Mimi Poensgen

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Maria "Mimi" Poensgen , also known as Mimi Werhardt-Poensgen , Mimi Poensgen-Gutheim or Mimi Poensgen-Warmbrunn , (born October 31, 1878 in Blumenthal in the municipality of Hellenthal ; † December 30, 1958 in Oberstdorf ) was a German opera singer in the voice range lyric soprano , later dramatic soprano , as well as singing teacher .

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Maria Poensgen came from the Reidemeister family Poensgen , which has its origins in the Schleiden area in the Eifel , and was the daughter of the iron and steel works owner Adolf Poensgen (1851–1898). She completed her classical vocal training in Berlin , where she also received her first smaller roles. Then they offered her mostly seasonal contracts and they were respectively from 1907 to 1908 at the Vienna Volksoper , from 1908 to 1909 at the Municipal Theater of Opava , from 1909 to 1913 at the Municipal Theater Magdeburg and from 1913 to 1914 at the New Theater am Ring in Nuremberg committed .

In 1914 Maria Poensgen was hired to succeed Alice Guszalewicz at the Cologne Opera , where she stayed until 1922. She then returned to Nuremberg for one season before going on tour for three years. Finally, in 1926, Poensgen accepted a call to the National Theater Weimar , where she was part of the permanent opera ensemble until 1932. In addition, she accepted numerous invitations to guest appearances and made guest appearances at the Hoftheater Hannover , the Berlin Hofoper, the Frankfurt Opera , the Dresden State Opera and the Leipzig Opera House .

No obligations have been passed down from her for the time of National Socialism and after the Second World War Poensgen worked primarily as a singing teacher, initially in Berlin and later in Oberstdorf. She also spent her old age there and died on December 30, 1958.

At the beginning of her career Maria Poensgen took on roles for lyrical soprano, before she later switched to dramatic and finally to highly dramatic roles. She celebrated her greatest successes with the role of Elsa and Ortrud in Lohengrin , Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser , Selika in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine , Leonore in Fidelio , Brünnhilde in the Ring of the Nibelung , Kundry in Parsifal , the Isolde in Tristan and Isolde and the Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana . In addition, she took on the title characters in Aida and Tosca as well as in Elektra and The Queen of Sheba .

Maria Poensgen was married to the silk manufacturer Friedrich August Gutheim (* 1875) from Elberfeld , with whom she had a son and a daughter. In her second marriage she married the chamber singer Theodor Warmbrunn (1882–1941); this marriage remained childless.

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SURNAME Poensgen, Mimi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Poensgen, Maria; Werhardt-Poensgen, Mimi (full name); Poensgen-Gutheim, Mimi (full name); Poensgen-Warmbrunn, Mimi (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer with a lyric soprano voice, later dramatic soprano, and vocal teacher
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Blumenthal in the municipality of Hellenthal
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1958
Place of death Oberstdorf