Rita Streich
Rita Streich, a light lyric coloratura, was the child of a Russian mother and a German prisoner-of-war father. Circuitously, the family made its way to Berlin where Streich grew up, and studied with Maria Ivogün, Erna Berger, and Willi Domgraf-Fassbänder (the father of Brigitte, and Germany's leading Papageno between wars). She made her debut in 1943 at Aussig (today Ústí nad Labem on the northern border of the Czech Republic), singing Zerbinetta in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. In 1946, she became a member of the Berlin Staatsoper in the Unter den Linden, featured as Blonde in Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio and Olympia in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. There, until 1951, she also sang Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. During two subsequent seasons at the Städtische Oper, temporarily relocated in the Theater des Westens, she sang Zerbinetta, Konstanze this time in The Seraglio, and the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute. In 1952 - 1953 she was the Woodbird in Wagner's Siegfried at the reopened Bayreuth Festival, then joined the Vienna State Opera, where she remained a member until her retirement from the stage in 1972. Streich made frequent guest appearances at Munich, however, and in 1954 debuted at London (Zerlina and Susanna, in Mozart's Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, respectively), the Salzburg Festival (as Aennchen in Der Freischütz under Furtwängler), and Rome (Sophie again). La Scala came later on.
The soprano made her U.S. debut in 1957 at San Francisco, singing two performances each as Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Zerbinetta in Ariadne, and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. She returned in 1959 for two more Zerbinettas, but in 1960 switched to the Chicago Lyric Opera -- a house too capacious for her voice. She appeared three times as Susanna in Figaro, and repeated the role in 1962, adding three more performances as Amor in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. These were her last American opera appearances. Her voice was a small instrument for all the purity and technical control, better suited to a small theater such as Glyndebourne, where she appeared for the first time in 1958 as Zerbinetta. During the 1950s, Streich became a best-selling name on recordings as Zerbinetta, Sophie, Susanna, Aennchen, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Blonde, but especially on recital discs that included coloratura stunt-fluff as well as music by Mozart, Schubert, Wolf, Richard Strauss, even Milhaud -- most carefully chosen for the fach and size of her voice, although not always temperamentally suitable.
In the 1960s ,she appeared in Viennese operettas as well as operatic repertory, generously documented on German broadcast tapes of live performances. Streich retired from the stage in 1972 to teach at Essen, but returned four years later to Vienna, where she continued to teach, and where she died at the age of sixty-six. In the 1950s, and for some years after, she was considered the foremost German coloratura of her generation, often likened to her ageless teacher Erna Berger.
© TiVo
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Rita Streich - Folksongs & Lullabies
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J. Strauss II: Der Zigeunerbaron
Grace Bumbry, Rita Streich, Nicolai Gedda, Franz Allers, Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 30.06.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best of Mozart's The Magic Flute
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ernest Haefliger, Rita Streich
Oper - Erschienen bei Past Classics am 21.04.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rita Streich - The Viennese Nightingale
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg am 01.01.2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Der Barbier von Sevilla - Highlights (Sung in German)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.09.1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rita Streich - Waltzes and Arias
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rita Streich sings Immortal Melodies
Rita Streich, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kurt Gaebel
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Rita Streich
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 01.08.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Le pâtre sur le rocher (Mono Version)
Rita Streich, Heinrich Geuser, Michael Raucheisen
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Symphony Nos. 26 & 30; Divertimento, K. 136; Arias
Rita Streich, Camerata Salzburg, Bernhard Paumgartner
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1961
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carl Maria von Weber: Der Freischütz, J 277 (1955), Volume 1
Elisabeth Grümmer, Rita Streich, Hans Hopf
Oper - Erschienen bei Classical Moments am 04.03.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rita Streich singt Opern-Arien
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rita Streich sings Mozart Opera Arias 2
Rita Streich, Ferenc Fricsay, RIAS Symphonie-Orchester
Klassik - Erschienen bei G.O.P. am 31.05.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: L'enlèvement au sérail (Mono Version)
Rita Streich, Ernst Haefliger, RIAS Symphonie-Orchester, Ferenc Fricsay
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1900
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rheinberger: Der Stern von Bethlehem, Op. 164
Rita Streich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Symphonieorchester Graunke, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Robert Heger
Klassik - Erschienen bei Carus am 01.12.1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rita Streich - Königin der Koloratur, Vol. 9
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Documents 2 am 13.12.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Mono Version)
Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ferenc Fricsay, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rita Streich
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.11.1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vom Himmel hoch...
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rita Streich, Elisabeth Grümmer, Erna Berger
Weihnachtsmusik - Erschienen bei audite Musikproduktion am 13.11.2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Les Pêcheurs de perles (1950)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Walhall Eternity Series am 01.07.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart · die zauberflöte
Rita Streich, Josef Greindl, Ferenc Fricsay, RIAS-Symphonie-Orcheste
Klassik - Erschienen bei G.O.P. am 01.11.1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anthologie du Lied, vol. 2 (Mono Version)
Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo