Aino Ackté

Aino Ackté ( born July 23, 1876 in Helsinki, † August 8, 1944 in Vihti; actually: Aino eighth) was a Finnish soprano. In the Finnish opera scene a pioneer, created the Prima Donna also the first international breakthrough and occurred worldwide in the most important opera houses.

Life

Aino Eighth was born in 1876 as a subsidiary of the mezzo-soprano Emmy Eighth and the composer and conductor Lorenz Nikolai eighth. Early on, she learned under the guidance of her mother, who had studied at the conservatories of Stockholm, Dresden and Paris, singing. 1894 also began Aino three years' study at the Paris Conservatory. This period also saw the change of surname of Mind Ackté falls.

In 1897 she made ​​her debut at the Opéra National de Paris. Her performance as " Marguerite " in Charles Gounod's " Faust" was successful, which is why she was hired for six years ( until 1903 ) firmly to the opera. In her home country there were rumors of a relationship with the painter Albert Edelfelt, who also made ​​several portraits of her. However, she married in 1901 the lawyer, journalist and politician later Heikki Renvall, with whom she was secretly engaged since 1896. On 28 November 1901 she released her first child, her daughter Glory, which later became known by their service in film and theater. Marriage, in 1908 another son named Mies ( is a gynecologist) brought forth, was divorced in 1917. Two years later she married Bruno Jalander, the country gentleman of Uusimaa and later Minister of Defence of Finland.

As 1903 proceeded commitment in Paris, Aino Ackté signed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The cultural differences and the increased competition made ​​it her but hard to settle in, which is why she returned after two years to Europe, where they mainly occurred in the next few years at Covent Garden and in other major venues in the UK and Germany. Her repertoire included many Wagner operas like " The Mastersingers of Nuremberg ", " Lohengrin " ( Elsa of Brabant), "Tannhäuser" (Elisabeth ), " The Flying Dutchman " and " Siegfried", but Puccini's " Tosca" and Massenet's " Thaïs ". Your favorite role and also their biggest success was the presentation of "Salome" in the eponymous opera by Strauss, under whose tutelage she also rehearsed the role in 1910 at Covent Garden with great success the first time presented.

With the onset of World War I, she ended her international career and returned to Finland. Overall, her appearances became increasingly rare and in 1920 she gave her farewell appearance. Your attention now, she turned more to the organizational issues of the Finnish opera scene. So she founded in 1911 together with Oskar Merikanto Edvard Fazer and the Finnish National Opera ( " Suomen Kansallisooppera ", originally " Kotimainen Ooppera "). In her role as director, she brought Although with glamor, but was not particularly popular with the artists, which is why she got out after several disputes with the other founders out of the project. Only in 1938, she worked again with the director, but announced for renewed quarrels one year later their posts.

After their first exit from the project " National Opera " she began organizing international festivals in medieval castle Olavinlinna in the Finnish town of Savonlinna. The time still Olavinlinna opera festival called event took place in 1912, 1913, 1914, 1916, and held after a long break in 1930 under her leadership. In 1930 she had her final last public appearance as a singer at the festival.

In August 1944, she died at the age of 68 years in Vihti in a pancreatic tumor. Both in Savonlinna and in Helsinki, a road was ever named after her. Your summer house in Helsinki, Villa Aino Ackté is used by the city for cultural activities.