the hundred most important South Africans
  • 2007: Festival concert with mainly South African artists for Mimi Coertse in the Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna
  • 2008: Opening of the "Mimi Coertse Museum" van Afrikaans Huis voor Afrikaanse Poëzie (hAp) in Capital Park, Pretoria .
  • 2012: Special exhibition of the State Opera Museum from July 1st to October 10th on the occasion of the 80th birthday of chamber singer Mimi Coertse. Mimi Coertse, a Viennese from South Africa . Ceremony with the director of the Vienna State Opera Dominique Meyer , Mr. Xolisa Mabhongo, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Otto Schenk, Johan Botha, Kurt Equiluz , Lillian Barylli-Fayer, Christl Schönfeldt and others.
Haus Hofmannsthal September 19th, because of you they went to the opera. with Markus Vorzellner
  • 2013: Honorary doctorate from UNISA "for the development of the music of the Afrikaans "

Sources and literature

The Vienna years of Ms. Kammersängerin Mimi Coertse . No. 41, 20-56, March 1996, and
Mimi Coertse, the highly esteemed concert and lied singer . No. 52, 33-54, December 1998.
  • Helmuth Furch, Eva Hilda Smolik and Elfriede Werthan : Chamber singer Mimi Coertse, a Viennese from South Africa . With a foreword by Marcel Prawy and a personal letter from Christl Schönfeldt , her “ Viennese Mommy” , and the organizer of the Vienna Opera Ball , Vienna 2002. ISBN 978-3-9504555-5-7 .
  • Karl Löbl: The balcony lion, 60 years ... Mimi Coertse: sweet sensuality. Seifert Verlag, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902924-00-1 , pp. 160f.
  • Karl Löbl: After the premieres. My life in and with the opera. What can become of a queen. Seifert Verlag, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902924-06-3 , pp. 125f.

Biographies

  • Wouter de Wet: Onse Mimi. Perskor, Johannesburg 1976.
  • Ian Raper, Mimi Coertse: 'n stem vir Suid-Afrika: my storie soos vertel aan Ian Raper. Litera Publikasies, Pretoria 2007, ISBN 978-0958462693 .

Web links

Commons : Mimi Coertse  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Margie Oxford (ed.): Life and soul: portraits of women who move South Africa. Juta and Company, Johannesburg 2006, ISBN 9781770130432 , p. 112. Excerpts from books.google.de
  2. ↑ Werner Pfister: Fritz Wunderlich. Biography. Schweizer Verlagshaus 1990, ISBN 3-7263-6612-1 , p. 131.
  3. ↑ Christl Schönfeldt : Mimi Coertse, in “ Die Bühne ” 1967.
  4. ^ Archives of the Salzburg Festival
  5. ^ Archive of the performances of the Vienna State Opera.
  6. ↑ a b c d Chronicle of the Vienna State Opera 1945–1995, Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna and Munich 1995.
  7. ↑ See Neue Zeit , Südost-Tagespost , Kleine Zeitung of November 16, 1960, and Die Bühne November 1960.
  8. ↑ Hermann Becke: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR . deropernfreund.de. April 5, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  9. ^ Karl Löbl , Express , April 30, 1963.
  10. ↑ Zs. Die Bühne, October 1964:. “.. The audience, already enthusiastic about the stage design and its watch-playful grace when the curtain rose, couldn't get out of the smile and laugh during the fifty minutes that this 'Spanish Lesson' lasts , to which the singers also contributed! Mimi Coertse, whose talent for comic roles could be discovered, as a loving Spaniard with a highly amusing determination ... "
  11. ↑ Klaus Ulrich Spiegel - Ravel: The Spanish Hour https://www.ku-spiegel.de/beitrags/booklets-k-bis-r/ravel-die-spanische-stunde
  12. ↑ Franz Endler in Die Presse , March 4, 1968, wrote: “Mimi Coertse was a very magical, silent woman, the dearest embodiment of this abnormality that one can only imagine. To cope with all the difficulties of this game and play wonderfully at the same time, someone should imitate her first. Where it is generally stated that the main character is actually Sir Morosus, this time Aminta-Timida was the center ... "
  13. ↑ Clemens Höslinger wrote in the Kurier on May 11, 1971: “A happy debutante. The slave Liu has a proud cast tradition in Vienna, because she was always entrusted to the most excellent representatives of the lyrical soprano . Berta Kiurina , Luise Helletsgruber , Irmgard Seefried are the most important names here. Mimi Coertse is worthy of this tradition. The singer has found a job here that fully corresponds to her type. … The dying scene was poignant. A great success ... "
  14. ↑ Herbert Schreiber: "Mimi Coertse lets out seductive ornamental song as Aithra, who wouldn't want to be Poseidon there!" Gerhard Brunner: "Mimi Coertse gives an Aithra of captivating sweetness ..."
  15. ↑ Hellmuth Hermann wrote in the Wiener Zeitung on April 5, 1972: “The title role will now be interpreted by Mimi Coertse, who was finally given the opportunity to appear prominently in the Haus am Ring. The qualities of her soprano, its flexibility and punch have long been known; Thankfully, however, it was noted on this evening that Ms. Coertse also has an unmistakably pastose timbre, which pointed the direction and goal of her vocal design and made her interpretation an authentic one . "
  16. ↑ a b c portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on September 26, 2017
  17. ↑ Angelo Iatrou / GH: Repteroireumschau . In: Orpheus . Edition May 5, 1982, p. 416.
  18. ↑ ATKV vereer 'sett Mimi'. artlink.co.za on March 19, 2000 (Afrikaans), accessed September 27, 2017.
  19. ↑ My lewe het verloop soos dit moes, sê Mimi op 85. network24.com of July 28, 2017 (Afrikaans), accessed on September 27, 2017
  20. ↑ […] and liking her, she also liked her Music . Miriam became Mama Africa , Mimi became Onse Mimi ; in: Carol Steyn: Two South African women: the lives and careers of the singers Miriam Makeba and Mimi Coertse. 2002.
  21. ↑ Helmuth Furch: The Viennese years of Ms. Kammersängerin Mimi Coertse. Portrait of the opera world : in communications from the Kaisersteinbruch Museum and Culture Association, No. 41, March 1996, pp. 20–56.
  22. ↑ Mimi Coertse. Catalog of the Austrian National Library
  23. ^ Wiener Musikverein Archive documents 17 concerts
  24. ↑ Information ORF archive
  25. ^ Department of Culture of the City of Vienna
  26. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt , May 27, 1969: Roses from Vienna ...
  27. ↑ coertse.pdf
  28. ↑ Franz Endler in the courier, August 29, 1996: Chamber singer Mimi Coertse came "home" and picked up a medal
  29. ^ Poster of the State Opera Museum, idea and documents in the Furch Collection
  30. ↑ UNISA honors opera singer Mimi Coertse. ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. sabc.co.za (English), accessed September 26, 2017 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sabc.co.za
personal data
SURNAME Coertse, Mimi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coertse, Maria Sophia (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African opera singer (soprano) and Austrian chamber singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Durban , South Africa