Birgitte Sigrid Frieda Engell née Engel (1882–1973) was a German-born Danish operatic soprano who initially performed in operas in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

and

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 ...

before moving to the

Royal Danish Opera The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first ser ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she increasingly specialized in concerts, giving recitals in several European countries and North America until the early 1930s. In later life she settled in Copenhagen where she taught voice.

Biography

Born in Berlin on 18 September 1882, Birgitte Sigrid Frieda Engel was the daughter of the German factory owner Herman Adolph Engel (1849–1927) and his Danish wife Wilhelmine Sophie Charlotte née Rasmussen (1857–1938). In 1911, she married the German opera singer and voice teacher Hans Erwin Hey (1877–1943). The marriage was dissolved in 1926. In 1937, she married the proprietor Aage Nicolaj Bønløkke Nikolajsen (1877–1962). Raised in Denmark, when she was 16 Engell was received voice training from the Hungarian soprano Etelka Gerstner in Berlin and later from in Zurich. She first performed in 1907 in Wiesbaden taking the role of Gretel in '' Hansel and Gretel''. While there, in 1911 she married fellow opera singer, the bass Hans Hey. Thanks to her talented soprano delivery, in 1912 she was engaged by the

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 ...

. The following year she appeared in the Berlin premiere of

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 '' Ariadne auf Naxos''. She remained in Berlin until 1920, singing a series of classical and modern

coloratura Coloratura is an elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material,''Oxford American Dictionaries''.Apel (1969), p. 184. or a passage of such music. Operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, an ...

roles and gaining a reputation as a competent performer. While still in Berlin, Engell began to perform in concert recitals first in Copenhagen in 1914 and later in the Netherlands, England, Austria and the other Scandinavian countries. Her first concert in New York in November 1920 was well received. Her interpretations of Dagmar Rybner's "Pastoral" and Grieg's "Solveig's Song" both led to encores. From 1920 she appeared at the Royal Danish Theatre in a number of guest performances, receiving a full engagement in 1927. Her most successful roles were Rosina in ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'' and Susanna in ''

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 ...

'' but she is also remembered as Aase in ''

Drot og Marsk ''Drot og marsk'' (''King and Marshal'') is an opera by the Danish composer Peter Heise. The libretto, by Christian Richardt, is based on Carsten Hauch's play ''Marsk Stig'' (1850). The opera was first performed at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen, ...

'', Sophie in '' Der Rosenkavalier'' and Mélisande in '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. Birgit Engell died in Grenå on 28 July 1973 and is buried in Gentofte.

References

External links

Illustrated biography/discography of Birgit Engell by René Aagaard
(in Danish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Engell, Birgit 1882 births 1973 deaths Actresses from Berlin Actresses from Copenhagen 20th-century Danish women opera singers German operatic sopranos Danish operatic sopranos German emigrants to Denmark