Sabine Kalter

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Sabine Kalter , married Sabine Aufrichtig (born March 23, 1889 in Jarosław , Galicia , Austria-Hungary , † September 1, 1957 in London ) was an Austrian opera singer ( mezzo-soprano , alto ).

Life

After her childhood and youth in Budapest , Sabine Kalter studied as a mezzo-soprano with Rosa Papier at the k. k. Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She made her debut at the Volksoper in 1911 , where she took part in the Vienna premiere of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Königskinder . In 1915 she moved to the Hamburg City Theater , where she became an absolute darling of the public as the successor to the contralto Ottilie Metzger . She celebrated triumphs with the Hamburg audience for almost 20 years both in Verdi roles (star role: Lady Macbeth) and as a Wagner interpreter. There were also engagements both in Germany (for example at the Berlin Kroll Opera ) and abroad, where she made guest appearances in Belgium, France, Spain and Austria ( Vienna State Opera ). Sabine Kalter also participated in world premieres of modern operas such as Das Wunder der Heliane by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Stadt-Theater Hamburg, October 7, 1927) and Neues vom Tage by Paul Hindemith (Kroll-Oper Berlin, June 8, 1929).

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Sabine Kalter, a Jew, was not dismissed immediately - like other colleagues. Whether this was due to her enormous popularity with the audience, or the fact that she often appeared in her roles as an “actress of the evil, of the strange”, cannot be definitively clarified. In any case, she was able to continue singing in 21 different, often important roles at the Stadt-Theater until the beginning of 1935, still cheered by large parts of the audience. An appearance in her prime role as Lady Macbeth on January 5, 1935, which not only received a lot of cheers and approval from the audience, but also staged attempts at disturbance, marked the end of her engagement at the Hamburg City Theater. A day later she emigrated to England.

There she worked in 20 roles at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden until the war . Among other things, she sang Herodias in 1937 , her partner on stage as Herod was the Nazi sympathizer Gunnar Graarud . There were also guest appearances abroad. On June 1, 1935, she sang at the Paris Opera , together with other Jewish stars of music theater, in Tristan und Isolde under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler , who also engaged her on several occasions after her emigration abroad. She gave further guest appearances in Belgium, the Netherlands and Palestine (April 1937 with the Palestine Symphony Orchestra under Hans Wilhelm Steinberg ). She even continued to perform at acclaimed concerts by the Jewish Cultural Association in Germany . So on March 20, 1937 in Berlin and on September 26, 1937 and December 6, 1937 in the Great Hall of the Hamburg Convention Garden . After that, another appearance in Germany was not possible.

When the Covent Garden Opera House in London had to close due to the Second World War , there were no more operatic roles for Sabine Kalter. She also gave concerts and also worked as a singing teacher . After the war, it was not until 1950 before Sabine Kalter-Andrews, as she was now called, visited Germany again. On October 23, 1950, she gave one last song concert in the Hamburg Music Hall . Once again she was celebrated by her audience.

The son of Sabine Kalter-Andrews was the art historian Keith Andrews (1920–1989).

Games (selection)

Hamburg City Theater

Kroll Opera Berlin

Royal Opera House Covent Garden

  • Tristan and Isolde (Richard Wagner): Brangäne
  • Lohengrin (Richard Wagner): Ortrud
  • Rheingold, Walküre (Richard Wagner): Fricka
  • Götterdämmerung (Richard Wagner): Waltraute
  • Salomé (Richard Strauss): Herodias

Discography (selection)

  • Living past - Sabine Kalter , CD, Vienna, Preiser 2000
  • Lively past - Richard Wagner On Record 1903-1946 , in it: Sabine Kalter: Pain, 4-CD box, Vienna, Preiser 1997
  • ABC of the Art of Singing , Part 6: in it arias from Aida (Sabine Kalter with Richard Tauber) and Immer leiser mein Schlummer wird von Johannes Brahms, double CD, Hamburg, Cantus-Lin (DA-Music) 2002
  • The young Richard Tauber , in it: Sabine Kalter with “I still love him” and “What did I have to suffer” (both Aida), double CD, Vienna, Preiser 1997

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sophie Fetthauer. In: Lexicon of persecuted musicians from the Nazi era , from 2005 at the University of Hamburg
  2. ↑ a b Stefan Wulf: Sabine Kalter . In: Hanns-Werner Heister, Claudia Maurer Zenck, Peter Petersen (ed.): Music in Exile. Consequences of Nazism for International Music Culture . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt 1993
  3. ↑ Sabine Kalter . In: Exhibition documentation: Silent voices. The expulsion of the "Jews" from the opera 1933 to 1945. The fight for the Hessian State Theater in Darmstadt . Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2009
  4. ^ Stephan Stompor : Jewish music and theater life under the Nazi state . European Center for Jewish Music, Hanover 2001, p.
personal data
SURNAME Kalter, Sabine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sincerely, Sabine (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (mezzo-soprano, alto)
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Jarosław , Galicia, Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 1957
Place of death London