Aglaja Orgeni (born Anna Maria von Görger St Jörgen; 17 December 1841 – 15 March 1926), was a Hungarian coloratura soprano.Forbes, Elizabeth (1992). "Orgeni, Aglaja" in Sadie 3: 752.

Biography

Orgeni was born in Rimászombat, Galicia (now

Rimavská Sobota Rimavská Sobota (; hu, Rimaszombat, german: Großsteffelsdorf) is a town in southern Slovakia, in the Banská Bystrica Region, on the Rimava river. It has approximately 24,000 inhabitants. The town is a historical capital of Gömör és Kishon ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). She studied with

Pauline Viardot Pauline Viardot (; 18 July 1821 – 18 May 1910) was a nineteenth-century French mezzo-soprano, pedagogue and composer of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, her name appears in various forms. When it is not simply "Pauli ...

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

and

Mathilde Marchesi Mathilde Marchesi (née Graumann; 24 March 1821 – 17 November 1913) was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method. Biography Marchesi was born in Frankfurt. Her father's last name was Graumann; ...

.Rosenthal, Harold (1992). "Siems, Margarethe" in Sadie 4: 372. She became a member of the Hofoper Berlin (1865–1866), making her debut as Amina in Bellini's ''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

''. In 1866, she performed at Covent Garden singing Violetta in Verdi's '' La traviata'' and the title roles in Donizetti's ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...

'' and Friedrich von Flotow's ''

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness ...

''. She also appeared in the German cities of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, and

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. In 1872 she appeared in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and in 1873, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

where she performed the roles of Leonora in Verdi's ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

'', Amina in ''La sonnambula'', and Valentine in Meyerbeer's ''

Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Composition history ...

''. Her repertoire also included Agathe in Weber's ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...

'' and Marguerite in Gounod's ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

''. Orgeni became a voice teacher at the Dresden Royal Conservatory in 1886.Saerchinger (1918), p. 467
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. Her students included

Maude Fay Maude Fay (also spelled Maud Fay; 18 April 1878 – 7 October 1964) was an American operatic soprano who was known for singing dramatic roles.Cummings, David (1992). "Fay, Maude" in Sadie, Stanley, ed. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' ( ...

, Carolyn Ortmann, Margarethe Siems, Helena Stägemann, Erika Wedekind,Forbes, Elizabeth (1992). "Wedekind, Erika" in Sadie 4: pp. 1121–1122. and Beatrice Gjertsen Bessesen. She eventually was appointed to the rank of Royal Professor, the first woman in Germany to receive that title. Aglaja Orgeni died in Vienna in 1926, aged 84.

References

Sources

* Saerchinger, César (1918)
''International Who's Who in Music and Musical Gazetteer'', first edition
New York: Current Literature Publishing. * Sadie, Stanley, ed. (1992). ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Orgeni, Aglaja 1841 births 1926 deaths Hungarian operatic sopranos Voice teachers 19th-century Hungarian women opera singers People from Rimavská Sobota Women music educators