Enid Szánthó | |
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| Born | (1907-03-15)15 March 1907 Budapest,Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 1997 (aged 89–90) London, UK |
| Education | Königlich-Ungarische Musikakademie Budapest |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | |
Enid Szánthó (15 March 1907 – 1997, buried 21 April 1997) was a Hungarian operaticcontralto. From 1928, she belonged to the ensemble of theVienna State Opera and appeared at theBayreuth Festival from 1930, first as Erda inDer Ring des Nibelungen. She gave guest performances in opera and concert in Florence, London, Berlin, Paris, and New York at theMetropolitan Opera, where she made her debut asFricka in 1938. Her career was de facto ended later that year whenAustria came under the Nazi regime.
Born in Budapest on 15 March 1907,[1] Szánthó was the daughter of a Hungarian ministerial councillor and an Irish mother.[2] She studied singing at theKöniglich-Ungarische Musikakademie in Budapest[3] and graduated with a diploma.[2] One of her teachers wasLaura Hilgermann. At the age of 21, she was engaged as a member of the ensemble of theVienna State Opera,[1] where she first appeared as Muschel in the Vienna premiere ofDie ägyptische Helena by Richard Strauss.[2] She performed in all evenings of Wagner'sDer Ring des Nibelungen[4] in a new production directed byLothar Wallerstein, as Erda inDas Rheingold in 1928, as Schwertleite inDie Walküre in 1930, as Erda inSiegfried, and as First Norn and Flosshilde inGötterdämmerung, both in 1931.[4]
In 1928, she made her debut at theSalzburg Festival as the Third Boy in Mozart'sDie Zauberflöte, staged by Wallerstein and conducted byFranz Schalk. She appeared first at theBayreuth Festival in 1930 inRing des Nibelungen as Erda, Waltraute, and Erste Norn, and as an Esquire and a Flower Maiden inParsifal.[1] She was regularly invited there until 1937.[3]
At the Vienna State Opera, she quickly took on central alto roles in Verdi operas, Azucena inIl trovatore in 1930, Ulrica inun ballo in maschera and Giovanna inRigoletto, both in 1930.[4] She appeared in the world premiere ofJulius Bittner'sDas Veilchen on 8 December 1934,[3] directed by Wallerstein and conducted by Krauss, and the male lead role performed byRichard Mayr.[3]
Her international career began in 1935, when she was successful as a concert soloist at theMaggio Musicale Fiorentino and on a concert tour in North America, and subsequently also sang in Berlin and Paris.[2] In 1936, she first appeared at theRoyal Opera House in London as Erda and Fricka. She made her debut in the 1937/38 season at theMetropolitan Opera in New York City as Fricka,[5] followed by Brangäne inTristan und Isolde and Klytämnestra inElektra by Richard Strauss.[citation needed]
In 1938, came the break in her career. She was no longer invited to Bayreuth, regarded as aHalf-Jew, and after the annexation of Austria she also lost her engagement at the Vienna State Opera.[1] Presumably her last performance in Vienna was Azucena in Verdi'sIl trovatore on 27 June 1938.[4][6]
She fled to the United States where she sang some performances at the Metropolitan Opera. In the autumn of 1945, she appeared in four opera and operetta productions of theNew York City Opera, as Mary in Wagner'sThe Flying Dutchman, Czipra inThe Gypsy Baron by Johann Strauss, Martha in Gounod'sFaust and Ludmilla in Smetana'sThe Bartered Bride.[7] In 1946, she sang in Paris with the ensemble of the City Opera at the ParisOpéra-Comique, as Mary, but found no permanent place of work. She earned her living as a singing teacher at theUniversity of Michigan[2] and in New York, and she occasionally gave concerts in schools and libraries.[8] After 1946, there are no traces left.
She was buried in London on 21 April 1997.[9]
Szánthó was regarded as one of the world's best contraltos of her time, especially in the dramatic roles of Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner. Her expressive, dramatic voice was generally praised.[3]
Szánthó's operatic roles included:[4]
Giordano:
Kienzl:
Korngold:
Puccini:
Smetana:
| Tchaikovsky:
Wagner:
Weber:
|
Szánthó was appreciated as a concert andoratorio singer with an extensive repertoire, ranging from Bach'sSt Matthew Passion[3] to contemporary music. She performed the alto solo in Mahler'sDas Lied von der Erde in Vienna in 1929, conducted byErwin Stein,[10] and in hisThird Symphony, conducted there in 1933 byEugen Szenkar.[11] She performed in the world premiere of Franz Schmidt's oratorioDas Buch mit sieben Siegeln in Vienna on 15 June 1938,[3] conducted byOswald Kabasta, withRudolf Gerlach-Rusnak as Johannes.
Her repertoire inlieder is best documented by performances in the U.S. At a concert at Ann Arbor High School in Michigan in 1941, she sang three songs byFranz Schubert,An die Musik,Liebesbotschaft and theErlkönig, as well as Mahler'sKindertotenlieder. At another concert there, she performed four lieder byHugo Wolf and the last two of Wagner'sWesendonck Lieder.[12] At theNew York Public Library, she performed works by her compatriotBéla Bartók.[13]
Szánthó's voice is documented in several recordings from the Vienna State Opera, for example as Schwertleite in excerpts fromDie Walküre on 1 March 1933, conducted by Krauss.[14] On Koch/Schwann, the first scene fromDas Rheingold was published, withLuise Helletsgruber, Dora With andHermann Wiedemann as Alberich. On this label, the singer can also be heard as Erda and as Magdalene in Wagner'sDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg.[3] There are private recordings of the singer's voice from theMetropolitan Opera, for example excerpts fromTristan und Isolde with Kirsten Flagstad as Isolde, and on Unique Opera Records her interpretation of Klytämnestra.[3] In 1945/46,Eugene Ormandy conducted Beethoven'sNinth Symphony, withStella Roman (soprano),Frederick Jagel (tenor) andNicola Moscona (bass), thePhiladelphia Orchestra and theWestminster Choir.[3]
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