Sophie Lion

Sophie Löwe (1815–1866)

Johanna Sophie Christiane Löwe (born March 24, 1815 in Oldenburg ; † November 29, 1866 in Pest ) from the Löwe family of actors was one of the most famous German opera singers ( soprano ) of her time.

life and career

Sophie Löwe was born as the daughter of the actor Ferdinand Löwe (1787–1832). From 1831 she studied in Vienna under Giuseppe Ciccimarra and appeared at the Kärntnertortheater in 1832 with such success that she was soon engaged. After a tour of northern Germany, she was engaged at the Berlin Court Opera in 1837 . The Italian art of singing and her witty demeanor were particularly praised for her performances. On the other hand, her annually increasing salary expectations were the reason for a breach of contract, whereupon she turned to Paris and London.

In 1841 she sang the title role of Gaetano Donizetti's Maria Padilla at La Scala in Milan , and in 1844 Elvira in Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani in Venice . Verdi was so dissatisfied with her interpretation of the role that he left Venice without paying her the usual visit. Nevertheless, the real reason is that Löwe wanted to enforce an effective rondò finale for the final scene of the opera, in accordance with the customs of the time , while Verdi insisted on a final drama . Nevertheless, he was so impressed by her art that he wrote a major role (Odabella) for her in his opera Attila in 1846 . In 1845 she made another guest appearance in Berlin.

In 1848 she married Prince Friedrich Adalbert von Liechtenstein , with whom she settled in Budapest. The marriage remained childless.

Mentions

Ferdinand Freiligrath mentioned them in his poem Thank you very much :

Is it worth the diligence, is
it worth traveling for days,
To lay solitaire
in the family circle in the evening?

To hear the bailiff's word
Of the price of the grain, the cattle?
To exchange the lion's song
With the quarreling of your children?

Heinrich Heine wrote: "In the voice of Mademoiselle Löwe there is a German soul, a quiet thing."

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Lion, Sophie . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 15th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1866, pp. 433–436 ( digitized version ).
• Ludwig Eisenberg : Sophie Löwe . In: Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century. Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p. 621 ( daten.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
• Julian Budden: The Operas of Verdi. Volume 1: From Oberto to Rigoletto. Cassell, 1984, ISBN 0-304-31058-1 .
• Richard Somerset-Ward: Angels and Monsters: Male and Female Sopranos in the Story of Opera, 1600-1900 . Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-300-09968-1 , pp. 199-201.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} lion [3] . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 12, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1908, pp.  747–749 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures. Sebastian Lux Verlag, Munich 1963, p. 300.