Hilde Rössel-Majdan (30 January 1921 – 15 December 2010) was an Austrian

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

in opera and concert. She was a member of the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic 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 ...

and is known for early recordings of Bach's music including his

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning ...

. She was an influential voice teacher in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and Vienna.

Career

She was born Hildegard Figl in Moosbierbaum. She attended a business school in the

Josefstadt Josefstadt (; ; "Joseph-Town") is the eighth district of Vienna (). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and resi ...

of Vienna and performed then already as a soloist in church services and church concerts. She studied voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, from 1945 to 1949, with her father-in-law, Karl Rössel-Majdan (1885–1948), and Helene Wildbrunn. Her deep contralto voice had a unique timbre particularly suited for

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

. She substituted in 1947 in Bach's ''

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of th ...

'', conducted by

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , ; ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is regarded as one of the greatest Symphony, symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a majo ...

. She made her operatic debut on 18 September 1951 as the voice of Antonia's mother in ''

Les Contes d'Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...

'' at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

. In 1951 she was engaged at the

, and was a member of the ensemble from 1955 to 1976. She appeared at the State Opera in 62 parts, in a total of 1,553 performances, singing the role of Mercedes in ''

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 novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'' 65 times, Marcellina in ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), 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 premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'' 194 times, and Annina in ''

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 Louvet de Couvrai's novel ''Les amours du cheva ...

'' 172 times. Her last appearance onstage was 22 November 1976 in Schoenberg's '' Moses und Aron''. Rössel-Majdan also appeared at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

and

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

, among others. At the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

, she performed the roles of Dryad in ''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's ...

'' in 1954, Lucrezia in ''

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

'' in 1958 and Annina and Marcellina in 1960. Elizabeth Forbes: ''Rössl-Majdan, Hilde(gard)'' in , vol. 4, p. 67. She was invited to the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. On 20 September 1962 she was awarded the title

Kammersänger Kammersänger (male; ) or Kammersängerin (female; ), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German Title of honor, honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was besto ...

in. In 1982 she was awarded the

Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian Decoration for Science and Art" was established by the National C ...

(''Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst I. Klasse''). From 1966 she taught at the Musikhochschule in Graz, where she was appointed professor of

Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er and oratorio singing in 1970. From 1972 until her retirement in 1991, she taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, appointed professor of Sologesang (solo singing) in 1976. Among her students were Wolfgang Holzmair and Alexander Kaimbacher.

Marriage

She was married in 1945 to (1916–2000).

Death

Hilde Rössel-Majdan died in Vienna. She was cremated at

Feuerhalle Simmering Feuerhalle Simmering is a crematorium with attached urn burial ground in the Simmering (Vienna), Simmering district of Vienna, Austria. It lies at the end of an alley, directly opposite Vienna Central Cemetery's main gate. Description Opened o ...

, where also her ashes are buried.

Recordings

Hilde Rössel-Majdan recorded opera, especially works by Richard Strauss (''

'', ''

Die Frau ohne Schatten ' (''The Woman without a Shadow''), Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917. When it premiered at the V ...

'', ''

'') and Mozart (''

Le nozze di figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), 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 premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'', ''

Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

''). Starting in the early 1950s, she recorded works by Bach, including his ''

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...

'', conducted by Felix Prohaska, with Mimi Coertse, Anton Dermota, Frederick Guthrie. Hermann Scherchen, who was known for contemporary music, conducted Bach's solo cantatas '' Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde, BWV 53'', and '' Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54'', and in 1953 the ''St Matthew Passion'', with the Wiener Akademie-Kammerchor, the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Hugues Cuénod ( Evangelist), Heinz Rehfuss (

vox Christi Vox Christi, Latin for Voice of Christ, is a setting of Jesus' words in a vocal work such as a Passion (music), Passion, an Oratorium or a Cantata. Conventionally, for instance in Protestant music of the Baroque era, the vox Christi is set for a Ba ...

), Magda László, Petre Munteanu and Richard Standen, and the young Kurt Equiluz as the second witness. She also recorded the Passion with Mogens Wöldike, with Uno Ebrelius as the Evangelist, Hans Braun (vox Christi), Teresa Stich-Randall, Waldemar Kmentt and Walter Berry. She recorded three Bach cantatas with Michael Gielen, two others with Prohaska, six with Scherchen and two with Wöldike. She appeared in a concert of the ORF on 8 April 1968 with the '' Stabat mater'' by Karol Szymanowski and that by Tommaso Traetta, conducted by Dietfried Bernet, with Mimi Coertse and Ladislaus Anderko.

Literature

* ''

Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon The ''Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon'Oesterreichisch'' with ''Oe'' is the spelling of the print and online output. (, ) is a five-volume music encyclopedia founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences' Commission for Music Research. It was offic ...

'' (Music Encyclopedia of Austria), vol. 4, , edition of the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

, Vienna 2005,

References

External links

* *
Hilde Rössel-Majdan profile
,

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

; accessed 4 November 2017.
Hilde Rössel-Majdan obituary
markley.com; accessed 4 November 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rossel Majdan, Hilde 1921 births 2010 deaths Operatic contraltos Musicians from Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni 20th-century Austrian women opera singers Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class Austrian music educators Austrian women music educators Österreichischer Kammersänger Burials at Feuerhalle Simmering Academic staff of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz Academic staff of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna