Maria Ivogün
Encyclopedia
Maria Ivogün 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 at the Music Academy in Vienna
with Irene Schlemmer-Ambros, and theatre with Professors Frauscher and Stoll.
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 Kammersänger
in 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. As artists, with their style of singing, the couple excited the press and the public to frenetic storms of enthusiasm.
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.
In 1932 Maria Ivogün was divorced from Karl Erb, and in 1933 she married their pianist-accompanist Michael Raucheisen
.
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 Maria 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. The singer's last resting place was at the side of her second husband, Michael Raucheisen, in the city cemetery of Rain, Switzerland
.
Maria Ivogün worked as the teacher and mentor of many distinguished female singers of opera and entertainment music. Among her students are numbered above all the opera singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
, Rita Streich
, Renate Holm and Helga Kosta; the theatrical singer Gitta Lind, much loved in the 1950s, was her also one of her students.
Queen of the Night
-Botany:* Queen of the night, Nightblooming cereus, several genera and species of cactus* Queen of the night, Cestrum nocturnum, a woody evergreen commonly known as Night-blooming Cestrum-Music:...
(Die Zauberflöte) became legendary.
Biography and artistic career
Maria Ivogün was born Ilse Kempner. Her father was the Austro-Hungarian Colonel Pál Kempner. She created her professional name by contracting the maiden name of her mother, the Austrian operetta singer Ida von Günther. Probably through the second marriage of her mother to a Swiss man, she spent the greater part of her childhood and youth in ZürichZürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. From 1909 (other sources say since 1907) she began to study singing at the Music Academy in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
with Irene Schlemmer-Ambros, and theatre with Professors Frauscher and Stoll.
When the young soprano sang in 1913 at the Vienna Hofoper, she was overlooked. However, the house conductor there, Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
, 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
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
. Three years later, in 1916, she sang the role of Zerbinetta in the re-worked version of Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
in Vienna at the express wish of the composer Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
. 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
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
(Marzelline), Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, 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 Kammersänger
Kammersänger
Kammersänger , abbreviation: "Ks.", literally means "Chamber singer." It is a German honorific title for distinguished singers...
in was bestowed upon her. In the same year she sang the boy-role of Ighino in the original production of Hans Pfitzner
Hans Pfitzner
Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...
's Palestrina
Palestrina (opera)
Palestrina is an opera by the German composer Hans Pfitzner, first performed in 1917. The composer referred to it as a Musikalische Legende , and wrote the libretto himself, based on a legend about the Renaissance musician Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, who saves the art of contrapuntal music ...
opposite the tenor Karl Erb
Karl Erb
Karl Erb was a German tenor vocalist who made his career first in opera and then in oratorio and lieder recital. He excelled in all these genres, and before 1920 gave classic performances of key roles in modern works, and created lead roles in those of Hans Pfitzner...
in the title-role, whom she married in 1921. As artists, with their style of singing, the couple excited the press and the public to frenetic storms of enthusiasm.
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
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
(first performance 28 March 1916) she sang Laura, and in Walter Braunfels
Walter Braunfels
-Life:Walter Braunfels was born in Frankfurt am Main. His first music teacher was his mother, the great-niece of the composer Louis Spohr . He continued his piano studies in Frankfurt at the Hoch Conservatory with James Kwast....
's Die Vögel
Die Vögel (opera)
Die Vögel , Op. 30 is an opera in a prologue and two acts by Walter Braunfels. The libretto, written by the composer, is a free adaptation of Aristophanes' comedy The Birds which was performed at the Dionysos Theatre in Athens in 414 BC....
(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.
In 1932 Maria Ivogün was divorced from Karl Erb, and in 1933 she married their pianist-accompanist Michael Raucheisen
Michael Raucheisen
Translated from German WikipediaMichael Raucheisen was a German pianist and song accompanist....
.
The highly celebrated soprano made countless concert-tours and guest opera appearances both within Germany and beyond. She appeared above all at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
, Covent Garden, London
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, the Chicago Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera New York
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
. 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 Maria 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. The singer's last resting place was at the side of her second husband, Michael Raucheisen, in the city cemetery of Rain, Switzerland
Rain, Switzerland
Rain is a municipality in the district of Hochdorf in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland.-Geography:Rain has an area of . Of this area, 74.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 16.8% is forested. The rest of the land, is settled. , 16.77% of the total land area was forested...
.
Work
The soprano Maria Ivogün is considered today to have been one of the best and most distinguished female opera singers of the twentieth century. In the period between the two world wars she gave very good account of operatic standards in Germany, through the whole of Europe. Very many recorded performances (also with Karl Erb, her first husband) are to be included among her artistic achievements.Maria Ivogün worked as the teacher and mentor of many distinguished female singers of opera and entertainment music. Among her students are numbered above all the opera singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, DBE was a German-born Austrian/British soprano opera singer and recitalist. She was among the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, much admired for her performances of Mozart, Schubert, Strauss, and Wolf.-Early life:Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike...
, Rita Streich
Rita Streich
Rita Streich , was one of the most admired and recorded sopranos of the post-war period.Rita Streich was born in Barnaul in Russia, and moved to Germany with her parents during her childhood. She grew up bilingual, something that was extremely helpful during her later career...
, Renate Holm and Helga Kosta; the theatrical singer Gitta Lind, much loved in the 1950s, was her also one of her students.
Discography (Selected)
- Maria Ivogün - The complete recordings - 17 unpublished items 1916-1919
- Die goldene Stimme - Maria Ivogün
- Ivogün - Prima Voce Nimbus 7832
Sources
- Müller-Gögler, M.: Karl Erb. Das Leben eines Sängers, (Offenburg 1948)
- Kutsch, K. J./Riemens, Leo.: Großes Sängerlexikon, 1st Vol. (Bern/Stuttgart 1987) p. 741