Her family was of Polish descent. She studied
singing under Julius Hey in Berlin and with
Désirée Artôt de Padilla in Paris Berlin Brno Hamburg Dresden Covent Garden , where she sang the role of Urbain in ‘’Gli
Ugonotti’’ by G. Meyerbeer. Till 1897 she worked constantly at this opera house,
where she also guested again in 1901, 1905 and 1907. In 1894 she took part in
an USA New York St. Petersburg Paris
in the French première of "Götterdämmerung".
This role she repeated later also at the Paris Grand Opéra. In 1902 she made
guest appearance at the Teatro Alla Scala as Amneris in ‘’Aida’’. In 1903 she
sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels .
Till 1910 she guested primarily at the famous German opera houses and sang also
at the Grand Opéra and at the Opéra-Comique in Paris . In the 1910-1911 season she was engaged by the Chicago
Opera, later she sang at the Boston Opera and made guest performances and
concerts in Europe like in North America . Then
she sat down in Chicago
as a pedagogue. Her nephew Walter Olitzki (1899-1949) had a successful career as
baritone and sang among other things in the 1939-1947 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York .
Chronology of some appearances
Ein Hirtenknabe 12/28/1899 (in
Filadelfia)Siébel 2/1/191900, Wellgunde 2/6/191900, Schwertleite 2/8/191900,
Zweite Norn 2/15/191900, Floßhilde 2/15/191900, Ein Hirtenknabe 12/27/191900,
Fricka 1/10/191901, Waltraute 1/10/191901, Wellgunde 1/24/191901, Grimgerde
1/29/191901, Floßhilde 2/5/191901, Ein Hirtenknabe 2/14/191901, La cieca
12/30/1907, Azucena 1/1/1908 (Filadelfia)
RECORDINGS FOR SALE
G&T, London 1901-06
Morgenhymne (Henschel) 43766
Ich liebe dich (Grieg) 43776 3994h
Edison 2-min cylinders, Berlin 1907?
Trovatore (Verdi): Lodernde Flammen 15861
Columbia, New York 1911-09
Prophète (Meyerbeer): Ah! mon fils A5340 30838
Columbia, New York 1911-09-18
Tannhäuser (Wagner): Frau Holda kam aus dem Berg hervor 30849 A5340
The Historic Record Society
Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti): Brindisi HRS 1032-A
Rosa Olitzka was a cousin of my maternal grandfather (born Shimon Chaim Kovarsky of Vilna, later Rabbi Herman Simon of St. Paul, MN). Rosa turned out to be living only a couple of blocks away from my mother, my brother, and me in Chicago in the 1940's, when she was in her 70's, quite thin and diabetic but with a great deal of spirit. She had by then lost her husband, Boris Sinai (a shipbuilder) and had recently retired from teaching. She was happy to be found by us and enjoyed coming to the house for my mother's duck dinners, during which she made many amazing toasts over burgundy wine and entertained us with stories of "the old days." When we moved to Texas in 1946, we saw no more of Rosa but learned she died in Chicago in 1949 and is buried there. She actually left my mother some table linens. Her niece was Geraldine Brooks, an actress. I have never known whether Rosa Olitzka was related to my grandfather through maternal or paternal uncles or aunts. I only know that Rosa and my grandfather were cousins.
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