Herta Glaz (also spelled Hertha; September 16, 1910 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

– January 28, 2006 in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census. History The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...

) was an Austrian-born American

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic mezzo-soprano,

voice teacher A voice teacher or singing teacher is a musical instructor who assists adults and children in the development of their abilities in singing. Typical work A voice teacher works with a student singer to improve the various skills involved in singi ...

, and opera director of Austrian birth. She became a United States citizen in 1943. From 1942 to 1956, she was a fixture 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 oper ...

, where she sang in more than 300 performances. She was also highly active with the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

between 1944 and 1951. Some of the roles she portrayed on stage were Marcellina in ''

Le Nozze di 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 ...

'', Annina, Siegrune in ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...

'', Flosshilde in ''

Götterdämmerung ' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as ...

'' and Magdalene in '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. In her later years, Glaz became a celebrated voice teacher and opera director. She taught voice at the Manhattan School of Music from 1956 to 1977,

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

from 1977 to 1994, the Aspen Music Festival between 1987 and 1994, and privately from her homes in New Haven and Los Angeles. Her notable pupils included sopranos Susan Davenny Wyner and Sally Sanford, and mezzos

Gail Dubinbaum Gail Dubinbaum (born 1957) is an American operatic coloratura mezzo-soprano and co-founder and Creative Director of the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera. Career A native of Long Island, New York, Dubinbaum first studied with her mother, Ruth Dubinbau ...

, Jacalyn Kreitzer, and Cynthia Munzer. In 1963 she founded the New Haven Opera Society which later became the New Haven Opera Theater (NHOT). She served as NHOT's director until the company disestablished due to financial reasons in 1976. With the company she presented 12 seasons of fully staged opera productions, as well as a highly active schedule of opera performances for school children. Glaz was trained at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

and the

Mozarteum University of Salzburg Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...

. She married several times during her life: first to conductor

Joseph Rosenstock Joseph Rosenstock (, ; in Kraków in New York City) was an American conductor. Career Early years He worked at the State Theatre in Darmstadt, where, on , he conducted '' Hagith'' by Karol Szymanowski, and at the State Opera in Wiesbaden, w ...

and then to Viennese composer Paul August Csonka. Her third and last marriage was to Viennese psychiatrist Frederick Redlich which lasted nearly fifty years. Redlich was notably the Dean of the

Yale University School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glaz, Herta 1910 births 2006 deaths Aspen Music Festival and School faculty Manhattan School of Music faculty Operatic mezzo-sopranos University of Southern California faculty 20th-century American women opera singers Women music educators Austrian emigrants to the United States American women academics 21st-century American women