SWEDISH SOPRANO LILLY HAFGREN-WAAG (1884-1965) CDR

 

LILLY HAFGREN-WAAG (STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, 7 OCTOBER, 1884 – BERLIN, GERMANY, 27 FEBRUARY, 1965)

 

Born on 7 October 1884, Lilly Johanna Maria Hafgren was the second child of the theatre director Johan Erik Hafgran (1834–1913) and his wife Maria née Malmgren (1859–1913), a concert singer. Her brother, Lill-Erik Hafgren (1881-1959), was a composer, conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue. Initially aspiring to become a pianist, she shifted her focus to singing upon the advice of Siegfried Wagner. She began her vocal studies at the conservatory in Frankfurt am Main in 1898 and later studied with Max Fleisch in Stuttgart. After further training in Milan, she perfected her vocal technique.

Her operatic debut came in 1908 at the Bayreuth Festival, where she performed as Freia in Wagner’s Das Rheingold. From 1908 to 1910, she sang at the Hoftheater in Mannheim. Between 1912 and 1920, she was a principal artist at the Hofoper in Berlin. During her tenure there, she participated in several significant premieres, including singing Elisabetta in the belated Berlin premiere of Verdi’s Don Carlo (1913) and originating roles in Richard Strauss’s operas: the title role in the first version of Ariadne auf Naxos (1913) and the role of the Nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten (1920). She also performed in the revised version of Ariadne auf Naxos in 1916.

Her guest appearances included performances at major European venues such as La Scala in Milan, the Grand Opéra in Paris, the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, and stages in Stockholm (1926), Madrid, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Prague. In 1912, she appeared at the Frankfurt Opera, singing Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

At Bayreuth, she earned acclaim for her portrayals of Freia (Das Rheingold, 1908), Elsa (Lohengrin, 1909), and Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, 1911-1912, 1924).

From 1933 to 1935, she was engaged by the Staatsoper in Dresden. Throughout her career, she maintained her residence in Berlin.

Hafgren was married twice, first in 1905 to the architect and theatre director Hans Waag with a divorce in 1919. From 1919, for the remainder of her life she was married to the art dealer Georg Dinkela from Berlin.

Lilly Hafgren died in Berlin on 27 February 1965, aged 81.

Chronology of some appearances

1908 Bayreuth Festival

1908-1910 Mannheim Hofheater

1912 Frankfurt a. M. Opera

1912-1920 Berlin Hofoper

1926 Stockholm Royal Opera

1933-1935 Dresden Staatsoper

TRACKLIST

Odeon, Berlin 1910?

Africaine (Meyerbeer): Dir, o Selika (w. Vogelstrom) 99657 xB5148

Africaine (Meyerbeer): Das Schiff Don Pedros liegt drunten (w. Vogelstrom) 99656 xB5149

Grammophon, Berlin 1921-01?

Tannhäuser (Wagner): Dich teure Halle 65644 329as

Fliegende Holländer (Wagner): Senta-Ballade 65644 339as

Africaine (Meyerbeer): Unter dem Manzanillobaum 65595 337as

Africaine (Meyerbeer): Blumen so schön und rot 65595 338as

Walküre (Wagner): Der Männer Sippe 65677

Grammophon, Berlin 1922?

Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner): Quintett (w. Olszewska, Soot, Henke & von Manowarda) 78543 746av