Fritzi Massary (31 March 1882 – 30 January 1969) was an Austrian-American

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 ...

singer and actress.

Early life and career

Fritzi Massary was born Friederike Massaryk in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

on 31 March 1882. She was one of the leading

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

singers in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she performed for the soldiers of the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

in theatres in occupied Belgium.'Das Koniglich Preussische Reserve Infanterie Regiment Nr.15', Major von Forstner (Published 1929), P.272. In 1920, she worked with the composer Oscar Straus, and performed in several of his operettas, including '' Der letzte Walzer.''

Emigration to England and America

Massary was of Jewish familial extraction, and she had converted to the Protestant religion in 1903. In late 1932, she departed Germany due to the rising persecution of the Jewish population by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, shortly before the group seized dictatorial power in a paramilitary revolution and declared the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. Traveling through Austria and Switzerland, she went to London, where she was befriended by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

and starred in his theatrical musical '' Operette'' in 1938. In February 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II engulfed Europe, she moved to Beverly Hills, California.

Later life

Beginning in 1952, she regularly spent summers in Germany. She had been suggested by

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...

for the role of the Queen of Transylvannia in the 1964 musical film ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

'', but she demanded too much pay, and the part went to Bina Rothschild. She continued to reside in Beverly Hills until her death in Los Angeles on 30 January 1969.

Personal life

Massary was married twice, first to an eye doctor Bernhard Pollack. With Karl-Kuno Rollo Graf von Coudenhove (1887–1940), she had her only child, Elisabeth Maria Karl (called Liesl) (1903–1979). Liesl later married the author

Bruno Frank Bruno Frank (June 13, 1887 – June 20, 1945) was a German author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and humanist. Biography Frank was born in Stuttgart. He studied law and philosophy in Munich, where he later worked as a dramatist and novelist ...

. Although Coudenhove was Liesl's father, Massary never was married to him. Massary's second marriage in 1917 was to the Austrian actor

Max Pallenberg Max Pallenberg (born 18 December 1877 in Vienna as ''Max Pollack'' – 26 June 1934 in Karlovy Vary) was an Austrian singer, actor and comedian. Although Pallenberg's career started in 1904 it wasn't until 1909 that he joined Theater an der Wien ...

(1877–1934), who died in a plane crash in Karlsbad in 1934.

Selected filmography

* '' The Tunnel'' (1915) * '' The Rose of Stamboul'' (1919)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Massary, Fritzi 1882 births 1969 deaths Singers from Vienna Jews from Austria-Hungary Emigrants from Austria-Hungary Immigrants to the German Empire Austrian operatic sopranos Jewish opera singers Immigrants to the United States Converts to Protestantism from Judaism 20th-century Austrian women opera singers