ELISABETH RETHBERG (SCHWARZENBERG, GERMANY 22 SEPTEMBER
1894 – YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK 6 JUNE 1976)
Her real name was Lisbeth
Sättler. Displaying remarkable musical talent from a young age, she performed
Schubert songs at the age of seven. She first studied piano (1912-1913), then
singing at the Conservatory of Dresden, and later with the Dresden teacher Otto
Watrin. She made her debut at the Dresdner Hofoper in 1915 as Arsena in
Zigeunerbaron and achieved significant success there as Agathe in Der
Freischütz. In 1919, she sang the role of the Empress in the Dresden premiere
of R. Strauss’s Frau ohne Schatten. On December 11, 1917, she appeared in the
premiere of Hans Pfitzner’s Christelflein in Dresden, and on February 23, 1920,
in Hugo Kaun’s Der Fremde.
She then performed at the
Hofoper in Vienna and also in Berlin. She was highly successful in Leipzig
Gewandhaus concerts. She remained in Dresden until 1922, after which she joined
the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she enjoyed brilliant successes from
1922 to 1942. Her debut role in New York was Aida, and in 1928, she sang in the
premiere of Respighi’s Campana sommersa. Arturo Toscanini praised her voice as
the most beautiful soprano he had ever heard.
During the 1928-1940 seasons,
she performed frequently at the San Francisco Opera and, from 1934 to 1941, at
the Chicago Opera. She also appeared at the Ravinia Festival near Chicago. She
sang at the Havana Opera in 1923 and 1928, at Covent Garden Opera in London
from 1925 and again from 1934 to 1939, at La Scala in Milan in 1929 (as Aida
under Toscanini), and at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in 1934. In 1936, she
achieved great success with R. Strauss’s Rosenkavalier at Covent Garden.
In her native Germany, she
sang the title role in the world premiere of R. Strauss’s Die Ägyptische Helena
at the Staatsoper in Dresden on June 6, 1928. At the Salzburg Festival, she
performed the role of Konstanze in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail
(1922), Leonore in Fidelio (1933), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (1937), and the
soprano solo in Verdi’s Requiem (1933). Her concert tours took her across North
America, Canada, Australia, and Europe.
Her first husband was the
merchant Albert Doman. In 1957, she married the baritone George Cehanovsky
(1892-1986). She retired from the stage in 1942 and gave a final concert at New
York’s Town Hall in 1944. She continued to live in New York. Her repertoire
included Aida, Donna Anna, Desdemona, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Butterfly,
Tosca, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, Sieglinde, Elsa,
Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, and Sieglinde in Die Walküre.
TRACKLIST
Africaine (Mayerbeer) Leb’ wohl, freundliches
Gestade 80160 xxB6564 Odeon, Berlin 1920 (Autumn)
Africaine (Meyerbeer) Leb’ wohl, freundlich
Gestade O-4530 Be10391 Odeon, Berlin 1933-06-22
Carmen (Bizet) Arie der Micaela 80161 xxB6562
Odeon, Berlin 1920 (Autumn)
Carmen (Bizet) Bei meiner Mutter (w. Tauber)
80713 xxB6644 Odeon, Berlin 1921-04-08
Carmen (Bizet) Ich seh’ die Mutter (w.
Tauber) 80712 xxB6643 Odeon, Berlin 1921-04-08
Carmen (Bizet) Ich sprach, daß ich furchtlos
mich fühle O-8378 xxB8486 Odeon, Berlin 1930-05-21
Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Als euer Sohn
einst fortzog O-4530 Be10390 Odeon, Berlin 1933-06-22
Die Sylphe des Friedens (Mozart) 80168
xxB6570 Odeon, Berlin 1920 (Autumn)
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Die prunkende (w.
Tauber) 80732 xxB6743 Odeon, Berlin 1922-04
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Eines Tages sehen
wir O-8378 xxB8487 Odeon, Berlin 1930-05-21
Madama Butterfly (Puccini) ‘s ist schon was
Wahres dran (w. Tauber) 80733, xxB6744 Odeon, Berlin 1922-04
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Heil’ge Quelle 80166
xxB6639 Odeon, Berlin 1921-0304
Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Heil’ge Quelle
O-4976 Be9005 Odeon, Berlin 1930-05-21
Pastorale (Bizet) 76215 xxB6568 Odeon, Berlin
1920 (Autumn)
Prodana Nevesta (Smetana) Nun in Lust und
Leide (w. Tauber) 80749 xxB6646 Odeon, Berlin 1921-04-08
Zauberflöte (Mozart) Ach ich fühl’s 80165
xxB6563 Odeon, Berlin 1920 (Autumn)
Zigeunerbaron (Strauss) So elend und so treu
ist keiner auf Erden O-4976 Be9004 Odeon, Berlin 1930-05-21
Zigeunerbaron (Strauss) Zigeunerlied der
Saffi 80167 xxB6566 Odeon, Berlin 1920 (Autumn)
Die Einsame (Hubert Pataky) 76216 xxB6573
Odeon, Berlin 1920 (Autumn)
Freundliche Vision (R Strauss) 76229 xxB6640
Odeon, Berlin 1921-03/04
Ständchen (R Strauss) 80086 xxB6641 Odeon,
Berlin 1921-03/04
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