Gertrude Förstel

Gertrude Förstel (21 December 1880 – 7 June 1950) was a German operatic soprano and an academic voice teacher. She performed the soprano solo in Mahler's Fourth Symphony internationally, and participated in the premieres of Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland and Mahler's Eighth Symphony.

Gertrude Förstel
Förstel in 1902
Born(1880-12-21)21 December 1880
Leipzig, German Empire
Died7 June 1950(1950-06-07) (aged 69)
Bad Godesberg, Germany
Other namesGertrude Förstel-Link[1]
Occupation
Organization

Career

Born in Leipzig the daughter of a member of the Gewandhausorchester, she was supposed to be a pianist, studied piano at the Leipzig Conservatory and made her debut in 1897 in Werdau. Angelo Neumann noticed her voice, and he supported her studies in Berlin with Bertha Niklas-Kempner and in Dresden with Aglaja Orgeni. She made her operatic debut at the Deutsches Theater Prag, which Neumann directed, on 1 September 1900 as Amina in Bellini's Die Nachtwandlerin. She performed the part of Nuri in the premiere of Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland there on 15 November 1903.[2]

On 11 April 1905 she appeared as a guest at the Wiener Hofoper as Sulamith in Die Königin von Saba, where she was then engaged as member from 1906 to 1912. She appeared as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss when the opera was staged in Vienna for the first time in 1911.[2]

From 1904 to 1912, she performed several times at the Bayreuth Festival, in parts such as Waldvogel in Siegfried, and Woglinde in Der Ring des Nibelungen, among others.[2]

In concert, she participated in 1910 in the premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony. Her performance of the soprano solo in Mahler's Fourth Symphony, delivered also in Paris, has been regarded as one of her best achievements.[2]

After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher at the Musikhochschule Köln.[2] One of her students was Ilse Hollweg.[3]

References
  1. BMLO 2017.
  2. Kutsch & Riemens 2003.
  3. Bayreuth 2017.

Literature
  • Ludwig Eisenberg : Großes biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrhundert. Verlag von Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p. 267f.

Bibliography
  • Kutsch, Karl-Josef; Riemens, Leo, eds. (2003). Förstel, Gertrude. Großes Sängerlexikon (in German). 1 (4th ed.). Franc–Kaidanoff. p. 1503. ISBN 3-598-11598-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Gertrude Förstel" (in German). Bayerisches Musiker Lexikon Online. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  • "Ilse Hollweg". Bayreuth Festival. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
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