Rita Gorr

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Rita Gorr (1986)

Rita Gorr (born February 18, 1926 in Zelzate , † January 22, 2012 in Benidorm , Spain ) was a Belgian opera singer ( dramatic mezzo-soprano and alto ).

Life

Gorr was born as Marguerite Geirnaert in Zelzate, a small Belgian town near Ghent . She studied singing in Ghent and since 1943 at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels ( Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles ) with Vina Bovy and Germaine Hoerner. In 1943 she won the Verviers singing competition ( Concours de Chant de Verviers ). In 1952 she won first prize at the International Singing Competition in Lausanne .

In 1949 she made her stage debut as an opera singer at the Flemish Opera (De Vlaamse Opera) in Antwerp with the role of Fricka in Die Walküre . From 1949 to 1952 Gorr was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg . There she sang the title role in Carmen , Maddalena in Rigoletto (1949), Amneris in Aida and the trouser role of Orpheus in Orpheus and Eurydice . In 1951 she also appeared there in the French premiere of the opera Mathis der Maler in the role of Ursula. For Gorr, the Rhine Opera remained her parent company in the further course of her career, an artistic home to which she regularly returned for guest performances and new productions. In 1957 she appeared there as Ortrud in Lohengrin alongside Wolfgang Windgassen in the title role.

In 1952 she was engaged for the first time at the Grand Opéra Paris (inaugural role: Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ); 1953 followed her debut at the Paris Opéra-Comique with the role of Charlotte in Werther . In the period that followed, Gorr appeared regularly at the two major Parisian opera houses. At the Opéra-Comique she sang in Oberon , Les Indes galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Rigoletto, among others . Her engagement at the Paris Opera was repeatedly interrupted by lengthy absences. Gorr was dissatisfied with the roles offered to her there because, in her opinion, they did not correspond to her personality. In 1957, after several months of away guest appearances, she returned to the Paris Opera with the role of Venus in Richard Wagner's romantic opera Tannhäuser and the Singers' War at Wartburg . In July 1963 she appeared again in this role at the Théatre National de l'Opéra in Paris ; her partners were Régine Crespin as Elisabeth and Hans Beirer as Tannhäuser. Until 1972 Gorr sang again and again at the Paris Opera.

In 1958 she sang for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival . She sang the roles of Fricka in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre , Grimgerde in Die Walküre and 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung . In 1959 she took on the role of Ortrud in the now legendary blue Lohengrin production by Wieland Wagner, alongside Sándor Kónya in Bayreuth . Wolfgang Windgassen wanted Gorr to be his partner in Parsifal in Bayreuth; However, Gorr refused to sing the role of Kundry in Bayreuth.

In 1958 she made her first guest appearance at La Scala in Milan as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana ; In 1960 she sang Kundry in Parsifal under the direction of André Cluytens ; in the latter role she had previously made her role debut at the Rome Opera House . From 1959 to 1971 Gorr appeared regularly at the Covent Garden Opera in London ; she made her debut there as Amneris in Aida . In 1961 she sang Iphigenie in Iphigénie en Tauride . In 1963 she appeared there, alongside Régine Crespin as Elsa, as Ortrud in Lohengrin .

In 1960 Gorr's debut at the Vienna State Opera followed . There she sang the roles of Fricka ( Das Rheingold , Die Walküre ), Waltraute ( Götterdämmerung ) and Brangäne ( Tristan und Isolde ). From 1962 to 1966 Gorr performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City . There she sang in around 40 performances over four seasons, including Amneris in Aida (debut role), Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana , Azucena in The Troubadour , Princess Eboli in Don Carlos and Dalila in Samson and Dalila .

Gorr sang at the Edinburgh Festival (1961, as Iphigenie in Iphigénie en Tauride ), at the Monte Carlo Opera House (1963, as Charlotte in Werther ), at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels , at the Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon , at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (1960 as Fricka in Der Ring des Nibelungen , Brangäne), at the Maggio Musicale in Florence (1962, as Iphigenie in Iphigénie en Tauride ), at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (1962) and at the opera houses in Dallas and Philadelphia .

In 1972, at the height of her artistic career, Gorr retired from the opera stage. At the beginning of the 1980s she returned to the opera stage after a break of almost ten years and after a change of subject. Gorr no longer sang the dramatic mezzo-soprano and alto roles, but took on important roles in the character field in these voices. With these games Gorr had a successful old age career.

She sang roles such as the mother in Louise by Gustave Charpentier (1981, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie), the sorceress Tavern in Mireille by Charles Gounod (in the 1980s at the Paris Opéra-Comique), the Kabanicha in Katja Kabanowa , Herodias in Salome (1990, Opéra de Lyon), Marthe Schwerdtlein in Faust (1994, Opéra de Nantes) and Nurse Filipjewna in Eugen Onegin (1995, Opéra Bastille ; 1998 Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon). The old prioress (Madame de Croissy) in the opera Dialogues des Carmélites , which she performed in Lyon (1990), Seattle (1990), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1994) and at the Essen Opera House (1998 ), was also an important age-old role ) sang.

However, the Countess in Queen of Spades became the highlight of her senior career . Gorr made guest appearances in this role in Amsterdam (1994), at the Vienna State Opera (May / June 1999), at the Vlaamse Opera in Ghent and Antwerp (1999, on the occasion of their 50th stage anniversary at the Flemish Opera) and at the Bavarian Opera State Opera in Munich (2001). In July 2006 she finally took leave of the opera stage in the role of Countess. Her last public appearance was in 2007 on the occasion of a homage at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

Gorr died on January 22, 2012 at the age of 85 in Benidorm, Spain, where she had lived for several years. Heart problems were given as the cause of death.

Voice and sound documents

Gorr had an "extensive, voluminous" voice, whose "dramatic ability to increase" was particularly effective in the Wagnerian roles, but also in the dramatic mezzo-soprano roles of Italian and French opera literature. Her voice had a "rich, metallic" timbre, but was sometimes shrill in the treble and upper register. A role offer from Georg Solti to sing the female title role in Tristan und Isolde was turned down by Gorr due to the high tessitura of the part. This also applied to Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen , whom Windgassen had asked for from her.

In addition to her convincing vocal interpretation, reviews repeatedly highlighted Gorr's acting potential, her performance and stage presence, which were particularly impressively shown to advantage in her age roles.

Gorr's voice is documented in numerous complete opera recordings and live recordings. Gorr mainly played the French opera repertoire. Although originally Belgian, Gorr has always been perceived as a French singer and was considered a specialist in French opera literature. Often they also sang roles in largely unknown or little played French operas, such as the title role in the opera Padmavati of Albert Roussel .

At the French EMI , Gorr recorded the now legendary complete recording of Samson and Dalila in the studio under the direction of Georges Prêtre (1962, with Jon Vickers as Samson). She also sang Marthe Schwerdtlein in Faust for EMI (1958, under the direction of André Cluytens, with Victoria de los Angeles , Nicolai Gedda and Boris Christoff as partners).

In particular, Gorr recorded her roles in the French record repertoire: Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande (1953, Philips; conductor: Jean Fournet ), Marguerite in Le roi d'Ys (1958, Columbia; conductor: André Cluytens), Charlotte in Werther (1964, Mondiophonie; conductor: Jésus Etcheverry ), Mère Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites (1958, EMI; conductor: Pierre Dervaux ), later also the prioress (1992, Virgin; conductor: Kent Nagano ).

Gorr made further studio recordings for Decca and RCA . She sang Amneris in Aida under the direction of Georg Solti (partner: Leontyne Price as Aida, Jon Vickers as Radames), Ortrud under the musical direction of Erich Leinsdorf (again with Sándor Kónya in the title role) and Fricka in Die Walküre also under the direction by Erich Leinsdorf (with Birgit Nilsson as Brünnhilde, George London as Wotan, Jon Vickers as Siegmund, Gré Brouwenstijn as Sieglinde).

Live recordings from the Bayreuth Festival (1958, 1959) with Gorr as Fricka and Ortrud have now been released on CD by various labels. The live recording of Parsifal from La Scala in Milan (1960) has meanwhile been published on CD.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c mezzo-soprano Rita Gorr dies death report on klassik.com ; last accessed on January 31, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c The mezzo Rita Gorr has died aged 85 death report at Gramophone ; last accessed on January 31, 2012
  3. ↑ a b On the death of Rita Gorr death report at Tamino Klassikforum ; last accessed on January 31, 2012
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Gorr, Rita Biography (Engl.)
  5. ^ Rita Gorr's list of roles in: Chronik der Wiener Staatsoper 1945-2005 , p. 433. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-85409-449-3
  6. ↑ Karl J. Kutsch and Leo Riemens: Large singer lexicon . Fourth, enlarged and updated edition. Munich 2003. Volume 3: Franc – Kaidanoff, pp. 1791/1792. ISBN 3-598-11598-9
personal data
SURNAME Gorr, Rita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geirnaert, Marguerite (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian opera singer (mezzo-soprano and alto)
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Zelzate , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 2012
Place of death Benidorm , Spain