#Ivogün

[opera-ghosts]

November 18. 1891 the Hungarian Soprano Maria Ivogün (1891-1987) was born. She was well known for Mozart and a favorite Soprano from Richard Strauss. Here we see two documents from her. A original letter she send to the Steinway and Sons 1922. The photo shows Ivogün as Zerbinetta and is signed by herself and the Greek Mezzo-Soprano Alexandra Trianti (1901-1977). The Music-Hall in Athen is named Alexandra Trianti Hall. A rare double autograph. Take a look on the biography from Maria Ivogün.

[wohlbruecks]

Anton left us on this day 50 years ago...

And I was thinking how we could especially remember him today - and my thoughts led me to music, which is one thing that makes me feel more close to him. So here’s the list of his Desert Island Discs picks (ie. his most favourite pieces of music, and those which meant the most to him) along with a link to each one. So maybe on this special day you could immerse yourself in one of them, and give him a thought :)

1. Verdi : La Traviata, Prelude to Act 1

2. Villa-Lobos : Prelude no. 1 in E minor 

3. Maria Ivogün :  ‘Z’ Lauterbach hab’ i mein Strumpf Verlorn

4.  Hugo Wolf : Italian Serenade in G major

5. Bach : Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 In D major

6.  Brahms : Violin Concerto in D Major

7. Schubert : Gute Nacht (from Winterreise)

8. Yvette Guilbert :  Le Fiacre

[historicalsingers]

Maria Ivogün sings Ariadne auf Naxos (1932)

[opera-ghosts]

 On this old postcard we see very young soprano Maria Ivogün in La Traviata, one of her very successful roles at the Opera house in Munich around 1914. 

[opera-ghosts]

UNFORGETTABLE: Maria Ivogün (1891-1987) as Rose Friquet in Aimé Maillarts „Les Dragons de Villars“ („Das Glöckchen des Eremiten“) at the Städtische Oper Berlin in 1927.

[opera-ghosts]

Maria Ivogün - "Sempre libera" (in German), Traviata (Verdi) 1916

[opera-ghosts]

UNFORGETTABLE: „Martha“ (Friedrich von Flotow) at the Städtische Oper Berlin in 1932. The photograph was taken during the third act and shows a real dreamcast: Else Ruziczka, Maria Ivogün, Ivár Andresen and Koloman von Pataky.

[opera-ghosts]

German tenor Karl Erb (1877-1958) was born out of wedlock in Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg to a factory worker. He grew up quite poor and, apart from working with a local choir, never gave much thought to a career as a singer. Initially, Erb set his sights on becoming a civil servant and began working for the City of Ravensburg following his graduation from high school. The future tenor spent a decade as treasurer of the city’s gas and water departments but also found himself more and more involved with local choral and operatic productions. He was already nearly 30 when his voice was noticed by a visiting conductor from Stuttgarter Hofoper during a production of Cavalleria Rusticana in his hometown. Erb was brought before the company’s artistic director who agreed to use him as a sort of intern for a year. During this time, Erb sang numerous concerts and recitals (including an unprecedented 30 masterclasses) and made his stage debut as Mathias in Kienzl’s Der Evangelimann in Stuttgart in June of 1907. In a stage career that lasted less than a quarter century, Erb sang some seventy roles in such works as Così fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, La Finta Giardiniera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Pasquale, Les Huguenots, Faust, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Euryanthe, Der Freischütz, Martha, Zar und Zimmermann, Die Fledermaus, Fidelio, Salome, Ariadne auf Naxos, Das Rheingold, Tannhäuser, Der Fliegende Holländer, Die Meistersinger, Parsifal, Lohengrin, Götterdämmerung, Alessandro Stradella and Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor. Erb also created the title role in the world premiere of Pfitzner’s Palestrina in Munich in 1917. He made frequent appearances in Lübeck, Cologne, Ulm, Wiesbaden, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Basel, Zürich, Bern, Brussels, London and New York. Many of these appearances were with Maria Ivogün, to whom Erb was married in 1921. In spite of such a successful career, all was not well with Karl Erb. The traumatic circumstances of his youth had left him an introverted and downright unfriendly individual. This attitude affected the tenor’s personal life…he and Ivogün grew apart and eventually divorced in 1931…as well as his career. In 1925, after 12 years at the Munich Hoftheater, Erb was told that he would not be invited back. The following year, Erb suffered a broken leg in a fall on the hotel steps in Bremen. During the summer of 1929 he was seriously injured in a swimming accident (he was overcome by heavy waves and smashed into a rock) from which he never fully recovered. Erb returned to the stage six months later but was still in such great pain that performing was difficult. His final operatic appearance was as Florestan in Berlin in the summer of 1930 after which he reluctantly abandoned his stage career. The mobility issues that brought a premature end to Erb’s operatic career were not a hindrance to his work on the concert platform. The tenor’s lieder and oratorio performances were much heralded in the 1930s and 1940s and his interpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is still considered unparalleled. Erb continued performing well into his seventies and passed away in the city of his birth on July 13, 1958…his 81st birthday. The story of Karl Erb is a fascinating one. He managed to overcome the circumstances of his youth…including the stigma of being an illegitimate child…to become one of Europe’s leading tenors. He had no formal musical or vocal training, yet was able to master more than three dozen operatic roles as well as hundreds of songs. He was essentially a self-taught singer, but managed to cultivate a vocal technique that kept his voice intact until he was nearly 80 years old. Luckily, the phonograph was there to capture it all, from the earliest days in Stuttgart to his final years as tenor emeritus of the European arts world. Erb recorded hundreds of discs for such labels as Odeon, HMV, Telefunken and Electrola that

showcase a tenor with a lyrical, well placed voice and an innate sense of artistry and taste.

[opera-ghosts]

Maria Ivogün (18 November 1891 in Budapest – 3 October 1987 in Beatenberg, Switzerland) was a distinguished soprano singer of Hungarian origin. She was especially an outstanding interpreter of the works of Mozart: her recording of the aria of the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) became legendary. From 1909 (other sources say since 1907) she began to study singing and theatre in Vienna. When the young soprano sang in 1913 at the Vienna Hofoper, she was overlooked. However, the house conductor there, Bruno Walter, recognized her outstanding talent and engaged her for his new workplace at the Hofoper in Munich. She gave her debut in Munich in the role of Mimi in Puccini's La bohème. Three years later, in 1916, she sang the role of Zerbinetta in the re-worked version of Ariadne auf Naxos in Vienna at the express wish of the composer Richard Strauss. In the same year she replaced an indisposed singer as Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, a role for which Maria Ivogün was very highly regarded and with which she laid the foundation of her success. By 1916 Ivogün was reckoned among the best female singers in Europe and had roles in operas such as Fidelio (Marzelline), Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and many others. Moreover she became well known as Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. In 1917 the title of Royal Bavarian Kammersängerin was bestowed upon her. In the same year she sang the boy-role of Ighino in the original production of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina opposite the tenor Karl Erb in the title-role, whom she married in  1921. In two further important original productions in Munich, Ivogün took on leading roles: in Der Ring des Polykrates of the then barely 19-year-old Erich Wolfgang Korngold (first performance 28 March 1916) she sang Laura, and in Walter Braunfels's Die Vögel (first performance 4 December 1920) she took the part of the Nightingale. In the theatrical season of 1925/1926 Ivogün followed Bruno Walter to the State Opera in Berlin. She remained there as a member of the regular company until 1932. The highly celebrated soprano made countless concert-tours and guest opera appearances both within Germany and beyond. She appeared above all at La Scala, Milan, the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, London, the Chicago Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera New York. When she fell ill with an eye illness she ended her operatic career in 1932 and in 1934 her career as a singer of lieder. From 1948 to 1950 Ivogün taught at the Music High School in Vienna, and finally she became a professor at the Hochschule in Berlin. She spent her twilight years in Switzerland, virtually blind.