Vera Schlosser

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Vera Schlosser (born July 25, 1929 in Karlsbad , Czechoslovakia ; † November 22, 2018 ) was a Swiss opera singer ( soprano ).

Life

Vera Schlosser grew up as a child of German parents in Karlsbad, where she also received her first singing lessons. Towards the end of the Second World War , she and her family fled to Regensburg as a Sudeten German . From 1946 she studied in Regensburg (1946–1948 with Schiessel) and Munich (1948–1953 with Lukaschik), later also in Wiesbaden (1953–1957 with Heuer).

From 1947 and 1951 she was engaged as a choir singer and trainee at the Stadttheater Regensburg , where she sang her first small solo roles. For a short time in 1952 she stepped in for a sick colleague as Desdemona in " Othello ", which led to a solo career and her breakthrough. In 1951 she sang with Liane Synek in the Bayreuth Festival choir . In 1953 she was engaged as a lyric soprano at the Wiesbaden State Theater .

In 1957, Schlosser moved to the Zurich Opera House , where she was a permanent member of the ensemble until 1969. In Zurich, under the directors Karl-Heinz Krahl , Herbert Graf and Hermann Juch, she was one of the “crowd favorites”. She sang a broad repertoire, ranging from lyric coloratura soprano to youthful dramatic roles. Her Zurich roles included several Mozart roles such as Pamina (“ Die Zauberflöte ”), Donna Elvira (“ Don Giovanni ”), Fiordiligi (“ Così fan tutte ”) and the “ Figaro ” countess, and Mimì (“ La Bohème ”) ), Cio-Cio-San (“ Madama Butterfly ”), Liù (“ Turandot ”) and the title role in “ Manon Lescaut ” by Puccini, Desdemona (alongside James McCracken ), Chrysothemis (“ Elektra) ” and the Wagner -Roles Elsa von Brabant (« Lohengrin ») and Eva (« Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg »). Schlosser also sang the Slavic repertoire in Zurich such as Marie (“ The Bartered Bride ”) and Jenufa , as well as Prothoe in “ Penthesilea ” and in 1961 interpreted Eva and Maria in “ Le Mystère de la Nativité ” by Frank Martin .

In the 1958/59 season she played the title role in the Swiss staged premiere of the Handel opera “ Deidamia ” in Zurich , and in January 1963 she also appeared in the world premiere of the opera “ Die Errettung Thebes ” by Rudolf Kelterborn . Schlosser also sang some classic operetta roles (Saffi, Laura, Electress Marie) and worked as a concert singer.

Schlosser gave guest appearances in Germany at the Hamburg State Opera , at the Bavarian State Opera , at the Stuttgart State Opera , where Fritz Wunderlich was her partner, at the Frankfurt Opera House and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein , and several times in Italy , there at La Scala in Milan (1963 as Wellgunde in the " Ring "), at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and at the Rome Opera House. In 1960 and 1961 she appeared at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon as Jenufa and Eva.

After having difficulties with her voice, Schlosser decided to end her career in 1969 and in 1970 she left the opera stage at the Basel Theater as Elsa von Brabant.

After her early career, Schlosser worked as a singing teacher after temporarily earning her living as a factory worker and in the administration of the Musik Hug music store in Zurich . She gave private singing lessons in interpretation, phrasing and style and taught as a lecturer at the cantonal maturity school for adults.

Vera Schlosser was married four times, her first marriage to the German television director Ekkehard Böhmer , her second marriage to the Austrian opera singer Manfred Jungwirth and her third marriage to the Swiss actor Hans-Joachim Frick . Her marriage to Frick resulted in a son who died in a military accident at the age of 21. After her stage career, Vera Schlosser lived for several years in Feldbach in the canton of Zurich , most recently in Rapperswil . After a long and serious illness, she died of cancer at the age of 90 .

Audio documents

There is only one "official" complete record of Vera Schlosser. In the Decca - "Ring" she sang Gerhilde in " Die Walküre " under Georg Solti . Furthermore, official single recordings were released on LP for various book clubs. Schlosser made recordings on Swiss radio and Radio Bern . In the early 1960s she recorded a number of operas for the Bern Radio Opera, including “Katrena” by Eugen Suchoň . There are also some live recordings among collectors.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Zurich opera singer Vera Schlosser has passed away . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of November 22, 2018. Accessed December 1, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Sandro Wilhelm: Who was Vera Schlosser? . Obituary. Operalounge.de. November 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h One of the pillars of the ensemble . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from July 25, 2009. Accessed December 1, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Locksmith, Vera
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Carlsbad , Czechoslovakia
DATE OF DEATH 22nd November 2018