Elisabeth Grümmer
Elisabeth Grümmer was one of the favorite German sopranos of the middle two decades of the twentieth century.
She was born Elisabeth Schilz in Alsace-Lorraine. When the French regained the territory in 1918, her family moved to Meiningen. She studied drama at the university, and then started a successful career as a stage and film actress. Her stage training included training of her voice.
She moved to Aachen after marriage to Detlef Grümmer, the concertmaster of the orchestra there. She said that it was the sound of his violin, when he played cantabile, legato, that led her to understand the nature of singing. The music director at Aachen at that time was Herbert von Karajan, who cast her as one of the Flower Maidens in Wagner's Parsifal (Aachen, 1940). Soon she sang the leading role of Octavian in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, with her tall, slim figure making her especially convincing in this leading male role. (One critic rhapsodized that she "looked like a Botticelli Madonna in Gluck's Orpheus.")
In 1942 to 1944 she was engaged at that Duisberg Opera as the primary soprano for lyrical roles. During the war, her husband was killed in an air raid, in the basement of their home, holding his violin. She said he was her only love, and never remarried. After the end of the war, she joined the Städtische Oper of West Berlin (now the Deutsche Oper), which was her primary professional association throughout her career, remaining with that major company through 1972.
Her British debut was at Covent Garden in 1952, followed by an Edinburgh Festival in 1952, and she appeared at Bayreuth from 1957 to 1961. Her American debut was with the New York City Opera in Der Rosenkavalier (as the Marshallin) in 1967. She sang seven times with the Metropolitan Opera in that same year, as Elsa in Lohengrin. The first six of these were on tour; the seventh was her only appearance in the Metropolitan Opera House itself. By that time critics had been noticing some deterioration of her voice on and off for a few years, but, as she said at the time of the tour, "Granny can still do it."
She also appeared at Glyndebourne, the Hamburg Staatsoper, in East Berlin and Dresden, the Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Rome Opera, and Teatro Colón.
She excelled in the more noble and lyrical roles-the Marshallin, Octavian, the Countesses of Mozart (the Marriage of Figaro) and Strauss (Capriccio), Pamina, Euridice in Gluck's Orpheus, Ilia in Idomeneo, Eva in Meistersinger, and Elsa in Lohengrin, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, and sang Ellen Orford in the first German production of Britten's Peter Grimes. By all accounts, her dramatic training served her well, helping to make her portrayals more convincing.
It has been suggested that the vocal decline of the 1960s was caused by an ill-advised turn to the dramatic soprano repertory. She sang Electra in Idomeneo in 1961 and 1962 at Salzburg, and Dona Anna in Don Giovanni shortly afterward.
As a recording artist, she made several notable discs, although the surplus of her voice type (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Lisa della Casa, Irmgard Seefried, and Sena Jurinac were all close contemporaries) meant that she never recorded her leading Strauss roles in their entirety. She was a noted recitalist, but was surprisingly stiff in that style of singing on recordings.
Her farewell stage performance was at the Deutsche Opera in 1972 (as the Marshallin). She actively taught in Lucerne and Paris after her stage retirement.
© TiVo
-
Wagner: Tannhäuser (Stereo Version, Dresden Version)
Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Franz Konwitschny, Hans Hopf, Elisabeth Grümmer
Classical - Lançado por BNF Collection em 01/01/1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Die Schöpfung Hob.XXI:2 (The Creation) by Karl Forster
Karl Forster, Berliner Symphoniker, Elisabeth Grümmer
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 01/03/2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elisabeth Grümmer Sings Mozart, Schubert, Brahms & Wolf
Elisabeth Grümmer, Arthur Grumiaux, Hugo Diez, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Karl Münchinger
Classical - Lançado por SWR Classic em 01/01/2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
Rudolf Kempe, Berliner Philharmoniker, Elisabeth Grümmer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Chor der St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale Berlin
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 01/01/1955
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245
Karl Forster, Berliner Symphoniker, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Elisabeth Grümmer
Classical - Lançado por Warner Classics em 16/02/2018
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ferenc Fricsay Portrait - Mozart: Requiem; Adagio & Fugue
Classical - Lançado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) em 01/01/1994
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vocal legends (volume 11) (Elisabeth Grümmer, soprano)
Classical - Lançado por Ars Produktion em 27/07/2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elisabeth Grümmer chante Mozart
Elisabeth Grümmer, Munich Radio Orchestra, Kurt Peter Eichhorn, Rudolf Schock, Theo Adam
Opera Extracts - Lançado por BR-Klassik em 01/01/2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Les maîtres chanteurs de Nuremberg (Mono Version)
Elisabeth Grümmer, Ferdinand Frantz, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe
Classical - Lançado por BNF Collection em 01/01/2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Singt Lieder von Franz Schubert und Johannes Brahms (Album of 1958)
Elisabeth Grümmer, Gerald Moore
Classical - Lançado por Casta Diva em 01/12/2022
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die schönste Stimme der Romantik, Vol. 8
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Documents 2 em 13/12/2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lebendige Vergangenheit - Elisabeth Grümmer
Classical - Lançado por Preiser Records em 20/03/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Der Freischütz (Stereo Version)
Elisabeth Grümmer, Rudolf Schock, Berliner Philharmoniker, Joseph Keilberth
Miscellaneous - Lançado por BNF Collection em 01/01/1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Classical - Lançado por Urania Records em 06/11/2020
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vom Himmel hoch...
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rita Streich, Elisabeth Grümmer, Erna Berger
Christmas Music - Lançado por audite Musikproduktion em 13/11/2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hänsel und Gretel
Opera - Lançado por Naxos em 19/12/2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber, C.: Freischutz (Der) (Furtwangler) (1954)
Opera - Lançado por Music and Arts Programs of America em 12/07/2000
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Humperdinck: Hansel et Gretel (Mono Version)
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth Grümmer, Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Miscellaneous - Lançado por BNF Collection em 01/01/1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert, Brahms & Others: Art Songs (Live)
Elisabeth Grümmer, Hugo Dietz, Hertha Klust
Classical - Lançado por Andromeda em 28/04/2011
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ein deutsches Requiem
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Grümmer, Chor der St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe
Choral Music (Choirs) - Lançado por Naxos em 01/01/1955
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gioachino Rossini: Stabat Mater (1953)
Classical - Lançado por Classical Moments em 04/02/2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo