Rosemarie Lang (21 May 1947 – 12 January 2017) was a German operatic
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
.
Life
Born in
Grünstädtel
Schwarzenberg is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, near the German–Czech border. The town lies roughly 15 km southeast of Aue, and 35 km southwest of Chemnitz.
Founded in the 12th century to pr ...
, Lang studied at the
University of Music and Theatre Leipzig
The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...
with
Elisabeth Breul, Eva Schubert-Hoffmann and
Helga Forner. At the 1969
she won 2nd prize, and at the 1972
International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition
The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (german: Internationaler Bach Wettbewerb Leipzig, links=no) is a music competition in Leipzig, Germany, held by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. It was founded in 1950 and was held every four years from 1 ...
she won 1st prize ("Bach Prize Winner"), both in the "Ladies' Singing" category.
She began her stage career at the , and from 1972 she was an ensemble member of the
Oper Leipzig
The Leipzig Opera (in German: ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany.
History
Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspi ...
. In 1987, she moved to the
Staatsoper Unter den Linden
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 ...
. She made her debut there as Clytemnestra in Gluck's ''
Iphigenia in Aulis
''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι, Īphigéneia en Aulídi; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripide ...
''. She remained an ensemble member of the Staatsoper until her retirement from the stage for health reasons in 2009.
Guest appearances took her to the
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...
and the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an 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 August S ...
, among others. In addition to her operatic activities, she also cultivated concert, lied and oratorio singing. Numerous radio and recordings document her artistic activity.
Rosemarie Lang
on AllMusic
Further reading
* Kutsch/Riemens: ''Großes Sängerlexikon
''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The first ...
''. 3rd edition 1997.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Rosemarie
German operatic mezzo-sopranos
1947 births
2017 deaths
People from Schwarzenberg, Saxony