Elise Kutscherra de Nyss (also: Kutschera, Nijs, Nys, Nysz, Nyß) (10 June 1867 – 29 December 1945)"Kutschera, Elise"
summary of secondary sources, musicsack.com"Kutschera de Nysz (Kutscherra de Nyß), Elise"
' was an operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and teacher.

Biography

A baptism record shows that Elise Margarethe Anna Kutschera was born in Berlin on June 10th, 1865 to Joseph Heinrich Albert Kutschera and his wife Anna Carolina. Her first biography informs that she indeed was born in Berlin but two years later, in 1867. In later life, on passenger lists and naturalization records, Kutscherra herself states that she was born in Prague in 1874. In any case, Kutscherra made her debut on July 27th, 1888 in the Kroll opera in Berlin in the role of Margaretha in Faust. In 1894 she was appointed as Kammersängerin in Coburg. Elise Kutscherra DeNys 01a

This recognition helped her to join the Damrosch Opera Company. She had her American concert debut under the direction of

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a German-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Ge ...

in 1894. In the Boston opera she was soloist in the Wagner programme. In January 1896 Kutscherra made her debut in Amsterdam. Her Paris Opéra debut was on June 15, 1896, as Sieglinde in Wagner's '' Die Walküre''. This was a politically noteworthy and symbolic event because Kutscherra was the first Prussian to perform on this stage since the Franco-Prussian war. Shortly thereafter she married Maximillien de Nijs of Ostende, Belgium, established her residence in Brussels and adopted the Belgian nationality. In 1899 the couple was living in Berlin and had a daughter named Brünhilde Luisa Anna (Berlin, november 1899) who also became an opera singer under the name Hilda Nysa. In 1914 Kutscherra performed 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 ...

in New York City and announced that she would move her school to the United States because of

World War I 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 ...

. In 1915, while on tour in the United States, she learned from her daughter that her husband was killed during service in the Belgian army. Kutscherra established a school in New York and in 1920 signed a declaration of intention for United States citizenship. On that document she reports that her husband was alive and living in Belgium. The application for United States citizenship did not materialize. Some years later Kutscherra established residence in Brasil and performed in Buenos Aires. In 1927 Kutscherra returned to Europe. A death certificate in Paris shows that Maximilien Gustave Eduard Denys, husband of Elise Marguerite Anna Kutscherra, passed away on 4 May 1929. Kutscherra then returned to Berlin and later moved to Vienna where she died.

Recordings

* Chansons de Marjolie by

Théodore Dubois Clément François Théodore Dubois (24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher. After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Rome in 1861. He bec ...

, recorded in 1913, contains the song Celui que j´aime by Kutscherra *

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

recorded the song Heart Throb by Kutscherra in 1919.

References

External links

"Kutscherra de Nyss Elise"
Operissimo (in German) * German operatic sopranos 1867 births 1945 deaths 19th-century German women opera singers 20th-century German women opera singers {{Germany-opera-singer-stub