Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Ernestine Schumann - Heink ( born June 15, 1861 in love, today the city of Prague, † November 17, 1936 in Hollywood, California; born Rössler ) was an Austrian- American contralto, which was primarily known as an opera singer.
Life
The daughter of a cavalry officer in Graz received singing lessons from Marietta by LeClair. Already in 1877 she made her debut in Graz with the alto part from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. 1878 was her operatic debut in the role of Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore at the Dresden Court Opera under the name Tini Rössler. They perfected in Dresden their training with Karl and Franz Cancer Wüllner and married here in 1882 and the Secretary of the Opera Ernst Heink, of which she was divorced in 1893.
After appearances in the Kroll Opera in Berlin, she was hired in 1883 at the Hamburg Opera, where she remained until 1897. With roles such as Georges Bizet's Carmen and Ortrud in Wagner's Lohengrin she managed this breakthrough is significant as an opera singer. 1894 she married the actor in Hamburg and director of the Thalia Theatre Paul Schumann ( 1859-1904 ). One of their sons was born in Hamburg later American film actor Ferdinand Schumann - Heink ( 1893-1958 ).
She entered this time also at festivals and concerts in the UK, Norway and Sweden. 1892 she performed at the Royal Opera House, the premiere of the Ring cycle under Gustav Mahler as Fricka, Erda and Walt diamond and Tristan Brangäne. From 1896 to 1914 she performed regularly at the Bayreuth Festival, where they, inter alia, the Mary in The Flying Dutchman, the Magdalene in Die Meistersinger, Erda, the Walt diamond, the Grimgerde and Siegrune in the Ring Cycle and the voice of the height in Parsifal sang.
She also made guest appearances in 1900, inter alia, in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Vienna. 1898 she appeared for the first time in Chicago, and the following year she made her debut with the Ortrud in Wagner's Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera, where she appeared regularly until 1932. She married in 1905 in third marriage the Chicago lawyer William Rapp, who became their manager, and in 1908 U.S. citizen.
1909 sang Schumann - Heink in the premiere of Richard Strauss' Elektra at the Dresden Court Opera, the Clytemnestra. During the First World War she gave concerts in support of the Red Cross and other organizations, and appeared in front of American soldiers. After a military exhibition in Balboa Park Organ Pavilion was in 1917 appointed Honorary Colonel of the 21st Infantry Regiment; In 1919, she collected money for the erection of a war memorial in Balboa Park.
When Black Thursday, 1929 Schumann - Heink lost almost all their assets and therefore had to re- record an intense concert activity to make money. In 1932 she was at the age of 71 years their farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera as Erda in Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung. In 1935 she took part in the talkies Here's to Romance with great success.
Schumann - Heink took on record at Columbia, HMV and Victor Records, besides also two private recordings from 1898 and recordings on Mapleson cylinders from the Metropolitan Opera have received.