Selma Kurz

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Selma Kurz (1900)

Selma Kurz (born October 15, 1874 in Biala , Austria-Hungary , † May 10, 1933 in Vienna ) was an Austrian opera singer ( soprano ) and was married to the Halban family .

Life

Born in Biala into a poor Jewish family, Selma Kurz was sent to Vienna to study singing with Johannes Ress at the age of 16, sponsored by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy . In Paris she studied with Mathilde Marchesi and Jean de Reszke .

In 1895 she came to the Hamburg Theater (debut in Mignon ), but in 1896 she went to the Frankfurt Opera , where she sang Elisabeth im Tannhäuser and Carmen as the inaugural role .

On August 18, 1899, Kurz was engaged by Gustav Mahler at the Vienna Court Opera , where she worked until 1929. Mahler fell in love with Selma Kurz and the two entered into a brief relationship in the spring of 1900. At that time, however, members of the court opera were not allowed to marry one another, and so Kurz decided on their career. In 1899 she sang in the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta , 1900 she appeared in the rediscovery of Così fan tutte with and in the world premiere of Alexander Zemlinsky's Once upon a time ... . She sang at London's Royal Opera House Covent Garden from 1904 to 1907 and 1924 . In 1907 she sang in the Vienna premiere of Madama Butterfly . The first Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss ' new version of Ariadne auf Naxos was short . She traveled to New York in 1921 and appeared at the Salzburg Festival in 1922 as Konstance in The Abduction from the Seraglio . She has also performed in Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, Paris and also in Cairo and at many other opera houses.

In 1910 Selma Kurz married the Viennese gynecologist Josef von Halban, who was ennobled in 1917 . There were two children from this marriage: the daughter Désirée ('Dési', 1912–1996) and the son George (1915–1998). Dési became a concert soprano and the wife of the Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker . Selma Halban-Kurz died in Vienna in 1933 and was buried in a grave of honor in Vienna's central cemetery (group 14C, number 8) . The grave figure of the tomb for Selma Halban-Kurz , a work by the sculptor Fritz Wotruba , sparked a dispute about the half-naked reclining statue in 1934. In 1983 Halban-Kurz-Strasse in Vienna-Liesing was named after the singer.

reception

Selma Kurz is described as a very beautiful woman, 1.60 m tall, slim and well educated. Her appearance on stage and her playing were delightful and received with enthusiasm. She could upset the audience with her long trills . People even brought stopwatches so they could measure the length of their trills to the second. In a recording from 1907 by Wilhelm Taubert's Der Vogel im Walde, the trill lasts 24 seconds.

“Selma Kurz is one of the greatest coloratura sopranos of all time. In the effortless handling of the most difficult passages, the delicacy of her sense of style, but above all in her endless, completely incomparable trills, she cannot be admired enough on the record. "

- Kutsch und Riemens, 1975

Awards

Recordings

  • Arditi: Parla (1924)
  • Auber, from Les diamantes de la couronne : Air et variations (1914)
  • Bellini, from La Sonnambula : Ah! non credea miranti; Ah! non giunge (1924)
  • Brahms: from Volkskinderlieder : Sandmännchen (1925)
  • Fontenailles: Obstination (1911)
  • Goldmark, from The Queen of Sheba : Decoy (1912)
  • Gounod: Serenade (1923)
  • Kreisler: Caprice viennois (1924, with Vasa Prihoda, violin)
  • Mozart, from Die Zauberflöte : I am exhausted for suffering (1924)
  • Mozart, from Il Re pastore : L'amero, saro costante (1924)
  • Mozart, from Le Nozze di Figaro : Deh, vieni non tardar (1925)
  • Puccini, from La Bohème : Si, mi chiamano Mimí (1924)
  • Puccini, from La Bohème : Sono andati? (1907, with Leo Slezak, tenor)
  • Puccini, from La Bohème : O suave fanciulla (year unknown, with Leo Slezak, tenor)
  • Puccini, from La Bohème : Morte (1907)
  • Puccini, from Madama Butterfly : Un bel di vedremo (1914)
  • Rossini, from Il Barbiere di Siviglia : Una voce poco fa (1924)
  • Strauss: On the beautiful blue Danube (1925)
  • Taubert: The Bird in the Forest (1907)
  • Toselli: Serenata (1923, with Vasa Prihoda, violin)
  • Verdi, from Don Carlos : Tu che la vanita (1914)
  • Verdi, from Il Trovatore : Vivere contende (1920, with Heinrich Schlusnus, baritone)
  • Verdi, from Ernani : Ernani, involami (1923)
  • Verdi, from La Traviata : Addio del passato (1909)
  • Verdi, from Rigoletto : Caro nome (1923)

literature

Web links

Commons : Selma Kurz  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
personal data
SURNAME In short, Selma
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Biala , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1933
Place of death Vienna