Carla Martinis

Carla Martinis ( born January 19, 1922 in Danculovice at Jastrebarsko, Croatia, then Yugoslavia; † August 9, 2010 in Vienna) was an Austrian opera singer with the voice soprano.

Life

Carla Martinis, actually Dragica Martinis, originally came from a Croatian family. She studied singing at the Music Academy in Zagreb in Marija Kostrenčić, where he was also a student of Prof. Vicko martinis, whom she married in 1942.

She made her debut, under the name Dragica Martinis, 1942 at the Opera House of Zagreb as Mimi in the opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini. She has appeared at the National Theatre in Prague. In 1949 she won the International Singing Competition of Nations Geneva. Martinis then went to Vienna, where he received the opportunity to audition with László Halász, the former director of the City Centre Opera in New York, which they then committed as a soprano. From 1950 to 1953 she sang with great success at the New York City Centre Opera. Your first role there was the title role in Turandot by Giacomo Puccini in December 1950.

In December 1950, she performed for the first time at the Vienna State Opera, initially still under the name Dragica Martinis, as well as Turandot with Helge and Irmgard Seefried Rosvaenge than their partners. A few days later, the title role in Puccini's Tosca followed. This time again were Helge Rosvaenge and also Alfred Jerger their colleagues. In February 1951, in turn, was followed by Tosca (25 February 1951), Turandot (14 February 1951) this time with Heinrich Bensing as Calaf, Aida (February 23, 1951) with Elisabeth Höngen and Torsten Ralf as partners. In March 1951 martinis sang the title role in Madame Butterfly with Rudolf Schock as a partner. Later she appeared in Vienna under the name Carla Martinis. From 1951 to 1962 Martini was an ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera. Carla Martinis appeared there in more than 250 performances in 14 different games. She sang a focus on the great dramatic soprano roles in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi ( Aida, Amelia, Desdemona, Forza Leonora ) and Giacomo Puccini ( Mimi, Cio-Cio - San, Manon Lescaut, Tosca, Turandot ). Other leading roles were Donna Anna in Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the Madeleine in Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano and the Antonia / Stella in Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach. Great success had martinis in 1956 as Manon Lescaut in a new production of the eponymous opera by Giacomo Puccini by the director Günther Rennert, in Rudolf Schock and Walter Berry were their partners.

On February 3, 1951 in Vienna Martinis had given her role debut as Aida in a concert performance at the Great Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, which was conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Your partner were Lorenz Fehenberger as Radames, Nell Rankin as Amneris and Mario Petri as Ramfis. In the summer of 1951 she sang at the Salzburg Festival as a partner of Ramon Vinay and Paul Schöffler under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello. In 1952 she was a guest at the Grand Opéra in Paris as Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera music drama. In 1952 she sang at the music festival in Aix -en- Provence Donna Anna. In 1952 she also appeared as Tosca at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. In 1952 she sang at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Turandot and the title role in the opera La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli.

Also In 1952 her debut at La Scala as Elena in Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele at the side of Renata Tebaldi, Ferruccio Tagliavini and Nicola Rossi - Lemeni under the baton of Victor de Sabata. In 1952 she took over at La Scala also Elisabetta di Valois in Verdi's Don Carlo with the conductor Antonino Votto and Gino Penno, Ebe Stignani and Nicola Rossi - Lemeni as partners. 1953 in turn was followed by Donna Anna in a production with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Léopold Simoneau and Mario Petri, who led by Herbert von Karajan.

1953 she sang at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples Tosca as a partner Ferruccio Tagliavini from. Also in 1953 she gave in Vienna, again in the Great Hall of the Musikverein, a successful concert with the tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. In 1954 she sang at the San Francisco Opera, the Leonora in Verdi's La forza del destino. In 1956 she made ​​guest appearances at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste again in the title role of La Gioconda.

A tragic family event led in the early 1960s at the height of their musical work for the early abandonment of their career. Martinis retired then at times completely out of the public gaze.

In recognition of their artistic merits Carla Martinis 1955 was appointed by the Vienna State Opera to the Austrian opera singer. In 2002 she also received the Golden Medal for Service to the City of Vienna. The laudation was Kammersänger Heinz Holecek.

Carla Martinis last lived in Vienna.

Audio

The passed on through radio broadcasts, live recordings and records of musical work of Carla Martinis was largely on CD, partly in special historical documentaries, re-released in recent years.

Collectors of historic radio recordings is Carla Martinis in particular known by three opera recordings made in the early 1950s at the Northwest German Radio in Hamburg. As Dragica Martinis it is Desdemona published in Wilhelm Furtwängler's Otello (1951 Salzburg) by EMI, with Ramón Vinay and Paul Schöffler. In 1951, she was also the Donna Anna in Don Giovanni a recording in Italian under Leopold Ludwig. 1952 Martinis sang the role of Leonora in Verdi's opera The Force of Destiny. It conducted Hans Schmidt- Isserstedt. Your partner were Martha Mödl as Preziosilla, Rudolf Schock as Alvaro, Josef Metternich as Don Carlo di Vargas and Gottlob Frick as Father Guardian. 1953 was followed by a recording of the opera Tosca with Rudolf Schock as Cavaradossi and Josef Metternich as Scarpia. It conducted Wilhelm Schüchter. The two Verdi operas were, at that time accordingly, recorded standard performance practice in German language.

The voice of Carla Martinis was " nice and warm timbre for Verdi, but also had brilliant heights in Puccini. "