Viorica Ursuleac
Encyclopedia
Viorica Ursuleac was an important Romania
n operatic soprano.
Viorica Ursuleac was born the daughter of a Greek Orthodox
archdeacon, in Chernivtsi
, which is now in Ukraine
. Following training in Vienna
, she made her operatic debut in Zagreb
(Agram), as Charlotte in Massenet
's Werther
, in 1922. The soprano then appeared at the Vienna Volksoper (1924-26), Frankfurt Opera (1926-30), Vienna Staatsoper (1930-35), Berlin Staatsoper (1935-37) and Munich Opera (1937-44). She married the Austria
n conductor Clemens Krauss
in Frankfurt during her time there.
She was Richard Strauss
's favorite soprano, and he called her "die treueste aller Treuen" ("the most faithful of all the faithful"). She sang in the world premieres of four of his operas: Arabella
(1933), Friedenstag
(which was dedicated to Ursuleac and Krauss, 1938), Capriccio
(1942), and the public dress-rehearsal of Die Liebe der Danae
(1944).
She appeared at the Salzburg Festival
(1930-34 and 1942-43) and in one season at Covent Garden
(1934), where she sang in the first performances in England of Jaromír Weinberger
's Schwanda the Bagpiper and Arabella (her favorite role). She also appeared as Desdemona in Verdi
's Otello
at the Royal Opera, with Lauritz Melchior
in the name part, and Sir Thomas Beecham
conducting.
Ursuleac also sang at La Scala
, in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten
(as the Empress), and Elektra (as Chrysothemis), Mozart
's Così fan tutte
, and Wagner
's Die Walküre
(as Sieglinde). Her only American appearances were at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires
, as Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
, opposite Kirsten Flagstad
, in 1948. Also in her repertory were the Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro
), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni
), Leonore (Fidelio
), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer
, with Hans Hotter
), Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra
), Amelia (Un ballo in maschera
), Leonora (La forza del destino
), Élisabeth de Valois (Don Carlos
), Tosca
, Minnie (La fanciulla del West
), Turandot
(opposite Erna Berger
's Liù), Der Rosenkavalier
, Ariadne auf Naxos
(first as the Composer, then as Ariadne), Die ägyptische Helena
, etc.
The prima donna was created an Austrian Kammersängerin in 1934, a Prussian Kammersängerin in 1935, and gave her farewell in 1953, in Wiesbaden
, in Der Rosenkavalier. She was appointed Professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1964.
Ursuleac's voice was not of great beauty, at least as recorded, but she was reckoned a great musician and actress. In the words of one colleague, the soprano Hildegard Ranczak
, "Although she had a lovely, facile top, I was constantly amazed at the two hours' vocalizing she went through before each performance. Hers was, in my opinion, a marvelously constructed, not really natural voice which she used with uncanny intelligence." Ursuleac died at the age of ninety-one, in the village of Ehrwald in Tyrol
, where she had resided since before the death in 1954 of her husband, Clemens Krauss
.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n operatic soprano.
Viorica Ursuleac was born the daughter of a Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
archdeacon, in Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...
, which is now in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Following training in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, she made her operatic debut in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
(Agram), as Charlotte in Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
, in 1922. The soprano then appeared at the Vienna Volksoper (1924-26), Frankfurt Opera (1926-30), Vienna Staatsoper (1930-35), Berlin Staatsoper (1935-37) and Munich Opera (1937-44). She married the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n conductor Clemens Krauss
Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...
in Frankfurt during her time there.
She was Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's favorite soprano, and he called her "die treueste aller Treuen" ("the most faithful of all the faithful"). She sang in the world premieres of four of his operas: Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
(1933), Friedenstag
Friedenstag
Friedenstag is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his Opus 81, to a German libretto by Joseph Gregor. Strauss had hoped to work again with Stefan Zweig on a new project after their previous collaboration of Die schweigsame Frau, but the Nazi authorities had harassed Strauss over his...
(which was dedicated to Ursuleac and Krauss, 1938), Capriccio
Capriccio (opera)
Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto...
(1942), and the public dress-rehearsal of Die Liebe der Danae
Die Liebe der Danae
Die Liebe der Danae is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a February 1937 German libretto by Joseph Gregor, based on an outline written in 1920, "Danae, or The Marriage of Convenience", by Hugo Hofmannsthal...
(1944).
She appeared at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
(1930-34 and 1942-43) and in one season at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
(1934), where she sang in the first performances in England of Jaromír Weinberger
Jaromír Weinberger
- Biography :Weinberger was born in Prague, from a family of Jewish origin. He heard Czech folksongs from time spent at his grandparents' farm as a youth. He started to play the piano at age 5, and was composing and conducting by age 10. He began musical studies with Jaroslav Křička. Later teachers...
's Schwanda the Bagpiper and Arabella (her favorite role). She also appeared as Desdemona in Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
at the Royal Opera, with Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.-Biography:...
in the name part, and Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
conducting.
Ursuleac also sang at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten
Die Frau ohne Schatten
Die Frau ohne Schatten is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917...
(as the Empress), and Elektra (as Chrysothemis), Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, and Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
(as Sieglinde). Her only American appearances were at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, as Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, opposite Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...
, in 1948. Also in her repertory were the Countess Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
), Leonore (Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
, with Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter was a German operatic bass-baritone, admired internationally after World War II for the power, beauty, and intelligence of his singing, especially in Wagner operas. He was extremely tall and his appearance was striking because of his high, narrow face, wide mouth, and big, aquiline nose...
), Amelia Grimaldi (Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra
Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
), Amelia (Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
), Leonora (La forza del destino
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
), Élisabeth de Valois (Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
), Tosca
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 Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Minnie (La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West
La fanciulla del West is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, based on the play The Girl of the Golden West by the American author David Belasco. Its highly-publicised premiere occurred in New York City in 1910...
), Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
(opposite Erna Berger
Erna Berger
Erna Berger , was a prominent German coloratura lyric soprano. She is most famous for her Queen of the Night and her Konstanze....
's Liù), Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
(first as the Composer, then as Ariadne), Die ägyptische Helena
Die ägyptische Helena
Die ägyptische Helena is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on June 6, 1928...
, etc.
The prima donna was created an Austrian Kammersängerin in 1934, a Prussian Kammersängerin in 1935, and gave her farewell in 1953, in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, in Der Rosenkavalier. She was appointed Professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1964.
Ursuleac's voice was not of great beauty, at least as recorded, but she was reckoned a great musician and actress. In the words of one colleague, the soprano Hildegard Ranczak
Hildegard Ranczak
Hildegard Ranczak was a Bohemian operatic soprano, particularly associated with Richard Strauss roles, and largely based in Germany....
, "Although she had a lovely, facile top, I was constantly amazed at the two hours' vocalizing she went through before each performance. Hers was, in my opinion, a marvelously constructed, not really natural voice which she used with uncanny intelligence." Ursuleac died at the age of ninety-one, in the village of Ehrwald in Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
, where she had resided since before the death in 1954 of her husband, Clemens Krauss
Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...
.
Selected discography
- Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos [without Prologue] (Berger, Rosvaenge; Krauss, 1935)
- Strauss: Friedenstag (Hotter; Krauss, 1939) [live]
- Strauss: Arabella (Krauss, 1942) [Salzburg, live]
- Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Kern, Milinkovič, Weber; Krauss, 1944) [Munich: radio performance]
- Strauss: Capriccio (Schock, Braun, Hotter, Schmitt-Walter, Töpper; Krauss, 1953) [Munich: radio performance]
- Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (Hotter; Krauss, 1944) [live]
- Wagner: Tristan und Isolde [as Brangäne] (Flagstad, Svanholm, Hotter; Erich Kleiber, 1948) [live]
External links
- Viorica Ursuleac in an excerpt from Capriccio (1942, audio only).