Tresi Rudolph (18 August 1911 – 22 January 1997) was a German operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and singing teacher.

Life

Born in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

, Rudolph took singing lessons in her hometown with

Ernst Grenzebach Ernst Grenzebach (14 February 1871 – 29 May 1936) was a German concert baritone and voice teacher. He taught, among others, two of the most famous European heroic tenors: Max Lorenz and Lauritz Melchior. Life and career Born in Berlin, Grenz ...

at the age of 15 and went to Berlin at 17, where she continued her singing education. At the age of 21 she was accepted at the

Berlin State Opera 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 ...

im Unter den Linden Four years later she changed to the Deutsches Opernhaus (today Deutsche Oper Berlin), where she celebrated triumphs. In 1938 she was awarded the title Kammersängerin. She belonged to the ensemble of the Deutsches Opernhaus until the closure of the stage in summer 1944. After the war she had various engagements besides tours within Germany and other European countries, including again at the

and especially at the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

. Rudolph began her career as a

coloratura soprano A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs, leaps and trills. The term '' coloratura'' refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component o ...

with roles like Papagena (''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

'') and Musette ('' La Bohème''). Over the years her voice developed into a lyrical-dramatic soprano. At the Deutsches Opernhaus as well as later in Hamburg and elsewhere, she sang many of the great roles of her profession such as Nedda ('' Bajazzo''), Cho-Cho-San (''

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

''), Violetta (''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

''), Mimi (La Bohème), Georgette (''

Il tabarro ''Il tabarro'' (''The Cloak'') is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami, based on 's play ''La houppelande''. It is the first of the trio of operas known as ''Il trittico''. The first performance was given ...

''), ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'', '' Aida'', Agathe (''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 181 ...

''), and ''

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 ...

''. Beyond her stage work she became known to a large circle of listeners through records and countless radio recordings. In 1936 she got the leading role in Josef von Báky's film comedy '' Intermezzo'', in which she sings ''Viva el Torero!'' and ''Für jede Frau gibt's einen Mann auf Erden'' by

Theo Mackeben Relief from Mackeben's tombstone Theo Mackeben, born 5 January 1897 in Preußisch Stargard, Westpreußen, died 10 January 1953 in Berlin, was a German pianist, conductor and composer, particularly of film music.Lamb A. Theo Mackeben. In: ''The Ne ...

. It remained her only appearance in a film. In 1959 she ended her career as a singer in order to dedicate herself to vocal pedagogy. In the early 1960s she went to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

with her husband, the conductor Alfred Hering. There she accepted a teaching position for several years as professor of the singing class at the

Conservatory of Tolima The Conservatory of Tolima is one of the most important musical schools in Colombia. Its clearest predecessor was the School of Music for strings and piano founded by the Melendro and Sicard families, which led to the creation of the Coleg ...

. Rudolph died in Hamburg at the age of 86.

Literature

* K. J. Kutsch,

Leo Riemens Leonardus Antony Marinus Riemens (3 December 1910 – 3 April 1985) was a Dutch musicologist and cultural journalist. He wrote a book about Maria Callas, and together with Karl-Josef Kutsch began a reference book about opera singers in 1962, which ...

: ''

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 ...

.'' Unchanged edition.

K. G. Saur Verlag K. G. Saur Verlag is a German publisher that specializes in reference information for libraries. The publishing house, founded by Karl Saur, is owned by Walter de Gruyter and is based in Munich. In 1987, K. G. Saur was acquired by Reed Interna ...

, Bern, 1993, second volume M–Z, Sp. 2535 f.,

External links

Tresi Rudolph
on Operissimo * *
Tresi Rudolph
on Filmportal.de
Picture of Tresi Rudolph
on VHy Name {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudolph, Tresi 1911 births 1997 deaths Musicians from Göttingen German operatic sopranos Voice teachers Colombian academics