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Agnese Schebest, ''née'' ''Agnese Šebesta'', also ''Agnese Schebesta'' (10 February 1813 – 22 December 1869) was an Austrian operatic mezzo-soprano. She lived as a singing teacher in Munich and Stuttgart.


Life and career

Schebest was born in Vienna, the daughter of a Czech-born chief of the Austrian army. She moved to Prague as a child with her parents due to a professional change in her father's assignment. The latter died as a result of an injury while blasting the fortifications of Alessandria as early as 1816. She lived with her mother in Terezin, where she attracted attention as a child at church concerts. At the age of eleven she got singing lessons free of charge with
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 ...
Johann Aloys Miksch and acting lessons with the actress Friederike Vohs in
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
. At the Dresden court opera she sang early as
choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...
ist and comprimaria. Schebest made her opera debut in 1830 as Benjamin in Méhul's ''
Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...
'' at the Dresden court stage. As a result, she got a job there, which enabled her to take care financially of her family. Other roles included Leonore in Beethoven's ''
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, w ...
'', Rebecca in Marschner's '' Der Templer und die Jüdin'', Sesto in Mozart's ''
La clemenza di Tito ' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an ''opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last ...
'' and Alice in Meyerbeer's ''
Robert le diable ''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first grand ...
''. At that time
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, born Wilhelmine Schröder (6 December 180426 January 1860), was a German operatic soprano. As a singer, she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the conc ...
also worked in Dresden and she was deeply impressed by her work. After two years she terminated the Dresden contract, which also obliged her to act, because she feared that voice training could suffer under the speaking roles. After successful guest appearances in Berlin and Leipzig, she accepted an invitation to the stage in Budapest in spring 1832 where she was under contract until 1836. There she had successes as Agathe in Weber's ''
Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 1 ...
'', Emmeline in Joseph Weigl's '' Die Schweizer Familie'', Zerline in Mozart's ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spani ...
'', Desdemona in Rossini's ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play '' Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. ...
'', in the title role of Cherubini's '' Médée'' and especially as Romeo in Bellini's ''
I Capuleti ed i Montecchi ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' (''The Capulets and the Montagues'') is an Italian opera (''Tragedia lirica'') in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for an opera by Nicol ...
''. In 1834 and 1835 she made guest tours to Vienna, Dresden and
Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...
. After the end of her engagement in Budapest, she gave guest performances at the leading German opera houses from 1836 to 1841. At this time she had her residence in Nuremberg. After a stay in Paris she travelled Italy in 1841 with performances in Trieste and Venice. Afterwards she came to Weimar, Schwerin, Warsaw,
Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
, Munich and finally to Karlsruhe in June 1842. She ended her career because she had married the theologian and biographer David Friedrich Strauß. The marriage, which produced two children, was unhappy and ended in divorce after a few years. Schebest died in Stuttgart at age 56.


Publications

* ''Aus dem Leben einer Künstlerin'' Stuttgart: Ebner & Seubert, 1857
Google-Digitalisat
* ''Rede und Geberde. Studien über mündlichen Vortrag und plastischen Ausdruck'' Leipzig: Abel, 1861


Further reading

* Heinrich Ferdinand Mannstein: ''Denkwürdigkeiten der churfürstlichen und königlichen Hofmusik zu Dresden im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert : Nach geheimen Papieren und Mittheilungen. Containing: Life pictures of Johann Aloys Miksch and his pupils: Alphonso Zesi,Alfonso Zesi (17 May 1799 in Milan – 1861 ibid),
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...
-singer among others in Dresden.
Bergmann, Schröder-Devrient, Agnes Schebest, Naumann, Carl Maria v. Weber, Morlacchi,
Benelli Benelli may refer to: * Benelli Armi SpA, an Italian firearm manufacturer *Benelli (motorcycles), an Italian motorcycle manufacturer * HSR-Benelli, an Austrian-Italian manufacturer of personal watercraft * Andrea Benelli (born 1960), Italian sports ...
etc.'' Heinrich Mattes, Leipzig 186
MDZ Reader
* * * Anton Schott and Maximilian Hörberg (ed.): ''Hie Welf! Hie Waibling! - Streitfragen auf dem Gebiete des Gesanges'' (revised new edition of the 1st edition: Berlin 1904), Verlag Maximilian Hörberg, Munich 2008. .


Footnotes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schebest, Agnese Austrian operatic mezzo-sopranos Voice teachers 1813 births 1869 deaths Musicians from Vienna 19th-century Austrian women opera singers