Ortrun Wenkel

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Ortrun Wenkel (2002)
Ortrun Wenkel as "Erda", rehearsal break in 1993
Ortrun Wenkel, Miami Wagner Festival 1989

Ortrun Wenkel (born October 25, 1942 in Buttstädt , Thuringia) is a German opera singer ( alto ). Since her portrayal of Erda in the Bayreuth “ Jahrhundertring ” (1976–1980) she has been one of the most important opera and concert singers of the 20th century in this vocal range.

Life

Ortrun Wenkel first studied at the Liszt School of Music Weimar , where her voice was classified as a soprano. After her family moved from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the Federal Republic of Germany , she continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main in the Paul Lohmann master class. During her studies she was invited as a concert singer to the English Bach Festival and the Flanders Festival , as well as to concerts in the Salle Pleyel (Paris), the Royal Festival Hall (London), the Tonhalle Zurich and the Wiener Musikvereinssaal . After she had been part of the international singing elite as a concert and oratorio singer since the mid-1960s and performed in the most important concert halls in the world, the Heidelberg artistic director Peter Stoltzenberg approached her in 1969 with the offer to take on the title role in Gluck's Orpheus , where he would only put this opera on the program if it was accepted. Ortrun Wenkel made her debut as an opera singer at the Heidelberg City Theater in 1971 . In the opera field, which was new to her, she took additional studies with Elsa Cavelti . At the Theater of Heidelberg she sang as a guest, among others in the vocal range so different roles such as Octavian ( Der Rosenkavalier ), Azucena ( Il Trovatore ) and Penelope ( The Return of Ulysses in the German version of Götz Friedrich ). A decisive turning point in her career came in 1974 when she met Wolfgang Sawallisch during the Schwetzingen Festival and was invited by him to audition at the State Opera in Munich. In 1975 she became a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and made her debut as Erda and Waltraute in Günther Rennert's new production of Richard Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen . This made Wolfgang Wagner aware of her and hired her as Erda and as First Norn for the new production of the Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 (" Ring of the Century " directed by Patrice Chéreau and musical direction by Pierre Boulez ). For the portrayal of Erda in Das Rheingold und Siegfried and the First Norn in Götterdämmerung , she was awarded the Grammy Award in 1982 as a "Principal Soloist" . In addition to the classical-romantic opera, oratorios and lied repertoire, Ortrun Wenkel was an important interpreter of works of contemporary music and worked with composers such as Hans Werner Henze , Krzysztof Penderecki , Giselher Klebe , Aribert Reimann and Gerd Kühr . For her, Hans Werner Henze wrote his new version of Richard Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder for alto voice and chamber orchestra, at the premiere of which she sang the solo part under the direction of the composer at WDR Cologne in 1977.

Ortrun Wenkel has performed in the most important opera houses in the world (including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra Garnier Paris, the La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera London and, among others, the opera houses in Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Lisbon, Rome, Venice, Prague and Buenos Aires). The opera directors with whom she has worked on new productions include Jean-Pierre Ponnelle , Filippo Sanjust , Patrice Chéreau , August Everding , Wolfgang Wagner , Götz Friedrich , Günter Krämer , Herbert Wernicke , Gian Carlo Menotti , Jean-Claude Riber, Daniel Mesguich , Karel Němec, Florian Malte Leibrecht, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier , Eike Gramss , Immo Karaman , Klaus Dieter Kirst , Judith Galgoczy, Gianfranco De Bosio , Jean-Louis Martinoty , Günther Rennert , András Mikó, Ladislav Štros, Hebert Bliss, Hubertus Moeller, Sandra Leupold , Nicolas Joel, Benedikt von Peter and Calixto Bieito . In her international concert activities she has performed repeatedly in the Berlin Philharmonie , the Concertgebouw Amsterdam , the Wiener Musikvereinssaal, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Palau de la Música Madrid, the Kennedy Center Washington and the Carnegie Hall (New York) on. In the 1980s and 1990s she also appeared repeatedly on television in the programs hosted by Marcel Prawy , Gute Laune mit Musik und Ihr Melody . Ortrun Wenkel has been singing continuously since her concert debut in 1964 and has worked a. a. with conductors such as Pierre Boulez , Bernard Haitink , Riccardo Chailly , Michael Gielen , Riccardo Muti , Christoph von Dohnányi , Erich Leinsdorf , Václav Neumann , Colin Davis , Seiji Ozawa , Giuseppe Sinopoli , Christoph Eschenbach , Ulf Schirmer , Gerd Albrecht , Klaus Tennstedt , Wolfgang Sawallisch , Nikolaus Harnoncourt , John Eliot Gardiner , James Conlon , Rafael Kubelík , Kurt Redel , Marek Janowski , Michael Hofstetter , Spiros Argiris, Gabriel Chmura and the conductor Eve Queler. In the last few years she sang much-acclaimed role debuts at the Graz Opera House Fricka, Waltraute and Erste Norn in the new production of Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen (2000/2001), Klytämnestra (Richard Strauss, Elektra) at the Budapest Spring Festival, and in 1999 at the Styrian Autumn the role of Magda Schneider in the world premiere of Gerd Kührs Tod und Teufel (libretto: Peter Turrini ) under the baton of Ulf Schirmer, 2002/2003 the title role in Bernarda Alba's house by Aribert Reimann in the Swiss premiere at the Bern Opera House, in the 2009/10 season the role of Countess in Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) at the Kiel Theater and in 2012 the role of Filipjewna in Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) at the Saarland State Theater Saarbrücken . Ortrun Wenkel is also an important song interpreter and has given recitals around the world with pianists such as Geoffrey Parsons , Rudolf Jansen, Phillip Moll, Erik Werba , Peter Koprek, James Pearson, Wilhelm von Grunelius, Cord Garben , Burkhard Schaeffer, Helge Dorsch and Felix- Jany Renz. Their recital in the sold-out Great House of the Dresden Semperoper in 1986 was celebrated as a special musical event in the GDR. Ortrun Wenkel has been married to the geologist Peter Rothe since 1966 .

Reviews (selection)

  • “The audience witnessed a miracle: one of the most beautiful mezzo-sopranos in the world enchanted the room with his natural, richly flowing voice. But not only the voice is indescribably beautiful - Ms. Wenkel's art consists rather in her rich expressiveness, in her extremely nuanced color palette and in her unlimited possibilities. ”(From the criticism of the Hungarian musicologist Peter Várnai on the performance of the Wesendonck songs by Richard Wagner in the instrumentation of Hans Werner Henze with the symphony orchestra of the Südwestfunk Baden-Baden in Budapest, published in the (then state) Hungarian daily newspaper Magyar Hírlap in January 1984)
  • “Ms. Wenkel presented herself at the Bach Mass as one of the best contralto players in the world, who can hardly find any competition in the interpretation of Bach. The ease with which her mighty alto passed from almost tenor lows to soprano highs could almost arouse envy. ”[Opus Musicum, Vol. 1, No. 8, 1969 on the B minor Mass by JS Bach in Brno]
  • “By far the best among the singers is Ortrun Wenkel. In comparison, it stands above all other games. This is a great Erda, a real alto voice and Mother Earth, who kindles horror and authority. ”(From the review by Speight Jenkins in Record World (New York) in September 1981 about the then newly released record by Das Rheingold with Ortrun Wenkel ( Erda), Siegmund Nimsgern (Alberich), Theo Adam (Wotan), Peter Schreier (Loge), Lucia Popp (Woglinde), Yvonne Minton (Fricka) (among others) and the Staatskapelle Dresden under the direction of Marek Janowski, recorded 1980 in Dresden )
  • “The mezzo-soprano Ortrun Wenkel, a new star in the German singer sky, who also has the contra-alto register, sang the five songs with overwhelming, dramatic tension. When this precious voice strives towards the climax of expression, you hold your breath. "(From the review of the world premiere of the new instrumentation of Richard Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder by Hans Werner Henze in WDR Cologne under the direction of the composer with Ortrun Wenkel as soloist, published in of the Rheinische Post on March 28, 1977)
  • “Mahler's melancholy, Mahler's transfiguration hit Ortrun Wenkel with an expression, an agility that puts her in the front row of today's Mahler interpreters. With such nobility of timbre and line, with such equilibrium of registers in the technical and such intelligence in performance, cleverly finding the balance between piano rapture and blossoming tone, one will not hear the alto movements of this symphonic cycle very often. "( from Peter Dannenberg's review of the performance of Gustav Mahler's Lied von der Erde with Ortrun Wenkel and the Stuttgart Philharmonic under the direction of Hans Zanotelli, Stuttgarter Zeitung , December 3, 1975)
  • “It is Ortrun Wenkel who sang these five great and beautiful songs. A voice of remarkable evenness with a range of two octaves of warm and dark timbre, which retains the same advantages in every position, plus a completely natural feeling for phrasing, which serves the melodic line, without ever impairing a brilliantly clear pronunciation. " from Pierre Petit's review of the performance of Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder in Paris with Ortrun Wenkel and the Ortrun Wenkel under the direction of Erich Leinsdorf, published in Le Figaro , Paris, on March 14, 1986)
  • “The waves of enthusiasm beat high late in the evening in the recital by contralto Ortrun Wenkel from Germany. The internationally celebrated artist of the concert hall and stage, who is involved in the current recording of the 'Siegfried' record, sparked storms of enthusiasm among the enthusiastic Dresdeners and awakened real premonitions of the upcoming, now traditional song hours of the Dresden Music Festival at an advanced hour. Ortrun Wenkel has almost all the requirements for an ideal singer personality: enviable stage appearance, sonorous material that is still youthfully fresh, fresh, surprisingly slim and flexible, plus a confident voice control, real, sensitive musicality, temperament, creative power - heart, what more do you want? [...] Four encores spoke in favor of Ortrun Wenkel's response, of which the Wolf-Lieder were able to set new accents. ”(From the review of Ortrun Wenkel's recital in the Great House of the Saxon State Theaters in Dresden 1982, published in the Sächsische Neuesten News on April 2, 1982, "Enthusiasm for Ortrun Wenkel / song designer of format in the big house")
  • “Ortrun Wenkel has enviable, precious vocal material that she knows how to use cleverly and with discipline. Youthful and fresh, flexible, elastic, balanced in all registers, well-founded in the characteristic depth, with radiant penetrating power in the heights, the extremely stable piano behavior, from which it develops everything else economically, is particularly fascinating. This goes hand in hand with a very conscious, internalized style of design, far removed from any showmanship and boasting of voices, which, although it makes sense to bring insights into operatic design, never crosses the boundaries of chamber music song singing. "(From the review of the recital with Ortrun Wenkel in the Dresden Semperoper on World Music Day 1986 , published in the Sächsische Neuesten Nachrichten on October 8, 1986)
  • "With her rich, distinctive alto, Ortrun Wenkel gives these chants the necessary emotional basis even in terms of their timbre, shapes the distinctive rhythms with musical 'drive' and colors word and tone according to the requirements of the respective song, from naive-sad to sensual- knowing and above all compassionate. - The wish is obvious to experience the singer live with these songs. Concert agencies, wish them to you! With the addition of the optical component - Ortrun Wenkel has something of the mysterious nature of the mermaid in itself - this excellent song singer is a double pleasure. ”(Dr. Sieglinde Pfabigan, Der neue Merker, on the CD release Alexander Zemlinsky, Die Seejungfrau / Sinfonische Gesänge op . 20 with the symphony orchestra of Südwestfunk under the direction of Zoltan Pesko and Vaclav Neumann, Wergo 1993)
  • "La contralto seguramente destacó sus intervenciones sobre el resto porque hay en su emision y en las caracteristicas propias de su voz esmaltada, cualidades especiales que distinguen su trabajo por encima de un conjunto." [La Prensa, August 12, 1970, Buenos Aires, on the Missa solemnis by Ludwig van Beethoven at the Teatro Colón ]
  • “Elle s'avance, blonde, belle, grande, avec le sourire tendre et persuasif qu'ont parfois les madones aux fresques des murs. [...] Et puis, elle chante. Sa voix n'a rien d'hasardeuse, on sent, alors qu'elle festonne les paroles du lied, qu'elle pourrait aussi bien chuchoter l'impalpable. Son timbre, fait de péripéties, d'amour, de contrariétés semble mouvant comme la mélodie, avant qu'il n'évoque un disque flamboyant qui monte comme un soleil. ”(“ Une héroine pour Mahler ”; Florence Mothe in“ Sud- Ouest ”on the performance of Gustav Mahler's Lied von der Erde with Ortrun Wenkel, Peter Hofmann and the Orchester national Bordeaux Aquitaine, March 16, 1979)

Discography (selection)

  • Vivaldi: Psaume 126 “Nisi Dominus”, Carissimi: Canzone “No, non si speri”, Caldara: Air de Cantate “Mirti, faggi, tronchi”, Monteverdi: Lamento d'Arianna; Ortrun Wenkel, Ortrun PRO ARTE Munich, conductor: Kurt Redel (LP 1975, Arion, Paris 1976/1979)
  • JS Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244; Evangelical Youth Choir of the Palatinate, Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Heinz Markus Göttsche (1976 LP Da Camera Magna, 1997 CD Bayer Records)
  • Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor; London Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Klaus Tennstedt (EMI Records 1980)
  • Krzysztof Penderecki: Te Deum; Choir of the NDR, Rias Chamber Choir, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, conductor: Krzysztof Penderecki (1981, Sender Freies Berlin, LP and live TV recording)
  • Antonín Dvořák: Stabat Mater; Czech Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic, conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch (1982, Supraphon, 1994 CD Ariola Eurodisc)
  • Dmitri Shostakovich: Six poems by Marina Tsvetaeva op. 143 a, Ortrun Wenkel, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, conductor: Bernard Haitink; with: Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 14 / Julia Varady, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / (1986, Decca)
  • Dmitri Shostakovich: From Jewish Folk Poetry Op. 79, Elisabeth Söderström, Ortrun Wenkel, Ryszard Karczykowsky, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, conductor: Bernard Haitink; with: Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 15 / (1986, Decca)
  • Franz Schreker: Five songs for a deep voice; Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, conductor: Karl-Anton Rickenbacher (1986, Koch Records)
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem; Concentus musicus Wien, conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1982 audio cassette, 1991 CD Teldec, German record award; DVD 2006, TDK [with Johann Sebastian Bach, cantata BWV 161 " Come on, you sweet hour of death "])
  • Alexander Zemlinsky: Symphonic Chants for a medium voice and orchestra op. 20 (1929); Ortrun Wenkel, SWF Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Vaclav Neumann (SWF Baden-Baden 1984, CD from WERGO 1993)
  • Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8; Frankfurter Museumsorchester, Conductor: Michael Gielen (LP 1981 / CD 1992 Sony, live TV recording of the reopening of the Alte Oper Frankfurt by Hessischer Rundfunk 1981)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas BWV 137 & 21; Arleen Augér, Ortrun Wenkel, Peter Schreier, Siegfried Lorenz, Thomanerchor and Neues Bachisches Kollegium Leipzig, conductor: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1982, Eterna / 1994, Berlin Classics)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas BWV 110, 40 & 71; Arleen Augér, Ortrun Wenkel, Peter Schreier, Siegfried Lorenz, Thomanerchor and Neues Bachisches Kollegium Leipzig, conductor: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1982, Eterna / 1994, Berlin Classics)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata BWV 172; Ortrun Wenkel, Peter Schreier, Thomanerchor and Neues Bachisches Kollegium Leipzig, Conductor: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1982, Eterna / 1994, Berlin Classics)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas BWV 137, 79 & 80; Arleen Augér, Ortrun Wenkel, Peter Schreier, Theo Adam, Thomanerchor and Neues Bachisches Kollegium Leipzig, conductor: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1982, Eterna / 1994, Berlin Classics)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Easter Cantatas BWV 4, 132 & 31; Helga Termer, Ortrun Wenkel, Peter Schreier, Eberhard Büchner, Hermann Christian Polster, Thomanerchor and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conductor: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1982, Eterna / 1994, Berlin Classics)
  • Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung; Dresdner Staatskapelle, conductor: Marek Janowski (1982 LP, Eterna / 1983 LP Ariola-Eurodisc / 1995 CD, RCA / 2012 CD, RCA)
  • Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung ( Boulez / Chereau-Ring ); (1980 LP Philips / 2005 DVD Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Richard Strauss: Daphne; Lucia Popp, Reiner Goldberg, Peter Schreier, Ortrun Wenkel, Kurt Moll; Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra, conductor: Bernard Haitink (1983 LP, 2011 CD EMI Classics)

literature

  • Saarländisches Staatstheater GmbH, Program No. 111 (2011/2012 season)
  • Der Ring, Bayreuth 1976–1980. Kristall-Verlag, Berlin / Hamburg 1980, ISBN 3-607-00020-4 .
  • Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . 3. Edition. KG Saur, Munich 1999.
  • Karl Strute, Theodor Doelken, Who is Who in Germany 1982–1983, Who's Who the International Red Series Verlag, 1983.
  • International Who's Who in Music 2002 (18th edition), Europa Publications, Taylor & Francis Group, 2002.
  • Vendégünk volt: Ortrun Wenkel (Csák P. Judit, extensive portrait with interview), In: Opera élet (Opera magazine, Budapest, May / June 1999)
  • The portrait: Ortrun Wenkel (W. Bronnenmeyer), In: Opernwelt . 9/1975, Friedrich Berlin Verlag, Berlin 1975
  • Never lose the joy of singing. Ortrun Wenkel In: Opera today. 7/1984, Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1984.
  • The interview: Ortrun Wenkel (Kurt Osterwald), In: Orpheus. 6/1986, Verlag Clauspeter Koscielny, Berlin 1986.
  • “Stark calls the song” / conversation with Ortrun Wenkel (Sieglinde Pfabigan), In: Der neue Merker. No. 29, August / September 1992.
  • Semper aperto - per tutto: Ortrun Wenkel (Gerhart Asche), In: Opernwelt. 2/2006, Friedrich Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2006
  • Marcel Prawy, Peter Dusek, Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz : Marcel Prawy talks about his life. Heyne Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-218-00624-4 , pp. 271, 278, 279.
  • Marcel Prawy, Karin Werner-Jensen: Now thank you. My Richard Wagner portrait. 1st edition. Goldmann Verlag, 1983.
  • Otto Schwarz: Marcel Prawy: A great life retold. 1st edition. Amalthea Verlag, 2006, pp. 135 to 139.
  • Honoring the 70th birthday of Ortrun Wenkel. In: Opera world. 9/2012, Friedrich Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 88, anniversaries
  • Roth, Matthias: From Minnesong to Hip-Hop: 1000 Years of Music in Heidelberg and the Electoral Palatinate , 1st edition, Palmyra-Verlag 2013, pp. 332–333

Web links

Commons : Ortrun Wenkel  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wenkel, Ortrun
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (alto)
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Buttstädt , Thuringia