Elisabeth Rethberg

Elisabeth Rethberg (22 September 1894 – 6 June 1976) was a German operatic soprano singer who was 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. She later studied singing with Estelle Liebling in New York City.[2]

Career

Rethberg sang with the Dresden Opera until 1922, when 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 Opera for 20 seasons, singing 30 roles on stage. Her four Met opening nights (Die Walküre, Marriage of Figaro and two times Aida) 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 from 1934 to 1939. She sang for the Salzburg Festival in Austria, audiences in Milan and elsewhere in Europe.

Rethberg returned often to Dresden. 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, which some attribute to the frequent singing of Aida and other heavier roles.[3] 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 include live Metropolitan Opera recordings of her role in the complete operas by Mozart, Verdi and Wagner. These records include Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, 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").

Rethberg had a distinctive lyrical but focused voice that was at once extremely feminine and penetrating. Though her voice was not then at its prime, she is heard to greatest effect in live recordings later in her career 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 full recordings 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. 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[4] 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. Dean Fowler, Alandra (1994). Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices (PhD). University of Arizona.
  3. J. B. Steane. Voices: singers and critics. London: Duckworth, 1992, pp. 125–135.
  4. Cook, Ida (2008). Safe Passage. Harlequin. p. 297. ISBN 9781426823862. Retrieved 25 April 2018. Elisabeth Rethberg Mutual.
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