Biography
-
Born
18 November 1891
-
Born In
Budapest, Hungary
-
Died
3 October 1987 (aged 95)
Maria Ivogün (18 November 1891, Budapest - 3 October 1987, Beatenberg, Switzerland) was a distinguished soprano singer of Hungarian origin.
She was an outstanding interpreter of the works of Mozart: her recording of the aria of the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) became legendary.
Maria Ivogün was born Ilse Kempner. Her father was the Austro-Hungarian Colonel Pál Kempner.
She created her professional name by contracting the maiden name of her mother, the Austrian operetta singer Ida von Günther.
Probably through the second marriage of her mother to a Swiss man, she spent the greater part of her childhood and youth in Zürich. From 1909 (other sources say since 1907) she began to study singing at the Music Academy in Vienna with Irene Schlemmer-Ambros, and theatre with Professors Frauscher and Stoll.
By 1916 Ivogün was reckoned among the best female singers in Europe and had roles in operas such as Fidelio (Marzelline), Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and many others.
Moreover she became well known as Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos.
In 1917 the title of Royal Bavarian Kammersängerin was bestowed upon her. In the same year she sang the boy-role of Ighino in the original production of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina opposite the tenor Karl Erb in the title-role, whom she married in 1921. As artists, with their style of singing, the couple excited the press and the public to frenetic storms of enthusiasm.
In 1932 Maria Ivogün was divorced from Karl Erb, and in 1933 she married their pianist-accompanist Michael Raucheisen.
The highly celebrated soprano made countless concert-tours and guest opera appearances both within Germany and beyond.
She appeared above all at La Scala, Milan, the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, London, the Chicago Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera New York. When she fell ill with an eye illness she ended her operatic career in 1932 and in 1934 her career as a singer of lieder.
From 1948 to 1950 Maria Ivogün taught at the Music High School in Vienna, and finally she became a professor at the Hochschule in Berlin.
She spent her twilight years in Switzerland, virtually blind. The singer's last resting place was at the side of her second husband, Michael Raucheisen, in the city cemetery of Rain, Switzerland.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
