Marie Wilt
Encyclopedia
Marie Wilt (30 January 1833, Vienna
- 24 September 1891, Vienna) was an Austrian
dramatic coloratura soprano
. Possessing a wide vocal range
with a significant amount of power and flexibility, Wilt sang a wide repertoire that encompassed the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
, the German operas of Richard Wagner
, the grand opera
s of Giuseppe Verdi
, and the bel canto
operas of Bellini
, Rossini, and Donizetti. She sang for many years at the Vienna Hofoper
(now Vienna State Opera) and for a number of seasons at the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden
in London. She notably portrayed the role of Sulamith in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark
's Die Königin von Saba
in 1875. Also a regular performer of the concert repertoire, Wilt often appeared in performances of works by Beethoven, Haydn, and Mendelssohn
.
in 1858 and drew the attention of its director, Johann von Herbeck
, who gave her solos in the oratorio
s and other large works the ensemble performed. Under Herbeck's persuasion and the influence of Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt
she began to study singing with Joseph Gänsbacher.
with Oper Graz in 1865. She repeated the role later that year at the Berlin State Opera
, but had to leave the production in the middle of the opera's run due to carbon monoxide poisoning
. The following year she went to England to join the roster at the Covent Garden where she sang roles for two seasons under the name Maria Vilda. She most notably sang the title role in Bellini
's Norma
while she was in London. She also appeared in Venice
in November 1866.
In 1867 Wilt returned to Austria to join the roster at the Vienna Hofoper where she sang roles for the next decade. Her first role at the opera house was Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore
. She notably portrayed the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni
for the opening of Vienna's new opera house in 1869. She also sang the title role in Verdi's Aida
for the Austrian premiere of that opera in 1874 and portrayed the role of Sulamith in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark
's Die Königin von Saba
in 1875. Her other roles with the company included the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute
, bel canto operas by Donizetti and Bellini, and several Wagner and Verdi heroines among others.
While singing with the Vienna Hofoper, Wilt also traveled periodically throughout Europe to appear as a guest artist in numerous operas and concerts. She was particularly admired for her performances of the soprano solos in Verdi's Requiem
, Beethoven's 9th symphony
, Beethoven's Missa solemnis
, and the concert works of Haydn and Mendelssohn
. She sang in concerts and operas in Frankfurt and Mannheim in 1868, Prague in 1869, and Riga in 1871. In 1873 she sang in concerts at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf
and Aachen
, and in Bonn
for the celebration Robert Schumann
. Wilt returned to Covent Garden in both 1874 and 1875 to appear in several productions with the company, including: Marguerite de Valois in Giacomo Meyerbeer
's Les Huguenots
, the title role in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
, Alice in Donizetti's Robert le diable
, and the title role in Rossini's Semiramide
.
Wilt left the Vienna Hofoper in 1877 and moved to Leipzig. While there she sang the role of Brünnhilde in one of the first complete performances of Richard Wagner
's Der Ring des Nibelungen
(The Ring Cycle) under conductor Anton Seidl
. She joinded the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt in 1880 for their first season, opening their new opera house with the role of Donna Anna. She left Frankfurt in 1882 and spent the next four years singing in Budapest
and Brünn
. She returned to the Vienna Hofoper in 1886 and the following year reprised the role of Donna Elvira at the Salzburg Festival
for the centenary performance of Don Giovanni.
Wilt retired from the operatic stage in 1890 and, now a widow, moved to Graz to live with her daughter, Mrs. Gottinger. She fell in love with a younger man who ended up breaking her heart. The end of the romance threw her into a deep depression and she committed suicide by jumping from the window of the fourth floor of a Viennese Hotel.
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...
- 24 September 1891, Vienna) was an Austrian
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
dramatic coloratura soprano
Coloratura soprano
A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice...
. Possessing a wide vocal range
Vocal range
Vocal range is the measure of the breadth of pitches that a human voice can phonate. Although the study of vocal range has little practical application in terms of speech, it is a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech and language pathology, particularly in relation to the study...
with a significant amount of power and flexibility, Wilt sang a wide repertoire that encompassed the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, the German operas of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, the grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
s of Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
, and the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
operas of Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
, Rossini, and Donizetti. She sang for many years at the Vienna Hofoper
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...
(now Vienna State Opera) and for a number of seasons at the Royal Opera House
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...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
in London. She notably portrayed the role of Sulamith in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark, also known originally as Károly Goldmark and later sometimes as Carl Goldmark; May 18, 1830, Keszthely – January 2, 1915, Vienna) was a Hungarian composer.- Life and career :...
's Die Königin von Saba
Die Königin von Saba
Die Königin von Saba is an opera in four acts by Karl Goldmark. The German libretto by Hermann Salomon Mosenthal, sets a love triangle into the context of the Queen of Sheba's visit to the court of King Solomon, recorded in First Kings...
in 1875. Also a regular performer of the concert repertoire, Wilt often appeared in performances of works by Beethoven, Haydn, and Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn
Mendelson is a Polish/German Jewish family name, meaning "son of Mendel", Mendel being a Yiddish diminutive of the Hebrew given name Menahem, meaning "consoling" or "one who consoles".Mendelssohn is the surname of a number of people:...
.
Early life and education
Born with the name Marie Liebenthaler, Wilt was orphaned as a young child and adopted by a family with the surname Tremier. Beginning in her teenage years, she sang in choirs in Vienna and occasionally appeared as a soloist. She married Franz Wilt, a banker, in 1855 and for the next several years worked as a housewife while still singing in choirs. She joined the Wiener SingakademieWiener Singakademie
As the first mixed choir in Vienna, the Wiener Singakademie was founded in 1858 with the idea to establish a "Singübungsanstalt" . From the beginning, its repertory has been shaped by two major interests: the fostering of the works of the traditional masters, and the inclusion of contemporary works...
in 1858 and drew the attention of its director, Johann von Herbeck
Johann von Herbeck
Johann Ritter von Herbeck was an Austrian musician, born in Vienna, best known for leading the premiere of Franz Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony....
, who gave her solos in the oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
s and other large works the ensemble performed. Under Herbeck's persuasion and the influence of Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt
Désirée Artôt
Désirée Artôt was a Belgian soprano , who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany...
she began to study singing with Joseph Gänsbacher.
Career and later life
Wilt made her professional opera début as Donna Anna in Mozart's Don GiovanniDon Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
with Oper Graz in 1865. She repeated the role later that year at the Berlin State Opera
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...
, but had to leave the production in the middle of the opera's run due to carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...
. The following year she went to England to join the roster at the Covent Garden where she sang roles for two seasons under the name Maria Vilda. She most notably sang the title role in Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
while she was in London. She also appeared in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in November 1866.
In 1867 Wilt returned to Austria to join the roster at the Vienna Hofoper where she sang roles for the next decade. Her first role at the opera house was Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
. She notably portrayed the role of Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
for the opening of Vienna's new opera house in 1869. She also sang the title role in Verdi's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
for the Austrian premiere of that opera in 1874 and portrayed the role of Sulamith in the world premiere of Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark, also known originally as Károly Goldmark and later sometimes as Carl Goldmark; May 18, 1830, Keszthely – January 2, 1915, Vienna) was a Hungarian composer.- Life and career :...
's Die Königin von Saba
Die Königin von Saba
Die Königin von Saba is an opera in four acts by Karl Goldmark. The German libretto by Hermann Salomon Mosenthal, sets a love triangle into the context of the Queen of Sheba's visit to the court of King Solomon, recorded in First Kings...
in 1875. Her other roles with the company included the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, bel canto operas by Donizetti and Bellini, and several Wagner and Verdi heroines among others.
While singing with the Vienna Hofoper, Wilt also traveled periodically throughout Europe to appear as a guest artist in numerous operas and concerts. She was particularly admired for her performances of the soprano solos in Verdi's Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
, Beethoven's 9th symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
, Beethoven's Missa solemnis
Missa Solemnis
Missa Solemnis is Latin for solemn mass, and is a name which has been applied to a number of musical settings of the mass, especially particularly serious or large-scale ones.The following are notable examples:...
, and the concert works of Haydn and Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn
Mendelson is a Polish/German Jewish family name, meaning "son of Mendel", Mendel being a Yiddish diminutive of the Hebrew given name Menahem, meaning "consoling" or "one who consoles".Mendelssohn is the surname of a number of people:...
. She sang in concerts and operas in Frankfurt and Mannheim in 1868, Prague in 1869, and Riga in 1871. In 1873 she sang in concerts at the Lower Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
and Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, and in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
for the celebration Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
. Wilt returned to Covent Garden in both 1874 and 1875 to appear in several productions with the company, including: Marguerite de Valois in Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
's Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
, the title role in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia [luˈkrɛtsia ˈbɔrʤa] was the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI, and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia...
, Alice in Donizetti's Robert le diable
Robert le diable
Robert le diable may refer to:* Robert le diable by Giacomo Meyerbeer* Robert the Devil, a medieval legend...
, and the title role in Rossini's Semiramide
Semiramide
Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon...
.
Wilt left the Vienna Hofoper in 1877 and moved to Leipzig. While there she sang the role of Brünnhilde in one of the first complete performances of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
(The Ring Cycle) under conductor Anton Seidl
Anton Seidl
Anton Seidl was a Hungarian conductor.-Biography:He was born at Pest, Hungary. He began the study of music at a very early age, and when only seven years old could pick out at the piano melodies which he had heard at the theatre...
. She joinded the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt in 1880 for their first season, opening their new opera house with the role of Donna Anna. She left Frankfurt in 1882 and spent the next four years singing in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and Brünn
Brunn
Brunn or Brünn may refer to:Places* Brünn, the German form of the Czech city Brno* Brunn, Upper Palatinate, a town in Bavaria, Germany* Brunn, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a municipality in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany...
. She returned to the Vienna Hofoper in 1886 and the following year reprised the role of Donna Elvira at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
for the centenary performance of Don Giovanni.
Wilt retired from the operatic stage in 1890 and, now a widow, moved to Graz to live with her daughter, Mrs. Gottinger. She fell in love with a younger man who ended up breaking her heart. The end of the romance threw her into a deep depression and she committed suicide by jumping from the window of the fourth floor of a Viennese Hotel.