Barbara Kemp (12 December 1881 –17 April 1959) was a German soprano and opera singer. After a successful stage career, she retired to teach and also directed performances at the Berlin State Opera.

Life and career

Barbara Kemp was born in

Cochem Cochem is the seat of and the biggest town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With just over 5,000 inhabitants, Cochem falls just behind Kusel, in the Kusel district, as Germany's second smallest district seat. Since 7 J ...

, Germany and studied singing at the

Strasbourg Conservatory The Conservatoire de Strasbourg is a music conservatory located in Strasbourg, France. The school was created using funds given to the city of Strasbourg by arts patron Louis Apffel in 1839. The conservatoire's first day of classes began on 3 Janua ...

. She made her debut in Strasbourg in 1903 in the role of the priestess in ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

''. She continued singing roles at local theaters and by 1913 she was employed at the Berlin Hofoper. She interpreted the role of Senta at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...

in 1914 and performed at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

from 1924-27. Her sister, Josefine Kemp, also had a successful operatic career. Kemp married opera composer and

Berlin State Opera The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

director

Max von Schillings Max von Schillings (April 19, 1868 – July 24, 1933 in Berlin) was a German conductor, composer and theatre director. He was chief conductor at the Berlin State Opera from 1919 to 1925. Schillings' opera ''Mona Lisa'' (1915) was internationally ...

in 1923, but continued her performing career. She sang at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

from 1922–24, making her debut in the leading role in her husband's opera ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known ...

''. The first run of ''Mona Lisa'' included five performances, which were also repeated the next year. Kemp also interpreted the roles of Kundry and Isolde at the Met. Kemp retired from the stage in 1932, and afterward worked as a singing teacher and director at the Berlin State Opera, producing the opera ''Mona Lisa'' and ''

Ingwelde Ingwelde (minor planet designation A formal minor-planet designation is, in its final form, a number–name combination given to a minor planet (asteroid, centaur, trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet but not comet). Such designation alwa ...

''. Recordings of Kemp include ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...

'' in 1927, and also a performance at the

in 1928. She died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Barbara 1881 births 1959 deaths German operatic sopranos German music educators People from Cochem 20th-century German women opera singers Women music educators