Anneliese Müller (8 August 1911 – 5 April 2011) was a German operatic
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...
and
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
.
Anneliese Müller
in ''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 fi ...
''
Life
Müller began her artistic career in the choir of the Stadttheater Halberstadt. There she got a contract as a soloist in 1939. In 1945 she changed to the Staatsoper Berlin
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Pr ...
. At the reopening of the house after the Second World War she sang the title role in Gluck's ''Orfeo ed Euridice
(; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an ...
''. Later she was appointed Kammersänger
Kammersänger (male; ) or Kammersängerin (female; ), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German Title of honor, honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was besto ...
in. She left the stage in 1966.
Filmography
* 1949: The Marriage of Figaro
''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), 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 premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...
(vocal synchronization)
Operas
* 1954: Richard Wagner: ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'' (Magdalena) – director: Wolf Völker ( Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin)
* 1955: Alban Berg: ''Wozzeck
''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. Composed between 1914 and 1922, it premiered in 1925. It is based on the drama '' Woyzeck'', which German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at his death. Berg attende ...
'' –director: Werner Kelch (Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin)
* 1956: Richard Wagner: ''Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was ...
'' – director: Erich Witte
Erich Witte (19 March 1911 – 30 June 2008) was a German stage actor, operatic tenor and opera director. He was based for almost five decades at the Berlin State Opera, and performed leading roles at major opera houses in Europe and at the Metro ...
(Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin)
* 1957: Richard Wagner: ''Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nib ...
'' (Rheintochter) – director: Erich Witte (Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin)
* 1958: Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
: ''Die Verlobung im Kloster'' (Duenna) – director: Erich-Alexander Winds
Erich-Alexander Winds (15 September 1900 – 9 September 1972) was a German theatre director and actor.
Life
Born in Dredsden as son of a director and an actress, Winds started his career in Leipzig at the age of 18 with the knowledge he had ac ...
(Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin)
* 1958: Giacomo Puccini: ''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 Lu ...
'' (Suzuki) – director: Peter Neitsch (Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin)
* 1961: Kurt Schwaen: ''Leonce und Lena'' (Gouvernante) – director: Erich-Alexander Winds (Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin – Apollosaal)
References
Further reading
* Karl-Josef Kutsch
Karl-Josef Kutsch, also known as K. J. Kutsch, (born 11 May 1924) is a German physician and music biographer. With the Dutch musicologist Leo Riemens he co-authored the ''Großes Sängerlexikon'', the standard reference for opera singers.
Life ...
, 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, whic ...
: ''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 fi ...
.'' Munich: Saur, 1997, .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Anneliese
German contraltos
German operatic mezzo-sopranos
20th-century German women opera singers
1911 births
2011 deaths