Rita prank

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Rita Streich (center), around 1967
Rita Streich as Olympia in the opera Hoffmann's Tales , 1946

Rita Streich (born December 18, 1920 in Barnaul , Altai Governorate , Soviet Russia , today Altai Region , Russia , † March 20, 1987 in Vienna ) was a German opera singer ( coloratura soprano ). She was known as the Viennese nightingale and praised as a Mozart and Strauss interpreter.

Life

Rita Streich's father was interned in Siberia as a German prisoner of war during the First World War . Her mother was Russian. After the father was released from captivity, the family moved to Germany , first to Essen , then to Jena . Rita was raised bilingual, which was extremely helpful for her later career. She had her voice trained in Augsburg and Berlin . Her teachers included Paula Klötzer , Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender , Erna Berger , who she discovered and encouraged, and Maria Ivogün .

She made her debut as an opera singer in 1943 at the city theater of Aussig in the role of Zerbinetta in the opera Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss . Three years later she got her first permanent engagement at the German State Opera in Berlin . She made her debut as a page in Verdi's Rigoletto . She belonged to the opera in Berlin until 1952 and then moved to the Vienna State Opera . In 1953 she lent her singing voice to Antje Weisgerber for the film The Stronger .

Guest appearances have taken the artist to Bayreuth , Salzburg , Rome , La Scala in Milan , Covent Garden , Chicago , Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne . In 1957 she undertook an extensive tour through North America and made guest appearances on all major stages a. a. at the San Francisco Opera.

From 1974 Rita Streich taught at the Folkwang University in Essen and at the Music Academy in Vienna, from 1983 she gave masterclasses at the Salzburg Festival and also directed the Center du Perfectionnement d'art lyrique in Nice.

Her repertoire included a. Games from Idomeneo , Così fan tutte , The Abduction from the Seraglio , The Magic Flute , The Marriage of Figaro , Der Rosenkavalier , Ariadne auf Naxos , Der Freischütz and Don Giovanni . Since she grew up bilingual, she was also able to sing the works of Russian composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov with almost no accent.

In addition, Rita Streich was an excellent interpreter of the classical operetta. Already at the beginning of her career, Adele in “Fledermaus” or Fiametta in “Boccaccio” were part of her repertoire and could be heard in cross-sections by the Polydor company under Franz Marszalek . Later (in the sixties) recordings were made that brought Rita Streich together with the tenor Nicolai Gedda (“The Gypsy Baron”, “A Night in Venice”, “The Tsarevich”, “The Begging Student”).

Rita Streich died of a brain tumor. Her grave is in the Perchtoldsdorfer Friedhof near Vienna.

Discography (selection)

  • Rita Streich - The Viennese Nightingale (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Folk songs and lullabies (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Bastien and Bastienne (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Schubert Lieder (Deutsche Grammophon 1960)
  • Opera Recital (Deutsche Grammophon 1966)
  • Rita Streich sings immortal melodies (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • The Bat (EMI and Audite)
  • Boccaccio (membrane)
  • The Magic Flute (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Hansel and Gretel (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • The Abduction from the Seraglio (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Der Rosenkavalier (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • La Bohème - in German (Deutsche Grammophon)
  • Ariadne on Naxos (EMI)
  • Successes from the Gitta-Alpar repertoire (Polydor)

literature

Web links

Commons : Rita Streich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Prank, Rita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berger, Rita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Barnaul , Altai Governorate, Soviet Russia
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 1987
Place of death Vienna