Anna Katarina Bartels née Fernquist (1869–1950) was a Swedish operatic soprano. She made her debut at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

in 1897 in the title role of Friedrich von Flotow's '' Martha''. Engaged by the company for the next 20 years, she gained popularity as a soubrette and

coloratura soprano A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs, leaps and trills. The term '' coloratura'' refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component o ...

but later turned increasingly to

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

roles. In 1923, she was awarded the

Litteris et Artibus Litteris et Artibus is a Swedish royal medal established in 1853 by Charles XV of Sweden, who was then crown prince. It is awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art and literature. The ob ...

medal.

Early life and education

Born on 9 December 1869 in

Gävle Gävle () is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Swede ...

, Anna Fernquist was the daughter of the manufacturer Carl Johannes Fernquist and his wife Charlotta née Larsson. In 1902, she married the Swedish painter . She studied first in Gäfle under the music teacher Wilhelm Björkgren (1886–87), then in Stockholm under Miss Achorn (1891–92),

Signe Hebbe Signe Amanda Georgina Hebbe (30 July 1837 – 14 February, 1925) was a Swedish operatic soprano and instructor. Life Signe Hebbe was born in Värnamo to the journalist Vendela Hebbe and Clemens Hebbe. Education In 1848, at the age of elev ...

(1893) and

Emilie Mechelin Emilie Mechelin (8 April 1838 — 22 December 1917) was a Finnish operatic soprano and pedagogue, notable among other things for being the first singing teacher of the Helsinki School of Music (later to become Sibelius Academy). Early life and ...

(1894–95) and later in Baden-Baden and Paris under

Désirée Artôt Désirée Artôt (; 21 July 1835 – 3 April 1907) was a Belgian soprano (initially a mezzo-soprano), who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may h ...

(1899–1901).

Career

In 1897 she made her debut at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in title role of ''Martha''. For the next 20 years she performed with the company, first gaining popularity in soprano roles but later also appearing as a mezzo-soprano. She performed in several Swedish premieres: Musette in

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...

's '' La bohème'' (1901), Woglinde in Wagner's '' Rheingold'' (1901), Fattoumah in

Henri Rabaud Henri Benjamin Rabaud (10 November 187311 September 1949) was a French conductor, composer and pedagogue, who held important posts in the French musical establishment and upheld mainly conservative trends in French music in the first half of t ...

's '' Mârouf'' (1915), Marianne in

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

's '' Der Rosenkavalier'' (1920) and La Ciesca in Puccini's '' Gianni Schicchi'' (1920). Other roles included Fru Fluth in

Otto Nicolai Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (9 June 1810 – 11 May 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and one of the founders of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy ''The Merry Wives of Wi ...

's ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'', The Queen of the Night in

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's '' The Magic Flute'', Susanna in his ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'', Elvira in his ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'', Philine in Ambroise Thomas's '' Mignon'', Micaela in

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' and Juno in Jacques Offenbach's '' Orpheus in the Underworld''. Bartels is also remembered for her appearances in concerts and lieder recitals. After retiring from the stage in the early 1920s, she taught voice in Stockholm. Anna Bartels died in Rådmansö in Norrtälje Municipality on 17 February 1950.Sveriges dödbok 1901–2013, (Version 6.0) Sveriges släktforskarförbund (2014)

Awards

In 1923, for her contributions to Swedish culture, she was awarded the Litteris et Artibus medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartels, Anna 1869 births 1950 deaths People from Gävle Swedish operatic sopranos 19th-century Swedish opera singers 20th-century Swedish opera singers Litteris et Artibus recipients