Sonja Knittel

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Sonja Knittel (born April 11, 1925 , according to other, but inaccurate sources, 1923 or 1926, in Vienna ; † February 23, 2017 in Oberasbach ) was an Austrian opera and operetta singer ( soprano ).

Life

Career start

Knittel studied in Vienna. She made her debut in 1947 at the Biel-Solothurn Theater as Konstanze ( Die Entführung aus dem Serail ). In the first years of her singing career, she only sang parts for coloratura soprano . Her repertoire at the time included roles such as Queen of the Night ( Die Zauberflöte ) and Gilda ( Rigoletto ). As a substitute for a sick colleague, she took over the title role of the Dostal operetta Manina at Theater Biel / Solothurn within just five days of preparation . In 1949 she was signed to the Zurich Opera House by director Hans Zimmermann, who had heard her as Manina ; from then on, Knittel sang more and more the classical operetta subject. Under the direction of Victor Reinshagen , she also appeared in the coloratura part of Fiakermilli in an Arabella production in Zurich .

In November 1950 she sang for the first time at the Vienna State Opera , which was then playing in the Vienna Volksoper building as an alternative location. Her debut role was Adele in the operetta Die Fledermaus . From 1951 to 1954 she was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera. There she sang numerous roles from the field of soubrette , including Fiametta in Boccaccio , the Letter Christl in The Bird Trader , Arsena in The Gypsy Baron , the tasting lady Pepi Pleininger in Viennese blood , Molly in The poor Jonathan and Valencienne in The Merry Widow , the Fisher Girl Anita in Giuditta and Juliette Vermont in The Count of Luxembourg in the operettas by Franz Lehár .

Her opera roles at the time included Papagena in Die Zauberflöte , Ännchen in Der Freischütz (in 1952 and 1953), Marie in Zar and Zimmermann (1954) and Esmeralda in Die Bartered Bride (1951–1954). Even then, however, the focus of her artistic work was the operetta. In 1954 Knittel took part in the Austrian feature film Das Licht der Liebe .

Engagement at the Nuremberg Opera House

In 1954 Knittel moved to the Nuremberg Opera House as soubrette , of which she remained until her stage farewell in 1985. She made her debut in Nuremberg in the Kálmán operetta Die Csárdásfürstin . It was here that she changed her subject from soubrette to operetta diva. During her engagement in Nuremberg, Knittel appeared in around 60 different specialist roles from operettas, musicals and operas. Sometimes she took on the leading roles in up to five operetta productions in one season. 1954 sang Eurydice in Orpheus in der Unterwelt by Jacques Offenbach at the Nuremberg Opera House . In 1955 she took on the leading female role of Helena Baranski in the operetta Poland Blood at the Fürth City Theater . In March 1955 she took part as mayor's wife Antje in Nuremberg in the world premiere of the popular opera Das Bad auf der Tenne by Friedrich Schröder , which is formally somewhere between game opera and operetta . In 1961 she sang in the German-language premiere of the Weill musical Lost in the Stars in Nuremberg . Directed by Kurt Leo Sourisseaux , she played the role of Laurette in the premiere cast of the two one-act plays The beautiful Galathée by Franz von Suppè and Der Wunderdoktor by Georges Bizet , which had its German-language premiere with this production. The successful production stayed in the program for several seasons. The two one-act plays were also recorded for television by ZDF and broadcast in 1964.

During her time in Nuremberg, Knittel became a celebrated operetta diva at the Nuremberg Opera House. Knittel sang almost all major operetta roles in Nuremberg, including Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow , Angèle Didier in Der Graf von Luxemburg , Laura in Der Bettelstudent , Electress Marie in The Bird Trader , Sylva Varescu in Die Csárdásfürstin , the Rößl landlady Josepha Vogelhuber as well the title roles in the historical operettas Madame Pompadour and Die Dubarry . She also took over the title roles in the operettas Die gold'ne Meisterin and Countess Mariza in Nuremberg . From the late 1970s the Iduna Obolski part in the musical comedy fireworks of Paul Burkhard their best roles. With this role she had her 25th stage anniversary in 1979 at the Nuremberg Opera House. In musicals, she also sang The Woman of Bath in Canterbury Tales (premiere: 1973/74 season).

In Nuremberg, Knittel was only rarely used in opera roles. In May 1957 she sang as part of the “6. Week of Contemporary Theater ”at the Nuremberg Opera House played the role of niece Alva in the world premiere of the opera Die kleine Stadt by Franz Xaver Lehner . In 1973 she took over Drusilla in a new production of the Monteverdi opera Die Krönung der Poppea . The critics attested Knittel in this role "a size that the other characters in the opera lacked". Knittel also proved to be an interpreter of modern music in small roles. She sang one of the three whores in We reach the river by Hans Werner Henze (1981/82 season) and the housewife in Baal by Friedrich Cerha (1983/84 season).

In March 1985, Knittel gave her farewell performance at the Nuremberg Opera House with the title role in the operetta Countess Mariza by Emmerich Kálmán . In 1987 she was made an honorary member . On the occasion of the award of honorary membership, Knittel appeared again in January 1987 as Electress Marie in the operetta The Bird Trader .

Private

Knittel's first marriage was to the operetta singer Rudolf Rock, who was engaged with her at the Nuremberg Opera House from 1954 until his stage farewell in 1979, and his second marriage to the former long-term district court director in Neumarkt / Parsberg , Hans Baer.

In the last few years before her death, Knittel suffered from increasing age dementia . She lived in need of care temporarily in the closed ward of an old people's home in Fürth . Knittel died in February 2017 after a long illness at the age of 91 in her house in a suburb of Nuremberg.

Knittel was buried in the municipal cemetery in Parsberg ( Upper Palatinate ) under her real name Sonja Baer.

Audio documents

Knittel recorded numerous operettas for the radio . In 1954 she sang the role of Angele Didier in a complete recording of the operetta Der Graf von Luxemburg with Fred Liewehr for ORF . She also worked on the Austrian Radio in complete recordings of the operettas Rund um die Liebe by Oscar Straus (1954; as Countess Stella), Liebe im Schnee by Ralph Benatzky (1962; as Princess Gertrud) and artist blood by Edmund Eysler (1963; as Soubrette Nelly Leissner ) With. In 1964 she sang Princess Helene (Nené) at Bayerischer Rundfunk in a production of Fritz Kreisler's Singspiel Sissy .

As a partner of Heinz Hoppe , she recorded operetta duets for the record companies Polydor and Telefunken . Sonja Knittel's musical work, which has been handed down through radio recordings and records, has been partially re-released on CD in recent years.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lt. Information from the cemetery administration of the city of Parsberg from July 2017. In addition, the actual date of birth April 11, 1925 is indicated on the grave cross of the grave site (section 6, row 8, grave 4).
  2. ↑ Sonja Knittel in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
  3. ↑ Kutsch / Riemens give 1923 as the year of birth. The same goes for the Bavarian Music Dictionary Online, with reference to Kutsch / Riemens. In the Kosch theater lexicon, geb. 1927? specified. In a newspaper report from August 2009, her age was given as 81 years. A letter to the editor for this article, which claimed a personal acquaintance with Knittel, named against it 83 years. Since the stage contracts at the Nuremberg Opera House for female ensemble members ended at the age of 60, contrary to the Wiener Merker , 1925 can be assumed as the year of birth.
  4. ↑ a b Sonja KNITTEL died on February 23, 2017 in Oberasbach near Nuremberg . Obituary. In: The new marker . March 2017 edition. Accessed March 14, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Staatstheater Nürnberg mourns the loss of a long-time member of the ensemble: Soprano Sonja Knittel dies . Obituary on Klassik.com on February 28, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ Fritz Schleicher, the long-time music critic of the Nürnberger Nachrichten, speaks in a newspaper report from 1985 on the occasion of Knittel's Nuremberg stage farewell by Knittel as a “Viennese woman”.
  7. ^ Opera singer Sonja Knittel dies - WELT. Retrieved March 3, 2017 .
  8. ↑ a b Opera singer Sonja Knittel died . In: Nordbayerischer Kurier on February 27, 2017. Accessed March 3, 2017
  9. ^ Chronicle of the Vienna State Opera 1945–1995, p. 455. Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna and Munich 1995.
  10. ↑ The Light of Love ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Entry in the Film Archive Austria  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / filmarchiv.at
  11. ↑ a b c d e Michael Kerstan: Souris Arche . Kurt Leo Sourisseaux and the Nuremberg operetta from 1950. Henschel Verlag. Berlin 2007. Pages 40, 43, 69f. ISBN 978-3-89487-6005 .
  12. ↑ The beautiful Galathee. The miracle doctor . In: Die ZEIT of January 10, 1964
  13. ^ Helga Bertz-Dostal: Opera on TV : Basic research as part of the research program of the Institute for Theater Studies at the University of Vienna. Volume 2. Neumann GmbH., 1971. Page 719. (Excerpts from Google Books). Retrieved July 8, 2017,
  14. ^ Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 134, 1973. Excerpt available online at Google Books (excerpt, part I).
  15. ^ Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 134, 1973. Excerpt available online at Google Books (excerpt, 2nd part).
  16. ^ Nursing scandal surrounding Nuremberg's last operetta diva (81)! . In: Abendzeitung Nürnberg from August 24, 2009. Last accessed on March 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ Der Graf von Luxemburg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Official website of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / shop.orf.at  
personal data
SURNAME Knittel, Sonja
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knittel, Sonja (maiden name); Baer, ​​Sonja (married name); Baer-Knittel, Sonja (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian soprano
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 23rd February 2017
Place of death Oberasbach