Description

BARBARA KEMP (COCHEM, GERMANY, 12 DECEMBER, 1881 – BERLIN, 17 APRIL, 1959)

 

 

 

 

She studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory from 1902 to 1905 but had already been working as a trainee at the Strasbourg City Theater since 1903, where her first role was the Priestess in Aida. From 1906 to 1908, she was engaged at the Rostock City Theater, and from 1909 to 1913 at the Breslau Opera House. In Breslau, she married the physician Dr. Mickley, from whom she later separated. In 1923, she married her second husband, the renowned composer and conductor Max von Schillings (1868–1933), who served as General Director of the Berlin State Opera from 1919 to 1925. She frequently appeared in his operas, particularly in the title role of his magnum opus Mona Lisa.

In 1913, she was appointed to the Berlin Court Opera (renamed the State Opera in 1918), where she enjoyed a highly successful career. At the Berlin Opera, she appeared as Sélika in Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine, as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, as Elsa in Lohengrin, as Elektra in Strauss’s Elektra, as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, and as Mona Lisa in her husband’s opera of the same name (including the Berlin premiere of the work in 1915). In 1920, she sang in the premiere of Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.

After the First World War, she was also highly successful as a guest artist. From 1922 to 1927, she was a regular guest at the Vienna State Opera. From 1923 to 1924, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, making her debut in the title role of Max von Schillings’s Mona Lisa. In addition, she sang Kundry in Parsifal, Elsa, and Isolde. As she did not achieve the same success in New York as in Europe, she resigned from her engagement “for health reasons” after the beginning of her second season.

She also made guest appearances in The Hague and Amsterdam (including in 1925 with the Berlin State Opera as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier), in Budapest, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, and Hamburg. One of her last major successes as a singer was in 1930 as Ortrud in Lohengrin in Berlin. She finally retired from the stage in 1932 and thereafter lived in Berlin, working as a teacher. In 1938, she staged her late husband’s opera Ingwelde at the Berlin State Opera. Her success as a stage director led to further assignments, including productions of Mona Lisa and Elektra in Berlin.

Her sister, Josephine Kemp, who performed as a soubrette, was married to the conductor Klaus Nettstraeter.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Africaine (Meyerbeer) Er schlummert Rxx76703 xxB6353 Odeon, Berlin 1917

Africaine (Meyerbeer) In meinem Schoss Rxx76702 xxB6352 Odeon, Berlin 1917

Africaine (Meyerbeer) Von hier seh’ ich das Meer Rxx76598 xxB6348 Odeon, Berlin 1917

Aida (Verdi) Ich hab’ gekämpft (w. Kemp, Arndt-Ober, Jörn, Wiedemann, Krasa & chorus) 044264 1231½s Gramophone, Berlin 1913-10-24

Aida (Verdi) Ich seh’ dich wieder, meine Aida… Zur Ferne entflieh’n (w. Mann) Rxx80704, Rxx80705, xxB6691, xxB6692 Odeon, Berlin 1921-08

Aida (Verdi) Zu des Niles heil’gen Ufern (w. Kemp, Arndt-Ober, Jörn, Krasa & chorus) 044263 1232½s Gramophone, Berlin 1913-10-24

Carmen (Bizet) Ach wie so herrlich (w. Pattiera) O-7739b 21661 Odeon Berlin 1930-02-28

Carmen (Bizet) C’est toi (w. Pattiera) O-7739a 216622 Odeon Berlin 1930-02-28

Carmen (Bizet) Draussen am Wall von Sevilla (Seguidilla) 2-43472 18076L Grammophon, Berlin 1915-07

Carmen (Bizet) Ja, die Liebe hat bunte Flügel (Habanera) 2-43471 18075½L Grammophon, Berlin 1915-07

Carmen (Bizet) Wenn du die Karten einmal bitt’res Unheil künden Rxx76769 xxB6438 Odeon, Berlin 1919-06

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Als euer Sohn einst fortzog 2-43469 17915L Grammophon, Berlin 1915-05

Don Giovanni (Mozart) Über alles bleibst du teuer Rxx76700 xxB6350 Odeon, Berlin 1917

Evangelimann (Kienzl) Du teurer Mann (w. Kraus) 044284 901m Grammophon, Berlin 1915

Evangelimann (Kienzl) Wir halten uns umwunden (w. Habich & Kraus) 044285 900m Grammophon, Berlin 1915