Minnie Hauk

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Minnie Hauk

Minnie Hauk , actually Amalia Mignon Hauck , (born November 16, 1851 in New York City , † February 6, 1929 in Lucerne , Switzerland ) was an American opera singer ( mezzo-soprano ).

Life

Minnie Hauk was the daughter of the German immigrant Francis (Franz) Hauck and an American mother. Shortly after her birth her family moved to Providence ( Rhode Iceland ), about 1857 Sumner ( Kansas ) and about 1,860 to New Orleans . In New Orleans she received her first musical training. In 1865 she returned to New York with her mother.

In New York, Minnie Hauk received support from the financier Leonard Jerome (father of Jennie Churchill , grandfather of Winston Churchill ), who paid for her further vocal training with Achille Errani . She made her debut in Brooklyn in 1866 at Jerome's private theater at the age of 14 as Amina in La Sonnambula ( Vincenzo Bellini ). Just a month later, in November 1866, she made her Winter Garden debut in New York as Prascovia in Giacomo Meyerbeer's L'Etoile du Nord (with Clara Louise Kellogg ). In the American premiere of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette , she sang in 1867 the day before her 16th birthday, the Juliette . From October 1868 she toured Europe, first in London, followed by appearances in Lille, Paris, the Netherlands, Berlin and Moscow. She performed with Italian and German operas all over Europe.

From 1870 she was engaged at the Vienna Court Opera for three years, where she also made guest appearances in large parts of Europe. For the newly founded Komische Oper in Vienna, she was the star in the opening season in 1874. From 1875 to 1877 she was a member of the Royal Opera in Berlin.

Minnie Hauk's main achievement was the reinterpretation of Carmen in the until then unsuccessful opera of the same name by Georges Bizet . It was only through its new, passionate performance, which premiered on January 2, 1878 in Brussels , that the opera achieved a resounding success that continues to this day. Minnie Hauk then toured alternately through Europe and the USA for years and also founded her own opera company. At the height of her career she resigned from the strenuous touring life at the end of 1893. She lived with her husband, the Austrian-American writer Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg , in Tribschen (near Lucerne ) near the Richard Wagner Villa. She lost part of her fortune during the First World War , believed she was impoverished and was supported from 1920 by donations from a collection initiated by Geraldine Farrar . 

Minnie Hauk was the first American Carmen (1878) and Manon (1885). Her extensive repertoire comprised a total of around one hundred roles and she sang Carmen in four languages.

Works

literature

  • Andreas Dutz, Elisabeth Dutz: Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg. Travel writer, scientist, bon vivant. Böhlau-Verlag, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20438-1 . (Comprehensive biography and bibliography of Minnie Hauk and her husband Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg)

Web links

Commons : Minnie Hauk  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ E. Douglas Bomberger: Brainard's biographies of American musicians . Greenwood Press, Westport (Conn.) / London 1999, p. 137.
personal data
SURNAME Hauk, Minnie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hauck, Amalia Mignon (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (mezzo-soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , United States
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1929
Place of death Lucerne , Switzerland