Maria Ivogün
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Maria Ivogün (18 November 1891 in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
– 3 October 1987 in Beatenberg, Switzerland) was a distinguished soprano singer of Hungarian origin. She was an especially outstanding interpreter of the works of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
: her recording of the aria of the Queen of the Night (''
Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...
'') 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, an Austrian operetta singer named Ida von Günther. She spent the greater part of her childhood and youth in
Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
. From 1909 (other sources say after 1907) she began to study singing and theatre in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
. When the young soprano sang in 1913 at the
Vienna Hofoper The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
, she was overlooked. However, the house conductor there,
Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...
, 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 Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...
's ''
La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe G ...
''. Three years later, in 1916, she sang the role of Zerbinetta in the re-worked version of ''
Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's ...
'' in Vienna at the express wish of the composer
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
. 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 became 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'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...
'' (Marzelline), '' Così fan tutte'', ''
Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
'' 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 (male) or Kammersängerin (female), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was bestowed by princes or ...
in was bestowed upon her. In the same year she sang the boy-role of Ighino in the original production of
Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the ...
's ''
Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...
'' opposite the tenor
Karl Erb Karl Erb (13 July 1877 – 13 July 1958) was a German tenor 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 c ...
in the title-role, whom she married in 1921. 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 (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...
(first performance 28 March 1916) she sang Laura, and in
Walter Braunfels Walter Braunfels (; 19 December 1882 – 19 March 1954) was a German composer, pianist, and music educator. Life Walter Braunfels was born in Frankfurt. His first music teacher was his mother, the great-niece of the composer Louis Spohr. He c ...
'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, Ivogün divorced Karl Erb, and in 1933 she married their pianist-accompanist
Michael Raucheisen Michael Raucheisen (10 February 1889, Rain, Swabia - 27 May 1984, Beatenberg) was a German pianist and song accompanist. Life and career Music was inherited, for the young Michael. His father, by vocation a master-glazier, was organist, church choi ...
. 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 (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
,
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, the
Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
,
Covent Garden, London 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 si ...
and the
Chicago Opera Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria ...
. 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 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 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, (8.3%) is set ...
.


Work

Today, Maria Ivogün is considered 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 Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...
,
Rita Streich Rita Streich (18 December 192020 March 1987) was one of the most admired and recorded lyric coloratura sopranos of the post-war period. Biography Rita Streich was born in Barnaul, southern Siberia, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Repu ...
, Evelyn Lear,
Renate Holm Renate Holm (10 August 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a German-Austrian film actress and operatic soprano. She worked as a dentists' assistant and took private singing lessons, resulting in performances in musical films and schlager. She made her ...
and Helga Kosta; the theatrical singer
Gitta Lind Gitta Lind (17 April 1925 – 9 November 1974) was a German singer and film actress. Lind was born in Trier as Rita Maria Gracher. During her first employment as a singer she changed her name to Gitta Lind, a tribute to Gitta Alpár and Jenny L ...
, much loved in the 1950s, was her also one of her students.


Selected filmography

*''
The Loves of Casanova ''The Loves of Casanova'' or ''Casanova'' is a 1927 French Historical drama film directed by Alexandre Volkoff and starring Ivan Mozzhukhin, Suzanne Bianchetti and Diana Karenne. The film portrays the life and adventures of Giacomo Casanova ( ...
'' (1927)


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. Karl-Josef Kutsch, also known as K. J. Kutsch, (born 11 May 1924) is a German physician and co-author with Leo Riemens of the ''Großes Sängerlexikon'', the standard reference for opera singers. Life and work Born in Gangelt, Kutsch studied me ...
/
Riemens, Leo Leonardus Antony Marinus Riemens (3 December 1910 – 3 April 1985) was a Dutch musicologist and cultural journalist. He wrote a book about Maria Callas, and together with Karl-Josef Kutsch began a reference book about opera singers in 1962, which ...
: ''
Großes Sängerlexikon ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The first ...
'', 1st Vol. (Bern/Stuttgart 1987) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivogun, Maria 1891 births 1987 deaths Musicians from Budapest German operatic sopranos 20th-century German women opera singers