Elisabeth Sara "Elly" Ameling (born 8 February 1933) is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

.

Career

Ameling was born in Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

. She studied with Bodi Rapp, Jo Bollekamp, Sem Dresden

Sem Dresden

Samuel Dresden was born in Amsterdam, April 20, 1881, and died at The Hague, July 30, 1957). He was a Dutch conductor, composer and teacher.-Life:...

 and Jacoba Dresden-Dhont and later French art song with Pierre Bernac

Pierre Bernac

Pierre Bernac was a French baritone.Born Pierre Bertin in Paris on January 12, 1899, he studied with Reinhold von Wahrlich in Salzburg. he came to music relatively late and gave his first recital in 1921....

. She won the first prize during the Vocal Concours in 's-Hertogenbosch in Holland (1956) and the Concours International de Musique in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 (1958).

After her professional début as a concert singer in Rotterdam in 1953, she performed for more than forty years in virtually every major cultural centre in the world. Her frequent appearances with the leading international orchestras and conductors (Bernard Haitink

Bernard Haitink

Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...

, Rafael Kubelík

Rafael Kubelík

Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...

, Carlo Maria Giulini

Carlo Maria Giulini

Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...

, Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

, Seiji Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa

is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...

, Wolfgang Sawallisch

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...

, Kurt Masur

Kurt Masur

Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...

, Sir Neville Marriner

Neville Marriner

Sir Neville Marriner is an English conductor and violinist.-Biography:Marriner was born in Lincoln and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. He played the violin in the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Martin String Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, playing with the...

, Karl Münchinger

Karl Münchinger

Karl Münchinger was a German conductor of European classical music. He helped to revive the now-ubiquitous Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel, through recording it with his Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in 1960...

, André Previn

André Previn

André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...

, Edo de Waart

Edo de Waart

Edo de Waart is a Dutch conductor, and the Music Director of both the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra....

 among others) established her as one of the greatest singers of our age.

She made her career mainly as a concert and lied

Lied

is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

er singer with some excursions into opera (Mozart, Haydn) and became world-renowned for her recitals of French and German songs and for her superlative

Superlative

In grammar, the superlative is the form of an adjective that indicates that the person or thing modified has the quality of the adjective to a degree greater than that of anything it is being compared to in a given context. English superlatives are typically formed with the suffix -est In...

 interpretive gifts. She is equally at home in chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, orchestral music, operas, and oratorios

Oratórios

Oratórios is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Zona da Mata and to the microregion of Ponte Nova.-See also:* List of municipalities in Minas Gerais...

. She made her U.S. recital debut at New York's Lincoln Center in 1968 and her opera debut in 1974 as Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo

Idomeneo

Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

  In 1974, Ameling also performed for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston.

Contemporary works, particularly by her countrymen Bertus van Lier and Robert Heppener, are also part of her large repertoire. Ameling has recorded more than 150 albums and has won many coveted recording prizes, including The Edison Award

The Edison Award

The Edison music award is an annual Dutch music prize, awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is one of the oldest music awards in the world, having been presented since 1960.-Origins:...

, the Grand Prix du Disque

L'Académie Charles Cros

The Académie Charles-Cros, is an organization in France that acts as an intermediary between government cultural policy makers and professionals in music and the recording industry....

 and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik

Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik

The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik is an annual prize presented for achievement in recorded music.It was inaugurated in Germany in 1963 by publisher Richard Kaselowsky with the aim of recognizing the "most rigorous standards for supreme achievement" in the field of recording.The awards...

. For her services to music, Dr. Ameling has been awarded four honorary degrees and has been knighted, in 1971, by Her Majesty the Queen of The Netherlands for her services to music (the Orde van Oranje Nassau

Order of Orange-Nassau

The Order of Orange-Nassau is a military and civil order of the Netherlands which was created on 4 April 1892 by the Queen regent Emma of the Netherlands, acting on behalf of her under-age daughter Queen Wilhelmina. The Order is a chivalry order open to "everyone who have earned special merits for...

) and in 2008 she received the highest civil decoration in the Netherlands, the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Recordings (selection)

• Elly Ameling 75 jaar, Live Concertopnamen 1957-1991, Nederlandse Omroep (5CD), 2008, Radio Broadcasts 1957-91, incl. Richard Strauss "Vier letzte Lieder", Van Omnium audiovisueel, GW 80003.
• The Artistry of Elly Ameling (5CD), Philips (Universal).
• Elly Ameling, After Hours..., Songs von Gershwin, Porter, Prévert a.o.; E.A., Louis van Dijk, Philips (Universal).
• Elly Ameling, Sentimental Me, Songs von Porter, Ellington, Sondheim a.o.; E.A., Louis van Dijk, Polygram Classics.
• Elly Ameling, Sweet Was The Song, international Christmas songs, EMI.
• Elly Ameling, The Early Recordings (4CD), DHM (Sony BMG).
• Bach, Arias from Cantatas for soprano, Oboe and B.C., E.A., Han de Vries (Oboe), Albert de Klerk (Organ), Richte van der Meer (Cello), EMI.
• Bach, Bauern-, Kaffee-, Hochzeitskantate, Non sà che sia dolore, E.A., G.English, S.Nimsgern, Collegium Aureum, DHM (Sony BMG).
• Bach, cantata
  Bach cantata
  Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
  
  s, Ein feste Burg, Jauchzet Gott, Wachet auf, English Chamber Orchestra, Raymond Leppard, Dt. Bachsolisten, Helmut Winschermann, Philips (Universal).
• Bach, Johannes-Passion, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Karl Münchinger, Decca (Universal).
• Bach, Matthäus-Passion, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Karl Münchinger, Decca (Universal).
• Bach, Magnificat/Osteroratorium, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Karl Münchinger, Decca (Universal).
• Bach, Weihnachtsoratorium, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Karl Münchinger, Decca (Universal).
• Berlioz, Les Nuits d'été, Atlanta S.O., Robert Shaw, Telarc.
• Brahms, Lieder, E.A., Rudolf Jansen, Hyperion.
• Fauré, Lieder, Complete Songs (4CD), E.A., Gérard Souzay
  Gérard Souzay
  Gérard Souzay was a French baritone singer, regarded as one of the very finest interpreters of mélodie in the generation after Charles Panzéra and Pierre Bernac.-Background and education:...
  
  , Dalton Baldwin, Brilliant (Joan Records).
• Fauré, Requiem, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Jean Fournet, Philips (Universal).
• Grieg, Peer Gynt, San Francisco S.O., Edo de Waart, Philips (Universal).
• Händel, Messiah, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, Decca.
• Haydn, Orlando Paladino, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Antal Dorati, Philips (Universal).
• Haydn, Lieder, Elly Ameling, Jörg Demus, Brilliant Classics (3-Disc re-issue)
• Mahler, Symphonie Nr.2 & Symphonie Nr.4, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, Philips (Universal).
• Martin, Le mystère de la nativité, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, Cascavelle.
• Martin, Frank Martin interprète Frank Martin, E.A. a.o., Frank Martin, Jecklin Disco.
• Mendelssohn, Elias, Leipziger Gewandhausorchester, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philips (Universal).
• Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Lieder, E.A., Rudolf Jansen, Sony BMG.
• Mozart, Requiem, Wiener Philharmoniker, Istvan Kertesz, Decca.
• Mozart, Schubert, Opern-und Konzertarien, Rotterdam P.O., Edo de Waart, Pentatone.
• The complete Mozart-Edition Vol. 24 (Lieder, Notturni), Philips (Universal).
• Poulenc, Edition du centenaire 1899-1963 (Melodien und Lieder), EMI Classics.
• Ravel, Mélodies-Lieder, Shéhérazade, E.A., Rudolf Jansen, Erato (Warner).
• Schubert, Lieder (4CD), E.A., Dalton Baldwin, Rudolf Jansen, Philips (Universal).
• Schubert, Schumann, Lieder, Elly Ameling, Jörg Demus, DHM (Sony BMG).
• Schubert, Duette-Terzette-Quartette, E.A., Janet Baker, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Schreier, Gerald Moore, Deutsche Grammophon.
• Schumann, Frauenliebe- und Leben, E.A., Dalton Baldwin, Pentatone.
• Vivaldi, Berühmte geistliche Chorwerke, Nulla in mundo pax, English Chamber Orchestra, Vittorio Negri, Philips (Universal).
• Vivaldi, Juditha Triumphans, Kammerorchester Berlin, Vittorio Negri, Philips (Universal).
• Wolf, italienisches Liederbuch, Goethe- und Keller-Lieder, E.A., Tom Krause, Irwin Gage, Rudolf Jansen, GLOBE.
• Wolf, spanisches Liederbuch, E.A., Rudolf Jansen (Piano), Hyperion.

Sources

• Hamilton, David. (1987). The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of Opera. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Simon and Schuster. p. 21. ISBN 0-671-61732-X.
• Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell. (2001).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 462. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.
• Janny de Jong: Elly Ameling, vocaal avontuur. 104 pages, Unieboek/De Gooise Uitgeverij, Bussum (NL) 1978, ISBN 90-269-8404-9.

External links

• Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
• Biography (Bach Cantatas)