Nanette Schechner

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Anna Schechner as a white lady in François-Adrien Boieldieu's La dame blanche , lithograph by Josef Lanzedelli the Elder. Ä. , around 1830

Nanette Schechner , actually Anna Schechner , married Anna Schechner-Waagen , (born February 3, 1806 in Munich , † April 29, 1860 there ) was a German opera singer ( soprano ).

Life and singing career

Nanette Schechner was the child of poor parents. She received her first piano and singing lessons from an actor. Then she came under the care of the theater choir singing master Dorothea Güthe and took part in the choir of the Italian opera. Her talent was soon noticed so that the director of the Italian court opera handed her over to Ferdinando Orlandi's singing institute for further training. When the celebrated contralto Giuseppa Grassini (* 1775 in Varese; † 1850 in Milan) wanted to appear in Munich in the early 1820s in the opera Gli Orazi ei Curiazi by Domenico Cimarosa , only Schechner could be entrusted with the performance of the Curiazio. Although hardly trained, the beauty and fullness of her voice, means and ability outshone the already aging Grassini to such an extent that she sang less well than usual. From then on, Orlandi paid special attention to Schechner and taught her in solfeggio , while Domenico Ronconi rehearsed roles with her. When, as with Grassini, she sang together with Henriette Méric-Lalande in 1825 , she also shone with her conception and strong will and achieved great success everywhere. In 1821 she had already been engaged by the Italian opera; in July 1822 she appeared for the first time as Servilia in Titus and soon also sang Ännchen in Freischütz . From October 1, she was also won over for the German opera, to which she had been exclusively assigned from July 1, 1825.

In that year she sang Fidelio with great success and also went on guest tours (including to Stuttgart and Karlsruhe). In the spring of 1826 she left Munich and first went to Vienna. She made her debut as Emmeline in the Swiss family in the Kärntnertortheater with outstanding success and was compared to the young Anna Milder . In Rossini's thieving magpie she achieved the greatest triumphs. However, since she did not receive adequate offers, she soon moved to Berlin, where she also caused a great sensation. She was able to perform Gluck's and Mozart's operas just as confidently as the French and more recent Italian repertoire. She appeared both as Agathe in Freischütz and as Julia in Spontini's Vestalin and Gluck roles.

When Schechner returned to Munich, she had to replace the recently deceased Clara Metzger-Vespermann (* 1800, † March 6, 1827). She now played with great success the Agathe im Freischütz, Fatime (in Oberon ), the crusader in Il crociato in Egitto (by Meyerbeer ) and Lady Macbeth (in Macbeth by Hippolyte Chelard ).

Schechner was engaged to the singer Ludwig Cramolini in Vienna in 1826/27 and married the lithographer and painter Carl Waagen on October 17, 1831 and now appeared as Schechner-Waagen. However, pregnancy and other health problems made her presence on stage less frequent. In 1833 she appeared again in Gluck's Iphigenie , but overexerted herself with a few other roles. Since she had lost her vote, she was retired on December 1, 1834.

Her sons were the ennobled Major General Gustav von Waagen (1832–1906), the painter Adalbert Waagen (1834–1898), and the geologist Wilhelm Heinrich Waagen (1841–1900). The geologist Lukas Waagen (1877–1959) was one of her grandchildren.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hyacinth Holland :  Waagen, Adalbert . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 54, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1908, pp. 778-780.
personal data
SURNAME Schechner, Nanette
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schechner, Anna (real name); Schechner scales, Anna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1860
Place of death Munich