Delia Reinhardt (27 April 1892 – 6 October 1974) was a German operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Early life and education

Born in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

, Reinhardt was a student of

Ludwig Strakosch Ludwig Strakosch (1 November 1855 – 14 October 1919) was an Austrian operatic baritone. Life Born in Brünn, Strakosch, son of a sugar manufacturer, first took singing lessons with Therese Stolz in Berlin and Louise Reß in Vienna. He then ma ...

and his wife Hedwig Schako at the

Hoch Conservatory Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for ...

in Frankfurt.

Career

She made her debut in Breslau in 1913 as a "messenger of peace" in ''

Rienzi ' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an 1842 opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi' ...

'' and stayed there until 1916. From 1916 to 1922/1923 she was at the

Bavarian State Opera The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under El ...

at the invitation of

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...

. From 1922/1923 she was then at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York. There, she made her debut as "Sieglinde" in the ''Walküre'' and appeared in a total of ten great roles, among others as "Elisabeth" in ''Tannhäuser'', as "Agathe", as "Butterfly", as "Fiordiligi" and as "Sitâ" in Massenet's ''

Le roi de Lahore ''Le roi de Lahore'' ("The king of Lahore") is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 27 April 1877 in costumes designed by Eugène Lacoste and sett ...

''. She also sang the part of Elsa in ''Lohengrin'' with the Metropolitan Opera at the

Philadelphia Academy of Music The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at 240 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Despite its name, the Academy has never contained a music school. It is located be ...

in 1923. "Mme. Reinhardt, who has the advantage of a pleasing presence, is endowed with a beautiful soprano voice, which she uses with taste and skill and feeling," commented ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' review of that performance, adding "she is also an extremely capable actress." Returning to Europe, she was a member of the ensemble of the

Berlin State Opera The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of P ...

from 1924 to 1935. In 1929, she was the "Pamina" in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'' in the opening performance of the Staatsoper, which was reopened after a renovation, in the presence of the Reich President

Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German military and political leader who led the Imperial German Army during the First World War and later became President of Germany (1919� ...

. Guest performances took her to the London

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 sit ...

(1924–29), to the opera houses of Copenhagen, Budapest, Amsterdam and Brussels, to Italian and Spanish theatres, to the

Städtische Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after National Theatre (Munich), Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State ...

. In 1931 she had a guest performance at the

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón () is a historic opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acoustics expert Leo Beranek among leadin ...

in Buenos Aires in Wagner roles. For political reasons she could not perform in Germany after 1937. She lived in Berlin until the end of the Second World War, but lost her entire house there in a bombing raid and then went to Bavaria. Bruno Walter invited her to move her residence to

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. She sang at the

Wilshire Ebell Theatre The Ebell of Los Angeles is a women-led and women-centered nonprofit housed in a historic campus in the Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, California, Mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles, California. It includes numerous performance spaces, meeting rooms ...

in Los Angeles in 1949, assisted by Walter. In 1950, she and Walter presented works by Mahler, Handel, Schubert and Wagner in

Ojai Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...

. After Walter's death in 1962, she moved to

Dornach : ''Dornach is also a quarter of the French city of Mulhouse and the Scots name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands, and Dòrnach is the Gaelic name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands.'' Dornach (Swiss German: ''Dornech'') is a municipalit ...

in Switzerland. After she had ended her career as a singer, she worked as an artist.

Personal life

Reinhardt was first married to the

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

Gustav Schützendorf (1883–1937). Her second husband was conductor

Georges Sébastian Georges Sébastian (August 17, 1903 – April 12, 1989) was a French conductor (music), conductor of Hungarian birth, particularly associated with Wagner and the post-romantic repertory (Bruckner, Mahler, Richard Strauss). He was born in Budapest a ...

. Reinhardt died in

Arlesheim Arlesheim is a town and a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. Its cathedral chapter seat, bishop's residence and cathedral (1681 / 1761) are listed as a heritage site of national significance ...

near Basel at the age of 82.

References

Literature

* K. J. Kutsch,

Leo Riemens 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, whic ...

: ''

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 fi ...

.'' Unchanged edition. K. G. Saur, Bern, 1993, second volume M–Z, p. 243;f., .

External links

*
Reinhardt (Schützendorf), Delia
on BMLO
Reinhardt Delia
on OPERISSIMO {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Delia 1892 births 1974 deaths People from Elberfeld German operatic sopranos Immigrants to Switzerland German emigrants to the United States 20th-century German women opera singers 20th-century German painters Musicians from Wuppertal 20th-century German women painters