Sena Jurinac
Encyclopedia
Sena Jurinac ([juˈrinats] (24 October 192122 November 2011) was a Bosnian Croat/Austrian
operatic soprano
.
Born in Travnik
, Bosnia-Herzegovina, she studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music, and also with Milka Kostrenčić (whose other well-known pupil was Zinka Milanov
).
Jurinac's dark, forceful voice was pitched exactly between soprano and mezzo. Her repertoire included Butterfly, Elisabetta (Don Carlos
), Desdemona (Otello), Elisabeth (Tannhäuser
), Ilia, Iphigenia, Jenůfa, Leonora (La forza del destino
), the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos
), Marie (Wozzeck
), Pamina (The Magic Flute
), Poppea, and Tosca. In many operas her repertoire included more than one major role: Cherubino and Countess Almaviva, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, Amor and Eurydice, Leonore and Marzelline (Fidelio
), Marina and Fyodor (Boris Godunov
), Octavian and occasionally Sophie and finally the Marschallin. She also played supporting roles in The Ring of the Nibelung
: Woglinde, Gutrune, and several of the Norns.
Sena Jurinac made her début as Mimi at Zagreb in 1942. In the following two years she sang the Countess, Freia, and Isabella in the première of Werner Egk
's Columbus. In 1943 she received a scholarship to attend Anna von Mildenburg's summer course at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1944 she was engaged by the Vienna State Opera
. It was at the opera she got her nickname "Sena". Karl Böhm
's secretary suggested the name, because she feared the pronunciation of "Srebrenka" would cause difficulties for the Austrians. Because of the war and the consequential closing of the opera three days after her arrival she was not able to sing at the Vienna State Opera until 1946, when her first role was Cherubino. In the first year at the Staatsoper, she sang more than 150 performances. She remained associated with the company for nearly forty years, receiving an honorary membership of the company, giving her the title of Kammersängerin, and the Mozart Medal.
In the autumn of 1946, she appeared at Covent Garden
with the Vienna company, singing Dorabella. Her Salzburg Festival
début was in 1947. She appeared at La Scala
as Cherubino. She became established as one of the Wiener Ensemble (together with Irmgard Seefried
, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
, Christa Ludwig
, Lisa Della Casa
, Anton Dermota
and others). In 1951, she made the first recording of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs
, after Kirsten Flagstad
had sung the world premiere in London .
She became a frequent visitor to England: between 1951 and 1956 she sang the principal Mozart soprano roles at Glyndebourne, recording both the Countess in Figaro
and Ilia in Idomeneo
. She appeared regularly at Covent Garden between 1959 and 1963, singing Leonore in Fidelio
in Klemperer's
production of the opera in 1961. Her American début was in the title role of Madama Butterfly
in San Francisco in 1959.
Her portrayal of Octavian is preserved in the Paul Czinner
film of Der Rosenkavalier
, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
, with Schwarzkopf as the Marschallin. She portrays Marie in a film of Wozzeck
.
Sena Jurinac's final operatic performance was as the Marschallin at the Vienna State Opera in November 1982. She continued to give recitals and master classes, and served on the juries of international singing competitions. Along Croatian opera singer Tomislav Neralić, she was the last surviving member from the first Croatian sound movie "Lisinski
".
She died on November 22, 2011 in her home near Augsburg
, Germany
.
She was married to Sesto Bruscantini
for three years from 1953-6. In 1965 she married Josef Lederle.
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...
operatic 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...
.
Born in Travnik
Travnik
Travnik is a city and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90 km west of Sarajevo. It is the capital of the Central Bosnia Canton, and is located in the Travnik Municipality. Travnik today has some 27,000 residents, with a metro population that is probably close to 70,000 people...
, Bosnia-Herzegovina, she studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music, and also with Milka Kostrenčić (whose other well-known pupil was Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centred on the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...
).
Jurinac's dark, forceful voice was pitched exactly between soprano and mezzo. Her repertoire included Butterfly, Elisabetta (Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
), Desdemona (Otello), Elisabeth (Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
), Ilia, Iphigenia, Jenůfa, Leonora (La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
), the Composer (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...
), Marie (Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
), Pamina (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....
), Poppea, and Tosca. In many operas her repertoire included more than one major role: Cherubino and Countess Almaviva, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, Amor and Eurydice, Leonore and Marzelline (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...
), Marina and Fyodor (Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
), Octavian and occasionally Sophie and finally the Marschallin. She also played supporting roles in The Ring of the Nibelung
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...
: Woglinde, Gutrune, and several of the Norns.
Sena Jurinac made her début as Mimi at Zagreb in 1942. In the following two years she sang the Countess, Freia, and Isabella in the première of Werner Egk
Werner Egk
Werner Egk , born Werner Joseph Mayer, was a German composer.-Early career:He was born in the Swabian town of Auchsesheim, today part of Donauwörth, Germany. His family, of Catholic peasant stock, moved to Augsburg when Egk was six. He studied at a Benedictine Gymnasium and entered the municipal...
's Columbus. In 1943 she received a scholarship to attend Anna von Mildenburg's summer course at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1944 she was engaged by 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...
. It was at the opera she got her nickname "Sena". Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
's secretary suggested the name, because she feared the pronunciation of "Srebrenka" would cause difficulties for the Austrians. Because of the war and the consequential closing of the opera three days after her arrival she was not able to sing at the Vienna State Opera until 1946, when her first role was Cherubino. In the first year at the Staatsoper, she sang more than 150 performances. She remained associated with the company for nearly forty years, receiving an honorary membership of the company, giving her the title of Kammersängerin, and the Mozart Medal.
In the autumn of 1946, she appeared at Covent Garden
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
with the Vienna company, singing Dorabella. Her 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...
début was in 1947. She appeared 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...
as Cherubino. She became established as one of the Wiener Ensemble (together with Irmgard Seefried
Irmgard Seefried
Irmgard Seefried was a distinguished German soprano who sang opera and lieder.Maria Theresia Irmgard Seefried was born in Köngetried, near Mindelheim, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of educated Austrian-born parents. She studied at Augsburg University before making her debut in Aachen as the...
, 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...
, Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...
, Lisa Della Casa
Lisa Della Casa
Lisa Della Casa is a Swiss soprano most admired for her interpretations of major heroines in major operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss, of German lieder, and for her great beauty. She was dubbed “the most beautiful woman on the operatic stage”...
, Anton Dermota
Anton Dermota
Kammersänger Anton Dermota was a Slovene tenor.He was born in a poor family Born in the Upper Carniolan village of Kropa, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire . He went to the Ljubljana Conservatory with the intention of studying composition and organ, but in 1934 he received a scholarship...
and others). In 1951, she made the first recording of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs
Four Last Songs
The Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra were the final completed works of Richard Strauss, composed in 1948 when the composer was 84. Strauss did not live to hear the premiere, given at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 22 May 1950 by the soprano Kirsten Flagstad accompanied by the...
, after Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...
had sung the world premiere in London .
She became a frequent visitor to England: between 1951 and 1956 she sang the principal Mozart soprano roles at Glyndebourne, recording both the Countess in Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and Ilia in 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...
. She appeared regularly at Covent Garden between 1959 and 1963, singing Leonore in 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...
in Klemperer's
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
production of the opera in 1961. Her American début was in the title role of Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
in San Francisco in 1959.
Her portrayal of Octavian is preserved in the Paul Czinner
Paul Czinner
Paul Czinner was a writer, film director, and producer.Czinner was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. After studying literature and philosophy at the University of Vienna, he worked as a journalist. From 1919 onward, he dedicated himself to work for the filming industry as writer, director and...
film of Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
, with Schwarzkopf as the Marschallin. She portrays Marie in a film of Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
.
Sena Jurinac's final operatic performance was as the Marschallin at the Vienna State Opera in November 1982. She continued to give recitals and master classes, and served on the juries of international singing competitions. Along Croatian opera singer Tomislav Neralić, she was the last surviving member from the first Croatian sound movie "Lisinski
Lisinski (film)
Lisinski is a 1944 film directed by Oktavijan Miletić about the life of Croatian composer Vatroslav Lisinski. Music for the film was recorded by Boris Papandopulo....
".
She died on November 22, 2011 in her home near Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
She was married to Sesto Bruscantini
Sesto Bruscantini
Sesto Bruscantini was an Italian baritone, one of the greatest buffo singers of the post-war era, especially renowned in Mozart and Rossini....
for three years from 1953-6. In 1965 she married Josef Lederle.