Sonja Kehler (2 February 1933 – 18 January 2016) was a German actress and

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

singer, known internationally for her interpretation of works by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, first playing his characters on the theatre stage, then focused on singing his songs and those of others in solo programs. She also taught acting in Danish at the theatre academy in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

, appeared in films, worked as stage director and presented literary programs.

Career

Born in Haldensleben, Kehler first studied

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

, planning to become a theatre critic. When she played a small role in a student theatre project, she was called by the Theaterhochschule Leipzig. She studied acting there and performed at several theatres in East Germany, playing for example Luise in Schiller's '' Kabale und Liebe'', Shen Te in Brecht's '' Der gute Mensch von Sezuan'' and Grusche in his ''

Der kaukasische Kreidekreis ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' () is a Stage play, play by the German Modernism, modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother th ...

''. She also turned to musical theatre as Eliza Doolittle in ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

'' and Seeräuber-Jenny in the '' Dreigroschenoper''. She was a member of theatres in

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

. The musical parts in Brecht's plays led to her singing chansons, during her student years when she was called "singende Schauspielerin" (the singing actress). She took part in the first chanson competition in the GDR in 1967 and was awarded the special prize "Sonderpreis des Rundfunks". In 1971 she performed her first Brecht programme, singing settings by Paul Dessau,

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was a German-Austrian composer. He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artistic association with Bertolt Brecht, and for the scores he wrote for films. The ...

, Tilo Medek and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

. Her recordings also appeared in West Germany and internationally. She turned to singing chansons in several languages. Tours took her to Algeria, Austria and most European countries including Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. From the mid-1980s, she taught at the drama school at Odense Teater in Denmark. After gaining fluency in Danish, she performed at Team Teatret,

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

, and Folketeatret, Copenhagen, remaining attached to Denmark for some 30 years. There she is remembered in particular for singing "Den sidste turist i Europa" (The Last Tourist in Europe) in

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...

's film ''

The Element of Crime ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''. After the

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, she also worked as a stage director at the Exzellenzhaus Trier and presented literary programmes on authors such as Brecht, Kästner, Tucholsky, Ringelnatz,

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

and Else Lasker-Schüler, often with the pianist Milan Šamko. In 1999 she appeared in the film ' after a novel by Thomas Brussig. A CD of song collection was published on the occasion of her 75th birthday, titled ''Sonja Kehler singt Brecht''. She died in Berlin.

Selected recordings

The German National Library holds several of her recordings: * ''Monolog über die Liebe'' * ''Mitternachtstrolleybus'' (1974) * ''Sonja Kehler singt Hanns Eisler'' (1975) * ''So muß es sein, Marie – Neue Lieder mit Sonja Kehler'' (1976) * ''Dessau – Lieder. Sonja Kehler singt Lieder von Paul Dessau nach Texten von Bertolt Brecht'' (1978) * ''Brecht-Portrait'' ( WERGO, 1978) * ''Sonja Kehler singt Brecht'' (1978) * ''Geflügelte Sätze. Lieder mit Sonja Kehler'' (1979) * ''Gegen die Phrase, die Langeweile und das allgemeine Geschwätz – Dichtungen von Johannes R. Becher'' (1980) * ''Mitteilung an meine bedrückten Freunde'' (1982) * ''Die Welt ist rund?'' (1988) * ''Helles Schlafen, dunkles Wachen – Else Lasker-Schüler'' (1998) CD-compilations: * ''Sonja Kehler singt Brecht'' (CD) (Berlin Classics, 2008) – Recordings 1972–78 * ''Der Brecht und ich – Hanns Eisler in Gesprächen und Liedern'' (CD) (Berlin Classics, 2008) – with Sonja Kehler, Ernst Busch,

and others

Stage performances

* Luise in '' Kabale und Liebe'' (Friedrich Schiller) (, 1959?) * Katharina in '' Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung'' (William Shakespeare) (Theater Neustrelitz, 1959?) * Shen Te in '' Der gute Mensch von Sezuan'' (Bertolt Brecht) (Brandenburger Theater, 1960?) * Eliza Doolittle in ''

'' (Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe) Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz, 1961?) * Jenny in '' Dreigroschenoper'' (Bertolt Brecht) Theater Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz, 1961?) * Grusche in ''

Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' () is a Stage play, play by the German Modernism, modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother th ...

'' (Bertolt Brecht) * Elisabeth in '' Maria Stuart'' (Friedrich Schiller) – (Staatstheater Stuttgart?) (Regie Harald Quist) * Phaedra in ''Till Fedra'' ( P. O. Enquist) – Stadttheater Klagenfurt (Dir. Alexandra Thaer) * ShenTe/ShuiTa in ''Der gute Mensch von Sezuan'' (Bertolt Brecht) Castrop-Rauxel (Regie Franz Bäck) * Anna in '' Die sieben Todsünden der Kleinbürger'' (Bertolt Brecht) (Kopenhagen) (direction: Morton Grue) * Dame in Grau ''Happy end'' (Brecht/Hauptmann) – (Team Teatret, Herning, Dänemark, 1990) (direction: Sonja Kehler)

References

External links

* * Peter Deeg
Dänen sagen selten nein. / Ein Gespräch mit Sonja Kehler, einer der erfolgreichsten Sängerinnen der DDR
(interview, in German) misstilly.de
Sonja Kehler singt Brecht
jpc.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Kehler, Sonja German stage actresses German film actresses East German musicians East German women People from Haldensleben 1933 births 2016 deaths Theaterhochschule Leipzig alumni German radio actresses 20th-century German women Actresses from Saxony-Anhalt