Polly Batic
Polly Batic (own Leopoldine Graf née Batic; 1906 in Vienna - May 10, 1992 ibid) was an Austrian opera singer with a mezzo-soprano voice . In the interwar period she made frequent guest appearances at the Salzburg Festival and in 1948 became a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble .
Life, work
After completing her vocal studies, she made her debut at the Trier City Theater in 1929 . In the same year she married the musicologist and critic Max Graf (1873-1958). It was his third marriage. The later opera director Herbert Graf (1903–1973), her stepson, came from his first marriage . The artist commuted from Vienna to guest appearances and concerts. From 1931 to 1937 she was engaged at the Salzburg Festival every summer , initially in a large number of small roles, as a third boy, second mermaid, voice from above, second servant and second maid in operas by Mozart, Weber and Richard Strauss. In 1935 she was cast in two supporting roles , as Annina in Rosenkavalier and as Marcellina in Figaro's wedding . The following year she sang again Marcellina - and the servant of Corregidor in the opera of the same name by Hugo Wolf .
Because of their origins, husband and stepson had to emigrate to the United States after Hitler came to power or after the annexation of Austria . Polly Batic stayed in Vienna for the time being and was no longer employed in Salzburg. In the 1941–1942 season she was engaged in the theater of Bernburg (Saale) , then for two seasons in the city theater of Liegnitz . Max Graf returned to Vienna in 1947, Herbert Graf settled in Switzerland in the early 1960s. In 1948 she was engaged at the Vienna State Opera , where she had previously appeared at least twice as a guest - in 1935 as Annina in Rosenkavalier , in 1946 as Cio-Cio-San, the title role in Puccini's Madama Butterfly . During her permanent engagement she sang maidservants, servants, wet nurses and one of the Valkyries , the sword line. She frequently appeared in contemporary works, in Vienna in two Menotti operas, Der Konsul and Das Medium , and in Salzburg in 1951 as Margret in Wozzeck by Alban Berg and in 1953 as Frau Grubach in the world premiere of a Kafka setting, Der Prozess . These two productions were then shown at the Vienna State Opera. As Margret im Wozzeck , Polly Batic made guest appearances with the ensemble of the State Opera at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Occasionally she could also be seen and heard in operettas, in the Gypsy Baron , in the beggar student or in the Merry Widow . In 1960 the singer retired.
According to Kutsch / Riemens , she was also successful as an oratorio and lieder singer. There are only a few audio documents, mostly small parts at the Salzburg Festival. But there are also recordings of songs by the composers Josef Matthias Hauer and Ernst Krenek .
See also
- Opera line-ups at the Salzburg Festival 1931 to 1934
- Opera casts at the Salzburg Festival from 1935 to 1937
literature
- Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Großes Sängerlexikon , Walter de Gruyter 2012, Volume 4, p. 281
Web links
- Salzburg Festival , schedule search
- Vienna State Opera , list of roles
- Works by and about Polly Batic in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ MGG online: Graf, Familie , by Cornelia Szabó-Knotik, accessed on June 28, 2020
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Batic, Polly |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Batic, Leopoldine; Graf, Leopoldine (name after marriage) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian mezzo-soprano |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 10, 1992 |
| Place of death | Vienna |