Hilde Güden
Hilde Gueden (born Hulda Geiringer) was among the extraordinary young Mozart/Strauss singers who emerged from Vienna immediately after WWII and who dominated Mozart performance well into the 1960s. Gueden's considerable ease in the top register destined her to sing the lighter roles of Richard Strauss and she made a mark in operetta as well, achieving celebrity in the works of Johann Strauss, Lehár, and others. She was a trim, sparkling personality on stage; as a Decca artist, she left numerous recordings of her best roles.
Of Austrian, Italian, and Hungarian ancestry, Gueden's parents mixed finance and the arts: Gueden's father was a banker, while her mother was an actress. Gueden began her musical training at age seven with piano lessons, and began to study voice seven years later. When she was only 16, she was brought to the attention of operetta composer Robert Stolz who offered her a part in his Servus, servus; Gueden's performance immediately endeared her to the Viennese public. During the performance run the young soprano studied ballet privately and took courses in acting at the Max Reinhardt Academy, all with an eye toward the operatic stage.
With the Anschluss, Gueden escaped to Switzerland where she auditioned for the Zurich Opera. Engaged on the spot, Gueden made her debut in 1939 as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. Numerous other roles came in the aftermath of her success and she remained in Zurich for two years. Family matters called her back to Vienna in 1941 and, finding herself unable to leave her home country, she accepted an engagement in Munich where she appeared first with conductor Clemens Krauss as Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Composer Richard Strauss attended a performance of Così fan tutte and, struck by the beauty and splendid vocal resources of the young singer, urged Gueden to study the role of Sophie in his Der Rosenkavalier. After taking his advice, Gueden made her Italian debut as Sophie at the Rome Opera in December 1942. Given her intense dislike for the Nazi regimes in both Austria and Germany, Gueden elected to remain in Italy. When the Nazis occupied that country, she simply withdrew from performing for the duration of the war, seeking shelter first in Venice, then in a rural town near Milan.
Following the conclusion of hostilities, Gueden returned to Austria and was invited to the Salzburg Festival in 1946 where she debuted in the signature role of Zerlina. That same year, she was engaged by the Vienna Staatsoper where she remained a treasured artist until 1973. In 1947, she sang at Covent Garden for the first time and, in 1951, she began a relationship with the Metropolitan Opera which lasted for nine seasons and embraced more than 100 performances in 13 roles. For the Metropolitan, she created the role of Anne Truelove in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress in a production coming shortly after the work's Venice premiere. Among other roles in New York, Gueden sang both Musetta and Mimì in La bohème, Zerlina, Susanna, Sophie, Zdenka, and Rosalinde.
At Salzburg, Gueden offered a saucy performance of the title role in Strauss' Die Schweigsame Frau in 1959, and, in Vienna, a radiant Daphne in 1964, both productions captured on disc. Her cherishable Sophie was preserved on commercial recording under Erich Kleiber.
© TiVo
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Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier - excerpts
Elisabeth Söderström, Régine Crespin, Hilde Güden, Heinz Holecek, Silvio Varviso, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. le 13 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 4 (1955)
Hilde Güden, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Classique - Paru chez Classical Moments le 29 nov. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Thousand and One Nights
Hilde Güden, Willy Boskovsky, Josef Krips
Classique - Paru chez Ginkgo Classical le 31 mars 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gounod: Faust (Mono Version)
Nicolai Gedda, Jerome Hines, Hilde Güden, Jean-Paul Morel
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hilde Gueden - The Early Years
Classique - Paru chez Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. le 20 mai 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart · le nozze di figaro
Cesare Siepi, Hilde Güden, Erich Kleiber, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez G.O.P. le 31 juil. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Georges Bizet: Carmen
Giulietta Simionato, Nicolai Gedda, Hilde Güden
Opéra - Paru chez Urania le 1 janv. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orfeo Ed Euridice
Fedora Barbieri, Hilde Güden, Magda Gabory
Opéra - Paru chez Urania le 1 janv. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Rigoletto
Aldo Protti, Hilde Güden, Mario del Monaco
Opéra - Paru chez Urania le 11 août 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hilde Güden - Wie die Welt sie kannte
Classique - Paru chez Preiser Records le 25 oct. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi · rigoletto
Aldo Protti, Hilde Güden, Alberto Erede, Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia
Classique - Paru chez G.O.P. le 17 août 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hilde Güden - Die frühen Aufnahmen (1942-1951)
Classique - Paru chez Preiser Records le 7 févr. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Secret Heart
Classique - Paru chez Decca Music Group Ltd. le 1 janv. 2014
5 de Diapason16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, October 19, 1952)
Pop - Paru chez SOFA - AV Catalog DD le 19 nov. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Arias - Mozart, Puccini, Massenet, Bizet, Mussorgsky, Bellini, Gounod (Remastered 2024)
Hilde Güden, Raphael Arie, Anton Dermota, London Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips
Classique - Paru chez Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. le 26 avr. 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Der Freischütz: Einst träumte meiner sel'gen Base
Hilde Güden, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Gerhard Steeger
Classique - Paru chez Deutsche Grammophon (DG) le 1 janv. 1942
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hilde Güden & Wiener Philharmoniker conducting Clemens Krauss - Operatic recital (Arias from Rigoletto | Le nozze di Figaro | Idomeneo)
Hilde Güden, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Clemens Krauss
Classique - Paru chez Digital World Contents S.A.S. le 30 avr. 1952
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
One Night Of Love (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, October 19, 1952)
Pop - Paru chez SOFA - AV Catalog DD le 19 nov. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sings Operetta Evergreens
Opéra - Paru chez Unchained Melodie le 1 avr. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo