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
Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner)
Selig wie die Sonne (w. Preuss, Kittel, Slezak & Demuth) 044144 01198v
Gramophone, 1909-09-17
Mignon (Thomas) Titania ist
herabgestiegen 2-43264 14666½u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Ihr, die
ihr Triebe 2-43242 14649u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Neue
Freuden 2-43263 13855u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0910
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Nun wird’s
bald geschehen (w. Kittel & Weidemann) Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) O säume
länger nicht (Rosenarie) 2-43241 14648u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Heute fällt
mein Geschick (w. Weidemann) 3-44040 15110u Gramophone, Wien 1909-09-16
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Sieh, wie
Vögel fliegen (Vogellied) 2-43326 11169u G&T, Wien 1907-07
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Warum
hieltst du mich sehnend umfangen (w. Weidemann) 3-44041 15111u Gramophone, Wien
1909-09-16
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Was gibt’s
(w. Demuth) 044155 01216v Gramophone, Wien 1909-10-07
Pikova Dama (Tchaikovsky)
Schäfer-Duett (w. Kittel) 3-44005 14577u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Prodana Nevesta (Smetana) Gern ja
will ich dir vertrauen 2-43359 15140b Gramophone, Wien 1910-11-09
Prodana Nevesta (Smetana) Wart’
noch ein Weilchen, Marie (w. Elizza, Kittel, Stehmann, Weidemann & Hesch)
2-44323 11737½u G&T, Wien 1907-1112
Prodana Nevesta (Smetana) Wie fremd
ist alles um mich her 2-43360 15139b Gramophone, Wien 1910-11-09
Rigoletto (Verdi) Gestern spät
abends (w. Demuth) 044154 0993v Gramophone, Wien 1909-05
Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)
Pagenarie (Que fais-tu) 2-43372 15138b Gramophone, Wien 1910-11-09
Ständchen (Brahms) 943023 12492L
Gramophone, Wien 1911-05-31
Traviata (Verdi) Er ist es 043045
817f G&T, Wien 1904-0708
Wintermärchen (Goldmark) Schmücket
euch 2-43145 13044u Gramophone, Wien 1908-0506
Zauberflöte (Mozart) Schnelle,
Füsse, raschen Mut (w. Preuss, Weidemann & chorus) 044133 0995v Gramophone,
1909-05
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