Description

BERTHA ANNA SOPHIE KIURINA (BERTA KIURINA-LEUER) (VIENNA, 19 FEBRUARY, 1882 – VIENNA, 4 MAY, 1933)

 

 

 

 

She initially studied piano at the Vienna Conservatory with Fischhof, and later voice with Geiringer. She made her debut in 1904 at the theater in her hometown of Linz. In 1905, she was engaged by the Vienna Court Opera (since 1918 the Vienna State Opera), making her inaugural appearance as the Shepherd Boy in Tannhäuser, and remained a member of the ensemble until 1922. Among her roles there were Arsena in the first performance of Johann Strauss’s operetta The Gypsy Baron at the Vienna Court Opera in 1910, a part in the premiere of Eugen d’Albert’s Die verschenkte Frau (The Gifted Woman) in 1912, and Ighino in the first performance of Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina in 1919.

In 1906, she appeared as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at the Salzburg Mozart Festival, a role she sang again at the Salzburg Festival in 1927. At that same festival she also took on the soprano solo in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. Until 1927, she continued to appear regularly as a guest at the Vienna State Opera, including in the 1926 premiere of Puccini’s Turandot.

Her guest engagements took her to the opera houses of Brno, Zagreb, Belgrade, Budapest, Trieste, Breslau, and to the Berlin Municipal Opera. In 1928, she achieved great success during an extended guest appearance at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She also enjoyed a distinguished career as a concert soloist, frequently performing contemporary works; she was particularly admired as an interpreter of Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder.

Her first marriage was to the tenor Hubert Leuer (born 1880 in Cologne, died March 8, 1969, in Vienna), who was also a member of the Vienna Court Opera.

A coloratura soprano of exceptional beauty, she was especially admired for the effortless agility of her voice in the highest registers. Her repertoire was unusually wide-ranging, extending beyond coloratura parts to include roles such as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, Nedda in Pagliacci, and Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

She recorded for Odeon, Zonophone, Polydor, Polyphon, Parlophon, and Ultraphon. In 1914, she sang two duets with her husband Hubert Leuer for Pathé in Vienna, which remain the only recordings of his voice.

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Carmen (Bizet) Arie der Micaëla 38033 Pathé cylinders & discs, Wien 1905/1906

Carmen (Bizet) Arietta 38034 Pathé cylinders & discs, Wien 1905/1906

Carmen (Bizet) Ich sprach, dass ich furchtlos 30350 E 287 Ultraphon, Berlin 1930

Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) O verzeih Geliebter 50240 228-229 as Polyphon

Domino Noir (Auber) Arie der Angela 38038 Pathé cylinders & discs, Wien 1905/1906

Euryanthe (Weber) Glöcklein im Tale 50169 230 as Polyphon

Faust (Gounod) Blümlein traut X-23320 Zonophone, Wien 1908

Figaros Hochzeit (Mozart) Ihr, die ihr Triebe O-6566 xxB 7854 Odeon 1927

Freut euch des Lebens op.340 (Johann Strauss) 66645 804 as Grammophon

Hugenotten (Meyerbeer) Eine holde edle Dame X-23321 Zonophone, Wien 1908

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) Sextett (w. von Kellersperg, Reinhardt, Ritter, Melms & Stehmann) X-24393 Zonophone, Wien 1908

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Eines Tages sehn wir O-6566 xxB 7853 Odeon 1927

Margarethe (Gounod) Ha welch Glück E 287 30349 Ultraphon, Berlin 1930

Margarethe (Gounod) Wollet Boten mir sein (Siebels Arie) X-23320 Zonophone, Wien 1908

Rigoletto (Verdi) Quartett with Kiurina, Melms and von Kellersperg X-24392 Zonophone, Wien 1908

Tosca (Puccini) Nur der Schönheit 50169 233 as Polyphon 1922

Wo die Zitronen blühn op.364 (Johann Strauss) 66645 803 as Grammophon

Zauberflöte (Mozart) Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen (w. Moser) X38307 Vx1381 Odeon, Wien 1906-05/07

Zauberflöte (Mozart) Papageno, Papagena (w. Moser) X38308 Vx1382 Odeon, Wien 1906-05/07

Zauberflöte (Mozart) Papageno-Duett (w. Moser) 38069 Pathé cylinders & discs, Wien 1905/1906