Anna Grobecker

Anna Grobecker, born 27 July 1829 in Breslau (which was then part of the Kingdom of Prussia), died 27 September 1908 in Althofen, Austria, was a German mezzo-soprano who appeared in many operas and operettas. She was a skilled comic actress and was most popular in "trousers roles".[1]

Anna Grobecker in an 1869 caricature by Karel Klíč

She was the daughter of opera singers Franz Mejo and Rosa Mejo-Straub, one of their seven children, all of whom had stage careers.[2] Anna was trained as an actress by Carl Herbold and as a singer by her mother.

She made her debut in Magdeburg in 1844, appeared in Leipzig in 1848, and performed in Berlin from 1850 - 1858, where she specialised in soubrette roles.[2] In 1858, during a guest appearance in Budapest, she was seen by Johann Nestroy, who brought her to Vienna.[1] There she appeared at the Carltheater in operettas, especially in the works of Jacques Offenbach and Franz von Suppé, until 1871.[2]

Anna Grobecker was the first operetta singer to be invited to perform for the Imperial Court in Vienna, in 1861.[2] In 1865, she made a guest appearance at the Meysels-Theater, Berlin, creating the trousers part of Ganymed in Suppe's Die schöne Galathée.[3] In 1869, she made guest appearances in Paris, by the arrangement of Offenbach, and was known as "the Queen of the trousers roles".[2] She was married to actor Phillip Grobecker between 1856 and 1860.[2]

She retired in 1874 and divided her time between Italy and Austria.[2]

References
  1. Eisenberg, Ludwig (1903). Großes biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrhundert. Leipzig: Paul List. p. 352.
  2. "Grobecker (geb. Mejo), Anna Franz". www.musiklexikon.ac.at (in German). Institut für kunst- und musikhistorische. 2002. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  3. Lamb, Andrew (2001). "Schöne Galathee, Die". In Root, Deane L. (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Oxford University Press. ‎
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