GRETE FORST (VIENNA, AUSTRIA, AUGUST 18, 1878 –
MALY TROSTENETS EXTERMINATION CAMP, NEAR MINSK, BELARUS, JUNE 1, 1942)
Her real name was Margarete
Feiglstock. She was born into a Jewish family. She studied with Hermine
Granichstätten in Vienna. In 1898, she made her first public appearance at a
student concert in that city. She made her stage debut in 1900 at the Cologne Opera
House as Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. In the same year, she took
part in the world premiere of Emanuel Moor’s opera La Pompadour.
In the following years she enjoyed
success in Cologne in roles such as Philine in Thomas’s Mignon and Marie in
Donizetti’s La fille du régiment. In the latter role, as well as in that of
Gilda in Rigoletto, she appeared as a guest at the Vienna Court Opera, which
subsequently engaged her in 1903. Her inaugural role there was once again Lucia
in Lucia di Lammermoor.
She soon achieved great success in
Vienna. On January 2, 1908, she appeared in the premiere of Goldmark’s Ein
Wintermärchen, and on April 14, 1910, in the premiere of Julius Bittner’s Der
Musikant. In 1907, she sang the title role in the first Vienna Court Opera
performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Among her other major successes in
Vienna were Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma (with Lilli Lehmann in the title role),
Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and several Mozart heroines.
In 1905 she returned to Cologne as
Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. She remained a member of the Vienna
Court Opera until 1911, but also undertook guest appearances and was active as
a concert soprano, performing at events such as the Lower Rhine Music Festival.
After her marriage in 1911, she
often appeared under the name Grete Forst-Schuschny. She later taught singing
in Vienna for many years. After the Anschluss, as a Jew, she was in grave
danger. For a long time she was listed as missing during World War II, but it
was later discovered that on May 27, 1942, she was deported with other Jewish
residents of Vienna to Minsk, where she perished. Her son, Hans Schuschny, had
emigrated to the USA in 1939.
The tragically fated coloratura
soprano possessed extraordinary vocal brilliance, with exceptional technical
facility and a floating, luminous tone. Fortunately, a number of fine
recordings of her survive on G&T (Vienna, 1905), Lyrophon (Vienna, 1904),
and Pathé (Vienna, 1904).
TRACKLIST
Fidelio (Beethoven) Mir ist so
wunderbar (w. Elizza, Preuss & Mayr) 044130 01011v Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Fille du Régiment (Donizetti)
Abschiedslied (w. Preuss, Hesch & chorus) 2-44268 10829u G&T, Wien 1907
Fille du Régiment (Donizetti) Ach
umsonst denkt ihr mich 43803 4205L G&T, Wien 1906
Fra Diavolo (Auber) Arie der
Zerline (Quel bonheur) 43906 9949u G&T, Wien 1906-1112
Fra Diavolo (Auber) Welches Glück
2-43144 13043u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0506
Guillaume Tell (Rossini) O
Seligkeit (w. Slezak) 2-44419 13045u Gramophone, Wien 1908-06
Guillaume Tell (Rossini) Romanze
(Sombre forêt) 43891 9951u G&T, Wien 1906-1112
Huguenots (Meyerbeer) Pagenarie
43662 6602½b G&T, Wien 1905-02
Königin von Saba (Goldmark) Lockruf
43814 4245L G&T, Wien 1906
Lakmé (Delibes) Laub’ges Dach (w.
Kittel) 3-44070 15100u Gramophone, Wien 1909-09-15
Lustigen Weiber von Windsor
(Nicolai) Du reizend liebes Schätzchen (w. Kittel, Hesch & chorus) 2-44269
10830u G&T, Wien 1907
Lustigen Weiber von Windsor
(Nicolai) Frohsinn und Laune 43890 9950u G&T, Wien 1906-1112
Lustigen Weiber von Windsor
(Nicolai) Nun eilt vorbei 43903 9996u G&T, Wien 1906-1112
Madama Butterfly (Puccini)
Blumenduett (w. Kittel) 2-44410 13310u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0506
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Deine
Mutter 2-43112 13042u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0506
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Eines
Tages sind wir 2-43111 13041u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0506
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Wollt
ihr mich nun lieben (w. Preuss) 2-44409 13051u Gramophone, 1908
Martha (Flotow) Diese Hand (w.
Preuss) 2-44420 13049u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0506
Martha (Flotow) Mag der Himmel (w.
Kittel, Preuss, Hesch, Stehmann & chorus) 2-44225 10827u G&T, 1907
Martha (Flotow) Wass soll ich dazu
sagen (w. Kittel, Preuss & Stehmann) 3-44017 14652u Gramophone, Wien
1909-05
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