Description

ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK (ERNESTINE AMALIE PAULINE RÖSSLER) (LIBEŇ, KINGDOM OF BOHEMIA, AUSTRIAN EMPIRE, 15 JUNE, 1861 – HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, 17 NOVEMBER, 1936)

 

 

 

 

Her father was a major in the Austrian army. She trained under Mariette von Leclair in Graz. At the age of 15, she sang the alto solo in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Graz. Her stage debut came in 1878 at the Dresden Court Opera under the name Tini Rössler, performing as Azucena in Il Trovatore. She continued her studies in Dresden with Karl Krebs and Franz Wüllner.

In 1882, she married Ernst Heink, the secretary of the Dresden Opera, but they later separated. The same year, she joined the Kroll Opera in Berlin, and in 1883, the Hamburg Opera, where she remained for 16 years. From 1892 onward, she frequently appeared as a guest artist at the Berlin Court Opera, and in 1902–03 at the German Theatre in Prague. In 1903, she also performed at the Munich Court Opera and the Zurich City Theatre.

In 1892, she made her highly successful debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the premiere of the Ring Cycle under Gustav Mahler, singing Fricka, Erda, Waltraute, as well as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde. In 1894, she married Paul Schumann (1859–1904), director of the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg, as her second husband.

From 1896 to 1914, her artistry as a Wagnerian singer was celebrated at the Bayreuth Festival, performing a wide variety of roles: Mary in The Flying Dutchman, Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Erda, Waltraute, Grimgerde, Siegrune, the First Norn in the Ring Cycle, and the Voice from Above in Parsifal. From 1897 to 1900, she was a regular guest at Covent Garden. In 1897, she gave concerts in Amsterdam, in 1903 in Paris, and in 1909 recitals in Vienna.

She made her North American debut in 1898 in Chicago. In 1899, she was invited to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, debuting as Ortrud in Lohengrin, and performed there until 1932. At the Met, she sang 17 roles in 157 performances over 14 seasons, mostly from the Wagner repertoire. In 1925, she achieved sensational success as Erda, repeating it in 1929 and 1932 at the age of 70. From 1911 to 1916, she sang with the Chicago Opera.

During the First World War, she gave numerous concerts for American soldiers, who affectionately called her “Mother Schumann-Heink” (one of her sons from her first marriage was serving in the German army at the same time). Guest appearances and concerts brought her great triumphs in international musical centers. On January 25, 1909, she sang Klytämnestra in the world premiere of Richard Strauss’s Elektra at the Dresden Court Opera. In 1928, she undertook a very successful tour of Japan.

Since 1905, she had been married (her third husband) to the lawyer William Rapp in Chicago, from whom she separated in 1914. She had a total of 13 children from her first two marriages. She became an American citizen in 1908.

In 1932, she took her final bow at the Metropolitan Opera as Erda in the Ring Cycle. Having lost almost her entire fortune in the 1929 stock market crash, she resumed an intensive concert career. In 1935, at age 74, she achieved unexpected success in the American sound film Here’s to Romance. She might have embarked on a major film career, but she died the following year.

Ernestine Schumann-Heink was arguably one of the most important contraltos of her generation. Her voice combined consummate technique with compelling dramatic expressiveness. Her inexhaustible stage repertoire comprised 150 roles. She also appeared on Broadway in New York in the comic opera Love’s Lottery (1904) and in 1931 as Katisha in Jones’ operetta The Mikado.

Literature: M. Lawton, Schumann-Heink, the Last of the Titans (1928).

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Wie ein Grüßen (folk song) — Ger.
1900; matrix number unknown (Zonophone)

LE PROPHÈTE: Ah! mon fils (Meyerbeer) — Fr.
1903; 1378-1 (Columbia 1378)

LUCREZIA BORGIA: Il segreto per esser felice (Trinklied) (Donizetti) — Ger.
1903; 1379-1 (Columbia 1379)

LUCREZIA BORGIA: Il segreto per esser felice (Trinklied) (Donizetti) — Ger.
1903; 1379-2 (Columbia 1379)

SAMSON UND DALILA: Sieh, mein Herz [Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix] (Saint-Saëns) — Ger.
1903; 1380-1 (Columbia 1380)

SAMSON UND DALILA: Sieh, mein Herz [Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix] (Saint-Saëns) — Ger.
1903; 1380-2 (Columbia 1380)

Leggiero invisibile (Bolero) (Arditi) — It.
1903; 1381-2 (Columbia 1381)

Der Tod und das Mädchen (Schubert) — Ger.
1903; 1382-1 (Columbia 1382)

SAMSON UND DALILA: Sieh, mein Herz [Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix] (Saint-Saëns) — Ger.
31 I 1906; C 2976-1 (Victor 85094)

DER PROPHET: Ach, mein Sohn [Ah! mon fils] (Meyerbeer) — Ger.
31 I 1906; C 2977-1 (Victor 85095)

LUCREZIA BORGIA: Il segreto per esser felice (Trinklied) (Donizetti) — Ger.
31 I 1906; C 2978-1 (Victor 85096)

LOVE’S LOTTERY: Sweet Thoughts of Home (J. Edwards) — Eng.
31 I 1906; C 2979-1 (Victor 85092)

SAINT PAUL: And He Journeyed with His Companions — recitative /
But the Lord is Mindful of His Own — aria (Mendelssohn) — Eng.
31 I 1906; C 2980-1 (Victor 85093)

RINALDO: Lascia ch’io pianga (Handel) — It.
21 IX 1906; C 3825-1 (Victor 85112)

Wiegenlied (Brahms) — Ger.
21 IX 1906; B 3826-1 (Victor 81085)

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt (Tchaikovsky) — Ger.
21 IX 1906; C 3827-1 (Victor 85113)

MIGNON: Kennst du das Land? (Thomas) — Ger.
24 VII 1907; C 4700-1 (Victor 88090)

Leggiero invisibile (Bolero) (Arditi) — It.
24 VII 1907; C 4701-1 (Victor 88093)

Erinnerungszeit (R. Becker) — Ger.
24 VII 1907; B 4702-1 (Victor 87012)

Der Tod und das Mädchen (Schubert) — Ger.
24 VII 1907; B 4703-1 (Victor 87013)

ORPHEUS UND EURYDIKE: Ach, ich habe sie verloren (Gluck) — Ger.
30 VII 1907; C 4731-1 (Victor 88091)

DAS RHEINGOLD: Weiche, Wotan, weiche! (Wagner) — Ger.
with Herbert Witherspoon, bass
30 VII 1907; C 4732-1 (Victor 88092)

LE PROPHÈTE: Prison Scene (Meyerbeer) — Fr.
Ô prêtres de Baal
26 XI 1907; C 4838-2 (Victor 88094)

LE PROPHÈTE: Prison Scene (Meyerbeer) — Fr.
Il va venir
26 XI 1907; C 4839-1 (Victor 88095)

The Rosary (Nevin) — Eng.
29 I 1908; C 5041-1 (Victor 88108)

His Lullaby (Bond) — Eng.
29 I 1908; C 5042-2 (Victor 88118)

Es ist bestimmt in Gottes Rat (Mendelssohn) — Ger.
28 IX 1908; C 6471-1 (Victor 88155)

Irish Love Song (Lang) — Eng.
28 IX 1908; B 6473-1 (Victor 87022)

Treue Liebe (Ach, wie ist’s möglich dann?) (Thuringian Folk Song) — Ger.
28 IX 1908; B 6474-1 (Victor 87021)

SAMSON UND DALILA: Sieh, mein Herz [Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix] (Saint-Saëns) — Ger.
29 IX 1908; C 2976-2 (Victor 85094)

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Gruber) — Ger.
29 IX 1908; C 6472-2 (Victor 88138)

RIENZI: Gerechter Gott! (Wagner) — Ger.
29 IX 1908; C 6478-1 (Victor 88140)

The Danza (Chadwick) — Eng.
29 IX 1908; B 6479-2 (Victor 87020)

I und mei Bua (Millscker) — Ger.
29 IX 1908; C 6480-2 (Victor 88139)

LUCREZIA BORGIA: Il segreto per esser felice (Trinklied) (Donizetti) — Ger.
17 IX 1909; C 2978-2 (Victor 88188)

SAPHO: Ô ma lyre immortelle (Gounod) — Fr.
17 IX 1909; C 8232-1 (Victor 88212)

Mondnacht (Schumann) — Ger.
17 IX 1909; C 8233-1 (Victor 88197)

The Children’s Prayer (Reger) — Eng.
Liebesfeier (Weingartner) — Ger.
17 IX 1909; B 8234-2 (Victor 87032)

Bärbchen (Hermann) — Ger.
Schlafliedchen (Hermann) — Ger.
17 IX 1909; C 8235-1 (Victor 88400)

SAMSON UND DALILA: Sieh, mein Herz [Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix] (Saint-Saëns) — Ger.
18 IX 1909; C 2976-4 (Victor 88190)

LE PROPHÈTE: Ah! mon fils (Meyerbeer) — Fr.
18 IX 1909; C 2977-2 (Victor 88187)

SAINT PAUL: And He Journeyed with His Companions — recitative /
But the Lord Is Mindful of His Own — aria (Mendelssohn) — Eng.
18 IX 1909; C 2980-2 (Victor 88191)

RINALDO: Lascia ch’io pianga (Handel) — It.
18 IX 1909; C 3825-2 (Victor 88189)

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO: Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio (Mozart) — It.
18 IX 1909; C 8231-3 (Victor 88196)