Elisabeth Rethberg

Elisabeth Rethberg (22 September 1894 – 6 June 1976) was a German operatic soprano singer of international repute active from the period of the First World War through to the early 1940s.

Elisabeth Rethberg
Rethberg's birthplace in Schwarzenberg

Early years

Rethberg was born Lisbeth Sättler in Schwarzenberg. She studied at the Dresden Royal Conservatory with Otto Watrin, and she made her operatic debut in that German city opposite Richard Tauber on 16 June 1915 as Arsena in the operetta Der Zigeunerbaron[1] by Johann Strauss II.

Career

Rethberg sang with the Dresden Opera until 1922. In that year, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Aida in Giuseppe Verdi's opera of that name. She moved to the USA and remained with the Metropolitan for 20 seasons, singing 30 roles on stage. Her four Met opening nights ("Die Walkure", "Marriage of Figaro", "Aida"[2]) tie her with Licia Albanese as the soprano awarded most Met opening nights. She also was engaged by London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where she sang in 1925 and in 1934-1939. The Salzburg Festival in Austria heard her too, as did audiences in Milan and elsewhere in Europe. Rethberg returned often to Dresden where, in 1928, she created the title role in Richard Strauss's Die ägyptische Helena.

During the latter half of the 1930s, Rethberg's voice lost some of its luster, owing perhaps to the frequent singing of Aida and other heavier roles.[2] She retired from the stage in 1942.

She made recordings of arias and ensemble pieces in Germany and the United States between 1921 and the outbreak of the Second World War. Many of these are available on LP and CD transfers.

The most notable records of her art, however, may be the live Metropolitan Opera recordings that include her in complete operas by Mozart, Verdi and Wagner. They include Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and Otello, and Wagner's Lohengrin. Concerning her lieder discography, she was included in the 1930s Hugo Wolf Society recording project (e.g., "Müh'voll komm' ich und beladen").

At one point adjudged "the most popular soprano in the world" in a magazine survey of its readers, Rethberg had a distinctive lyric but focused voice that was at once extremely feminine and penetrating. Though her voice was not be then at its freshest, she is heard to greatest effect in live performances of Lohengrin opposite Melchior, Otello opposite Martinelli and Tibbett, and Simon Boccanegra opposite Martinelli and Tibbett. Only a few measures exist of her Leonora in Il trovatore opposite Martinelli and Bonelli. No performances exist of her most famous role Aida, though she recorded many extracts from it in the studio. A combination of live performances and studio recordings remain of her rendition of Amelia from Un Ballo in Maschera, and these possibly best illustrate the combined lyric and dramatic potential of her voice.

Personal life
Scan of a 78 rpm record paper sleeve.

Rethberg was initially married to Ernst Albert Dormann, and in 1956 she married the Russian-born Met comprimario singer George Cehanovsky[1] (1892–1986).

Death

Rethberg died in Yorktown Heights, New York, in 1976[3] at the age of 81.

References
  1. "Rethberg, Elisabeth (Real Name, Lisbeth Sattler)". Encyclopedia.com. The Gale Group, Inc. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  2. JB Steane. Voices: singers and critics. London: Duckworth; 1992: pp.125–135.
  3. Cook, Ida (2008). Safe Passage. Harlequin. p. 297. ISBN 9781426823862. Retrieved 25 April 2018. Elisabeth Rethberg Mutual.
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