Marta Eggerth
Encyclopedia
Marta Eggerth is a singer/actress from "The Silver Age of Operetta". Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár
, Fritz Kreisler
, Robert Stolz
, Oscar Straus
, and Paul Abraham
, composed works especially for her. Eggerth, who debuted in her early teens and remains active into her late 90s, has enjoyed a celebrated stage and film career.
, and Johann Strauss II
. While still a teenager, Marta Eggerth embarked on a tour of Denmark, Holland and Sweden before arriving in Vienna at the invitation of Emmerich Kalman
. Kalman invited her to Vienna to understudy Adele Kern, the famous coloratura of the Vienna State Opera
, in his operetta Das Veilchen von Montmarte (The Violet of Montmarte), eventually taking over the title role to great critical acclaim after Miss Kern suddenly became indisposed. Following, Marta performed the role of Adele in Max Reinhart's famous 1929 Hamburg production of Die Fledermaus
at the age of 17, perhaps the yougest singer ever to undertake the part.
-- Es war einmal ein Walzer (1932) and Die ganze Welt dreht sich um Liebe (Vienna 1935). It was on the set of the 1934 film Mein Herz ruft nach dir (My Heart is Calling You) that she met and fell in love with the young Polish tenor, Jan Kiepura
. They were married in 1936 and together became known as Europe's Liebespaar (Love Pair) causing a sensation wherever they appeared.
On February 10, 1938, Jan Kiepura made his debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera
, singing the role of Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème
. He went on to sing leading roles in Tosca
, Rigoletto
, Carmen
,
Manon
, and Aida
, as well as performing up to 80 concerts a year throughout the United States and Canada. While Jan Kiepura toured the United States, Eggerth was signed by the Schubert Theater on Broadway to appear in Richard Rodgers
' musical Higher and Higher
. She subsequently signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
in Hollywood, and during the early 1940s, made two movies with Judy Garland
— For Me and My Gal
in 1942 (also Gene Kelly
's first major film role) and Presenting Lily Mars
in 1943.
In Chicago, Eggerth and Kiepura performed together on the operatic stage in La Bohème to rave reviews. In 1943, they starred together on Broadway at the Majestic Theater in a revised production of Lehár's The Merry Widow
, with Robert Stolz
conducting and George Balanchine
as choreographer. They would eventually perform The Merry Widow more than 200 times, in five languages throughout Europe and America. After World War II, they returned to France touring and Making films, such as La Valse Brilliante (1948) and The Land of Smiles
(1952), before bringing The Merry Widow to London's Palace Theatre
in 1954.
Throughout her career Eggerth maintained active recital tours throughout Europe, Canada and the United States, combining her extensive repertoire of lieder, opera, film songs, and especially Viennese operetta. Kiepura's equally active recital schedule often meant that the couple would be temporarily separated. But the couple's international tours often brought them together in the same city, where they would perform to delighted crowds. In London, they gave two sold out concerts in one week at the Royal Albert Hall
in 1956. The couple continued singing throughout the 1950s and 1960s with more productions of The Merry Widow in the United States, concerts and other productions in Europe. In 1965 they brought back The Merry Widow back to Berlin for yet another successful run.
Jan Kiepura died prematurely in 1966. Eggerth stopped singing at this time for several years. Finally, persuaded by her mother, she decided to revive her career. In the 1970s she began to make regular television appearances, and to actively perform concerts in Europe. In 1984, she reurned to the American Stage to co-star in the Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical Colette opposite Diana Rigg
in Seattle and Denver, and later in Stephen Sondheim
's Follies in Pittsburgh.
In 1999, at the age of 87, she sang on the stage of the Vienna State Opera
in a special televised matinee concert hosted by the late opera impresario and historian Professor Marcel Prawy
, to mark that opera house's first production of Lehár's The Merry Widow. She sang a medley from the operetta in four languages and received a spontaneous standing ovation. She repeated this medley in 2000, at a gala to mark the 200th anniversary of Vienna's Theater an der Wien.
In 2001, Eggerth returned to London for An Interview-in-Concert at Wigmore Hall
, hosted by British author and critic, Brendon Carroll. She also sang at the annual Licia Albanese
/Puccini Foundation Concerts at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall
to much fanfare. She was seen in Austria on a popular television detective series, Tatort, playing the role of an ageing diva suspected in a murder case. Highlights in 2006-2007 have included two concerts with interviews at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
; sold out shows at the Cafe Sabarsky in Neue Galarie entertaining audiences with her great pre-war Viennese/Berlin cabaret style of wit, artistry and song; a concert and discussion held as part of New York University
's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
; an appearance at the Austrian Cultural Forum as part of their 'Mostly Operetta' series; operetta master classes at Manhattan School of Music
in New York City; as well as an appearance at JASA (Jewish Association for Services for the Aged.)
Life Achievement Award for her legendary achievements.
Eggerth is a whirlwind advocate
for operetta
, a lighter and more playful form of opera. "In opera, everybody dies. In operetta, everybody is flirtatious", says Eggerth of the art form that peaked in the 1940s, but which has always been her signature calling.
In 2003, Patria Music released a retrospective double CD of her songs entitled My Life My Song.
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
, Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
, Robert Stolz
Robert Stolz
Robert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.- Biography :...
, Oscar Straus
Oscar Straus
Oscar Straus may refer to:*Oscar Straus , Viennese composer of operettas*Oscar Straus , United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor from 1906 to 1909...
, and Paul Abraham
Paul Abraham
Paul Abraham was a composer of operettas.Abraham studied at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest from 1910 to 1916...
, composed works especially for her. Eggerth, who debuted in her early teens and remains active into her late 90s, has enjoyed a celebrated stage and film career.
Early life
Eggerth began singing during her early childhood. Her mother, a dramatic coloratura soprano, dedicated herself to her daughter, who was called a "Wunderkind" at the age of 11 making her theatrical debut in the operetta Mannequins. It was during this time and the years that followed that Marta began singing the most demanding coloratura repertoire by composers including Rossini, Meyerbeer, OffenbachJacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
, and Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
. While still a teenager, Marta Eggerth embarked on a tour of Denmark, Holland and Sweden before arriving in Vienna at the invitation of Emmerich Kalman
Emmerich Kalman
Emmerich Kálmán was a Hungarian-born composer of operettas.- Biography :Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, Hungary in a Jewish family.Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition...
. Kalman invited her to Vienna to understudy Adele Kern, the famous coloratura of 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...
, in his operetta Das Veilchen von Montmarte (The Violet of Montmarte), eventually taking over the title role to great critical acclaim after Miss Kern suddenly became indisposed. Following, Marta performed the role of Adele in Max Reinhart's famous 1929 Hamburg production of Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
at the age of 17, perhaps the yougest singer ever to undertake the part.
Career
During the early 1930s, Marta Eggerth was discovered by the film industry, and her career took off resulting in international fame. She made more than 40 films in four languages — English, German, French and Italian. Among the highlights were, Where is this Lady (1932); Ein lied, ein Kuss, Ein Madel (Berlin 1932); Die Czardasfurstin (1934); Die Blonde Carmen (Berlin 1935); Casta Diva, the story of Bellini (Rome 1935); Das Hofkonzert (1936); Zauber der Boheme, with Jan Kiepura (Vienna 1936); as well as two films written especially for her by Franz LehárFranz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
-- Es war einmal ein Walzer (1932) and Die ganze Welt dreht sich um Liebe (Vienna 1935). It was on the set of the 1934 film Mein Herz ruft nach dir (My Heart is Calling You) that she met and fell in love with the young Polish tenor, Jan Kiepura
Jan Kiepura
Jan Wiktor Kiepura was an acclaimed Polish singer and actor.-Biography:...
. They were married in 1936 and together became known as Europe's Liebespaar (Love Pair) causing a sensation wherever they appeared.
On February 10, 1938, Jan Kiepura made his debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera
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...
, singing the role of Rodolfo 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...
. He went on to sing leading roles in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
,
Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, and 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...
, as well as performing up to 80 concerts a year throughout the United States and Canada. While Jan Kiepura toured the United States, Eggerth was signed by the Schubert Theater on Broadway to appear in Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
' musical Higher and Higher
Higher and Higher
Higher and Higher may refer to:* Higher and Higher , a 1940 Broadway musical* Higher and Higher , a 1943 film adaptation of the musical* "Higher and Higher" , a 1969 song by The Moody Blues...
. She subsequently signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
in Hollywood, and during the early 1940s, made two movies with Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
— For Me and My Gal
For Me and My Gal (film)
For Me and My Gal is a 1942 American musical film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring Judy Garland, Gene Kelly – in his screen debut – and George Murphy, and featuring Martha Eggerth and Ben Blue. The film was written by Richard Sherman, Fred F...
in 1942 (also Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
's first major film role) and Presenting Lily Mars
Presenting Lily Mars
Presenting Lily Mars is an American musical motion picture produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and released in 1943. The film starred Judy Garland and Van Heflin and was based on the novel by Booth Tarkington...
in 1943.
In Chicago, Eggerth and Kiepura performed together on the operatic stage in La Bohème to rave reviews. In 1943, they starred together on Broadway at the Majestic Theater in a revised production of Lehár's The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, with Robert Stolz
Robert Stolz
Robert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.- Biography :...
conducting and George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
as choreographer. They would eventually perform The Merry Widow more than 200 times, in five languages throughout Europe and America. After World War II, they returned to France touring and Making films, such as La Valse Brilliante (1948) and The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner. The performance time is about 100 minutes....
(1952), before bringing The Merry Widow to London's Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
in 1954.
Throughout her career Eggerth maintained active recital tours throughout Europe, Canada and the United States, combining her extensive repertoire of lieder, opera, film songs, and especially Viennese operetta. Kiepura's equally active recital schedule often meant that the couple would be temporarily separated. But the couple's international tours often brought them together in the same city, where they would perform to delighted crowds. In London, they gave two sold out concerts in one week at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in 1956. The couple continued singing throughout the 1950s and 1960s with more productions of The Merry Widow in the United States, concerts and other productions in Europe. In 1965 they brought back The Merry Widow back to Berlin for yet another successful run.
Jan Kiepura died prematurely in 1966. Eggerth stopped singing at this time for several years. Finally, persuaded by her mother, she decided to revive her career. In the 1970s she began to make regular television appearances, and to actively perform concerts in Europe. In 1984, she reurned to the American Stage to co-star in the Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical Colette opposite Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
in Seattle and Denver, and later in Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Follies in Pittsburgh.
In 1999, at the age of 87, she sang on the stage of 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...
in a special televised matinee concert hosted by the late opera impresario and historian Professor Marcel Prawy
Marcel Prawy
Marcel Horace Frydmann, Ritter von Prawy was an Austrian dramaturg, opera connoisseur and opera critic.Prawy was born into a Jewish Austro-Hungarian noble family....
, to mark that opera house's first production of Lehár's The Merry Widow. She sang a medley from the operetta in four languages and received a spontaneous standing ovation. She repeated this medley in 2000, at a gala to mark the 200th anniversary of Vienna's Theater an der Wien.
In 2001, Eggerth returned to London for An Interview-in-Concert at Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, hosted by British author and critic, Brendon Carroll. She also sang at the annual Licia Albanese
Licia Albanese
Licia Albanese is an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966...
/Puccini Foundation Concerts at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
to much fanfare. She was seen in Austria on a popular television detective series, Tatort, playing the role of an ageing diva suspected in a murder case. Highlights in 2006-2007 have included two concerts with interviews at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
; sold out shows at the Cafe Sabarsky in Neue Galarie entertaining audiences with her great pre-war Viennese/Berlin cabaret style of wit, artistry and song; a concert and discussion held as part of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes
Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes offer noncredit courses with no assignments or grades to “seasoned” adults over age 50. Since 2001 philanthropist Bernard Osher has made grants from his foundation to launch OLLI programs at over 120 universities and colleges in 49 states and the District of...
; an appearance at the Austrian Cultural Forum as part of their 'Mostly Operetta' series; operetta master classes at Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
in New York City; as well as an appearance at JASA (Jewish Association for Services for the Aged.)
Awards
Eggerth has been awarded many major artistic decorations from Austria, Germany, Poland, and Italy in recognition of her accomplishments in operetta, theater and film. Her latest recognition include The Knights Cross of the Order of the Merit of the Republic of Hungary, her native land's highest honor, and the Erwin PiscatorErwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
Life Achievement Award for her legendary achievements.
Eggerth is a whirlwind advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
for operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, a lighter and more playful form of opera. "In opera, everybody dies. In operetta, everybody is flirtatious", says Eggerth of the art form that peaked in the 1940s, but which has always been her signature calling.
In 2003, Patria Music released a retrospective double CD of her songs entitled My Life My Song.
Personal life
Marta Eggerth was married to the well-known Polish tenor Jan Kiepura and they had two sons, Jan and Marjan, now a concert pianist in New Hampshire. He is married to Jane Knox-Kiepura, who helps run his company Patria Music.Films
- Csak egy kislány van a világon (1930)
- Die Bräutigamswitwe (1931)
- Let's Love and Laugh (1931)
- Trara um Liebe (1931)
- Der Draufgänger (1931)
- Eine Nacht im Grandhotel (1931)
- Moderne Mitgift (1932)
- Where Is This Lady? (1932)
- Der Frauendiplomat (1932)
- Ein Lied, ein Kuß, ein Mädel (1932)
- Es war einmal ein Walzer (1932)
- Traum von Schönbrunn (1932)
- Das Blaue vom Himmel (1932)
- Kaiserwalzer (1933)
- Die Blume von Hawaii (1933)
- Leise flehen meine Lieder (1933)
- Der Zarewitsch (1933)
- Mein Herz ruft nach dir (1934)
- Die Czardasfürstin (1934)
- Unfinished Symphony (1934)
- Mon coeur t'appelleMon coeur t'appelleMon coeur t'appelle is a 1934 French musical film directed by Carmine Gallone and Serge Véber, written by Ernst Marischka, produced by Arnold Pressburger. The film stars Jan Kiepura, Danielle Darrieux and Lucien Baroux. The music score is by Robert Stolz...
(1934) - Ihr größter Erfolg (1934)
- The Divine SparkThe Divine SparkThe Divine Spark is a 1935 British musical film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Marta Eggerth, Phillip Holmes, Benita Hume and Donald Calthrop...
(1935) - Die Blonde Carmen (1935)
- Casta diva (1935)
- Die Ganze Welt dreht sich um Liebe (1935)
- La Chanson du souvenir (1936)
- Das Schloß in Flandern (1936)
- Wo die Lerche singt (1936)
- Das Hofkonzert (1936)
- Zauber der Boheme (1937)
- Immer wenn ich glücklich bin..! (1938)
- For Me and My Gal (1942)
- Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
- Addio Mimí! (1947)
- Valse brillante (1949)
- Das Land des Lächelns (1952)
- Frühling in Berlin (1957)
External links
- Marta Eggerth on Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Photographs and literature
- Marta Eggerth on PatriaMusic
- "Heard for Eight Decades, Her Voice Doesn't Waver" in New York Times
- WNYC "Evening Music" segment