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

 

 

Fliegende Holländer (Wagner) Traft ihr das Schiff (Ballade) Rxx76770 xxB6429 Odeon, Berlin 1919-06

Huguenots (Meyerbeer) Welch’ ein Schreck… Ach! Dies Herz (w. Knüpfer) 044279, 044280, 857m, 858m Grammophon, Berlin 1915-10

Märchen (von Schillings) (pf von Schillings) Rxx76772 xxB6451 Odeon, Berlin 1919-06-30

Mona Lisa (von Schillings) Ein Wunder, ein Wunder (w. Mann) Rxx80739 xxB6694 Odeon, Berlin 1921

Mona Lisa (von Schillings) Fiordalisa (w. Mann) Rxx80738 xxB6693 Odeon, Berlin 1921

Rosenkavalier (Strauss) Die Zeit, sie ist ein sonderbar Ding 4-043017 CDR4683-2 HMVElectrola, Berlin 1927-06-10

Rosenkavalier (Strauss) Ich weiss auch nix… Hab’ mir’s gelobt (w. Claire & Reinhardt) 4-049300, 4-049301, CLR4151-1, CLR4153-1 HMVElectrola, Berlin 1928-05-18 (actual performance)

Rosenkavalier (Strauss) Kann mich auch an ein Mädel erinnern… Die Zeit, sie ist ein sonderbar Ding 4-043016, 4-043017, CDR4682-2, CDR4683-2 HMVElectrola, Berlin 1927-06-10

Rosenkavalier (Strauss) Mein schöner Schatz (w. Reinhardt) HMB188 CLR4143-1 HMVElectrola, Berlin 1928-05-18 (actual performance)

Salome (Strauss) Ah! Jochanaan, du warst schön… Ah! Ich habe deinen Mund geküsst Rxx76242, Rxx76243, xxB6662-2, xxB6663 Odeon, Berlin 1921-07

Tannhäuser (Wagner) Dich, teure Halle Rxx76771 xxB6431 Odeon, Berlin 1919-06

Trovatore (Verdi) Es glänzte schon das Sternenheer Rxx76766 xxB6432 Odeon, Berlin 1919-06

Trovatore (Verdi) In deines Kerkers tiefe Nacht Rxx76767 xxB6433 Odeon, Berlin 1919-06

Trovatore (Verdi) O Gott, du schweigst (w. Dornay & Vilmar) 044282 898m Grammophon, Berlin 1915

Trovatore (Verdi) Wilde Eifersucht im Herzen (w. Kemp & Börgesen) 044281 899m Gramophone, Berlin 1915

Wie wundersam (von Schillings) (pf von Schillings) Rxx76797 xxB6449Odeon, Berlin 1919-06-30