Viorica Ursuleac

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Before her appearance as Ägyptische Helena , Salzburg Festival 1934. Recording: Franz Xaver Setzer

Viorica Ursuleac (born March 26, 1894 in Chernivtsi , Austria-Hungary ; † October 22, 1985 in Ehrwald , Tyrol ) was an Austrian opera singer ( dramatic soprano ).

Life

Viorica was the daughter of a Greek Orthodox priest. From 1917 to 1922 she studied at the Vienna Music Academy with Filip Forstén and then in Berlin with Lilli Lehmann . In 1922 she made her debut in Agram, today's Zagreb , in the role of Charlotte im Werther by Jules Massenet , moved to the Czernowitz Opera in 1923, to the Vienna Volksoper in 1924 and to the Frankfurt Opera in 1926 , whose artistic director Clemens Krauss married her second .

In the first of its numerous guest performances in Dresden she sang in 1929 at the State Opera , the Madame Butterfly in Puccini's opera. From 1930–1935 she was a member of the Vienna State Opera , 1935–1937 of the Berlin State Opera and 1937–1944 at the National Theater in Munich , where she and her husband particularly campaigned for the works of Richard Strauss .

As a conductor, Krauss has directed many of her appearances, including the world premieres of four Richard Strauss operas: Arabella (Dresden 1933), Peace Day (Munich 1938) and Capriccio (Munich 1942) and Die Liebe der Danae (Salzburg 1944).

In 1933 she was appointed Austrian and in 1934 Prussian chamber singer .

In the course of her long stage career, she has performed a total of 84 opera roles. She gained international recognition primarily for her interpretations of the main characters in operas by Richard Strauss , such as Ariadne and Arabella . Viorica Ursuleac was also in games a. a. to see and hear from Verdi and Wagner . There were further appearances at the Salzburg Festival from 1930 to 1944 and in Berlin (1941). After 1945 she appeared in guest roles, including at the Vienna State Opera, the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

She sang a total of 482 Strauss Evenings on stage, most often she appeared as Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and as Arabella.

In 1954, after the death of her husband, she ended her career. From 1959 she worked as a teacher at the Salzburg Mozarteum .

She spent the last thirty years of her life in her house in Ehrwald in Tyrol. There, in 1983, a large film portrait of the singer was made, which Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski produced for Saarland Radio .

After her death, she was buried at the side of her husband at the cemetery in Ehrwald.

On August 30, 2006, a memorial plaque was inaugurated in Chernivtsi at the birthplace of Viorica Ursuleac, where she had also spent her youth; the house is in the former New World Alley (today Вулиця Шевченка [Vulycja Ševčenka]) № 75.

Discography

literature

Web links

Commons : Viorica Ursuleac  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ursuleac, Viorica
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (dramatic soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Chernivtsi , Bukovina
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1985
Place of death Ehrwald , Tyrol