![Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana and Margaret Matzenauer in 1915 at the Metropolitan Opera](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Edoardo_Ferrari-Fontana_and_Margaret_Matzenauer_in_1915_at_the_Metropolitan_Opera.jpg)
Margaret Matzenauer (sometimes spelled Margarete Matzenauer or Margarethe Matzenaur) (1 June 1881 – 19 May 1963) was an
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
-born, later resident in the United States, mezzo-soprano. She had an opulent timbre and wide range. She performed key works from both the Italian and German
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 librett ...
tic repertoires in Europe and the United States.
[
]
Biography
Matzenauer was born in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
(now Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
).[ Her father Ludwig was a conductor, her mother an opera singer. She reportedly considered herself Hungarian although she was born in what is now western Romania, of German Jewish descent.
Matzenauer studied opera in ]Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
and Berlin, making her operatic debut in 1901 as Puck in Weber's ''Oberon
Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...
''. She began singing major roles such as Azucena in ''Il trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...
'', 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 Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
, Mignon
''Mignon'' is an 1866 ''opéra comique'' (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel '' Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre''. The ...
, Waltraute and Erda in the ''Ring'' operas and Ortrud in ''Lohengrin
Lohengrin () is a character in Germany, German Arthurian literature. The son of Percival, Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which fi ...
''. She first achieved fame in Europe as a contralto and mezzo-soprano, and she was engaged to appear at the 1911 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 ...
. She was tempted to tackle soprano parts as well but this expansion upwards of her repertoire did not prove to be an unqualified success due to limitations with her highest notes.
Matzenauer made her debut (as a mezzo) at the New York 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 ''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 ...
'' on 13 November 1911, singing Amneris on opening night with a cast that also featured Emmy Destinn
Emmy Destinn ( (); 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Biography
Destinn was born Emíl ...
as Aida and Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
as Radamès, with Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
conducting. A few days later she displayed her versatility by appearing in Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was compose ...
''.
In 1911, Matzenauer married one of her Met colleagues, the Italian-born dramatic tenor Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana
Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana (8 July 1878 – 4 July 1936) was an Italian tenor.
Biography
He was born on 8 July 1878 in Rome, Italy. He married Margarete Matzenauer on 26 June 1912 at the Italian Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and they divorced i ...
(1878-1936). Consequently, she acquired automatic Italian citizenship. The marriage ended in divorce in 1917.
Matzenauer reportedly had an eidetic memory
Eidetic memory ( ; more commonly called photographic memory or total recall) is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''pho ...
and on 1 January 1912 when, with only a few days' notice, she appeared in the highly demanding role of Kundry in Wagner's ''Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...
'', an opera she had never sung before.
Matzenauer sang at the Met for a total of 19 seasons, delivering a wide variety of roles including Eboli in the first Met production of ''Don Carlos
''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...
'' (1920), Santuzza in ''Cavalleria Rusticana
''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; Italian for "rustic chivalry") is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play b ...
'', Marina in ''Boris Godunov
Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv (; russian: Борис Фёдорович Годунов; 1552 ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia as ''de facto'' regent from c. 1585 to 1598 and then as the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. After the end of his ...
'', Leonore in ''Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...
'' and Brünnhilde 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 ...
''. She gave her farewell Met performance on 17 February 1930 as Amneris, but she continued singing opera elsewhere and giving concerts.
In 1924, she appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, London at a Special Sunday concert with pianist Solito de Solis. In 1936, she played the part of Madame Pomponi in the Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
production of ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' is a 1936 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Frank Capra and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in her first featured role. Based on the 1935 short story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland, which ...
''.
She taught singing; two of her pupils were mezzo-sopranos Blanche Thebom
Blanche Thebom (September 19, 1915March 23, 2010) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher, and opera director. She was part of the first wave of American opera singers that had highly successful international careers. In her own co ...
and Nell Tangeman
Nell Tangeman (21 December 1914 – 15 February 1965) was an American mezzo-soprano.
Life and career
Tangeman was born in Columbus, Ohio. After earning a degree in violin performance from Ohio State University, she pursued vocal studies at ...
. Her last stage appearance was in a Broadway comedy, ''Vicki'', in 1942.[
Tenor ]Giacomo Lauri Volpi
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (11 December 1892 – 17 March 1979) was an Italian tenor with a lyric voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years.
Caree ...
mentioned her in his ''Voci parallele'' as one of the only three true contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
s he had encountered throughout his career (the others being Gabriella Besanzoni
Gabriella Besanzoni (20 September 1888 – 8 July 1962) was an Italian opera singer (mezzo-soprano and contralto).
Early life
Gabriella Besanzoni was born in Rome and studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.Richard P. ConnellLiner No ...
and Matilde Blanco Sadun).
Matzenauer died in 1963, aged 81, at the Sherman Way Convalescent Hospital in Van Nuys, California
Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.
History
In 1909, ...
.
Legacy
Her daughter is Adrienne Fontana, former nightclub singer
A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...
and host of variety TV show ''Champagne and Orchids'', on the Dumont Network in early television.[The Florence Henderson Show - Hollywood Hotel/Jack Klugman/Adrienne Fontana.] Matzenauer made a sizeable number of recordings, many of which are available on CD reissues.
References
External links
Margarete Matzenauer
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matzenauer, Margarete
1881 births
1963 deaths
20th-century Hungarian women opera singers
Hungarian sopranos
Hungarian mezzo-sopranos
American operatic sopranos
Danube-Swabian people
Hungarian people of Jewish descent
Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States
American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Musicians from Timișoara
20th-century American women opera singers