Sári Barabás (14 March 1914 – 16 April 2012) was a Hungarian operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical 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 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

, particularly associated with

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

roles.Obituary : Sári Barábas. ''

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'', September 2012, Vol 63 No.9, p1076.

Biography

Sári Barabás was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. She planned to be a dancer, but after an injury she turned to singing. She studied in Budapest with Frau Speckler, and made her debut at the Budapest Opera in 1939, as Gilda in ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

''. World War II interrupted her career. After the war, she appeared at the

Zurich Opera Zurich Opera (Opernhaus Zürich) is a Swiss opera company based in Zurich. The company gives performances in the Zurich Opera House. History The first performance at the current theatre occurred on 30 September 1891, with a production of Wagner's ...

and the

Vienna Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

, and then joined the Munich State Opera in 1949, where she remained until 1971, she was also a guest at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic 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 ...

, in ''The Barber of Seville'', ''The Magic Flute'' and ''Capriccio'', where she established a reputation as a soprano of agility and glamorous personality. She made guest appearances as Gilda, at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in London in 1951, and at the

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

, where she sang Konstanze in ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () (Köchel catalogue, K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's . The plot concer ...

'', Adele in '' Le comte Ory'', and Zerbinetta in ''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's ...

'' to great acclaim. She made her American debut at the

San Francisco Opera The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 wh ...

in 1950, as the Queen of the Night in ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

''. She also sang

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

, and enjoyed considerable success in London in 1970, in a revival of the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

'' The Great Waltz'' at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, which coincided with her appearance on

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

Billy Mayerl William Joseph Mayerl (31 May 1902 – 25 March 1959) was an English pianist and composer who built a career in music hall and musical theatre and became an acknowledged master of light music. Best known for his syncopated novelty piano solos ...

had in 1958 requested to take Barabás with him to the desert island as his luxury item. Having appeared in the title role of the 1951 German film '' Die Dubarry'', for the 1955 Powell and Pressburger musical '' Oh... Rosalinda!!'', she sang the title role for the actress Ludmilla Tchérina (Nixa NLP 18001). She made her final stage appearance at the Gärtnerplatz in 2007, in the speaking role of Princess Anhilte in ''Die Csárdásfürstin''.

Personal life/death

From 1956 Barabás was married to tenor Franz Klarwein (1914–1991). She died on 16 April 2012, aged 98, after suffering a stroke.Rheinpfalz
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Discography

*Fall – '' Die Dollarprinzessin'' (EMI) *Fall – ' (EMI) *Kálmán – '' Die Csárdásfürstin'' (EMI) - Sylva Varescu *Kálmán – '' Gräfin Mariza'' (EMI) - title role *Mozart – ''

'' (Walhall) - Konstanze *Rossini – ''

Il barbiere di Siviglia ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy '' ...

'' (Walhall) *Rossini – '' Le Comte Ory'' (EMI) - Comtesse Adèle *Schröder – '' Hochzeitsnacht im Paradies'' (EMI) *Strauss - '' Der Zigeunerbaron'' (Philips) - Saffi *Strauss I & II (arr.) - '' The Great Waltz'' (EMI) *Hungarian songs

Sources

Biography on Operissimo.com
(in German)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barabas, Sari 1914 births 2012 deaths Singers from Budapest Hungarian operatic sopranos Place of death missing 20th-century Hungarian women opera singers