Hilde Gueden

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The Austrian soprano Hilde Gueden or Güden (born in Vienna, September 15, 1917 - died in Klosterneuburg, September 17, 1988) was one of the most appreciated Straussian and Mozartian sopranos of her days. Her youthful and lively interpretations made her an ideal interpreter of roles like Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro.

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[edit] Early life

She was born Hulda Geiringer and studied singing with Otto Iro, piano with Maria Wetzelsberger, and dancing at the Vienna Music Academy. She debuted in 1937 in Benatzky's operetta Herzen im Schnee at the Vienna Volksoper. Her operatic debut came in 1939, when she sang Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Zurich Opera. She used Hulda Gerin as her stage name until that time. Her name is sometimes also spelled as Hilde Güden.

In 1941, the famous conductor Clemens Krauss engaged her to the Munich State Opera, where she sang with much success. From this time she used Hilde Gueden as her stage name. However, she had some Jewish ancestry, and this forced her to leave Germany under the Nazis. Rumor has it that she was almost arrested by the Gestapo in Munich, but she had by then obtained a fake passport showing that she was a Catholic Polish woman and could avoid the arrest.

[edit] Post-war career

In Italy, Tullio Serafin invited her to sing Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) in Rome and Florence. From then on, she gained great successes in Paris, Milan, London, Venice, Glyndebourne, and other major cities. She made her debut at Salzburg Festival in 1946 by singing Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni in 1946. In 1947, she started a long membership with the Vienna Staatsoper, where she was still of the greatest stars up to 1973. In December 1951, she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto. In 1953, she sang the first Ann Trulove, in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, of the Metropolitan Opera.

From late 1950s, she moved from light parts to lyric parts in the same operas; from Susanna to Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), from Zerlina to Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), from Despina to Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), from Nannetta to Alice Ford (Falstaff), and from Musetta to Mimi (La boheme). She was also praised for her performances of Violetta in La traviata, Marguerite in Faust, and Micaela in Carmen.

She was a most versatile and accomplished singer. Besides her usual Mozart and Richard Strauss, she was also an ideal Operetta singer. Her Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus is considered one of her best roles. In the Bel Canto repertoire, she became a famous Gilda in Rigoletto and Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore. She was also noted for her lieder and oratorio work.

[edit] Recordings

During the 1950s and 1960s, Hilde Gueden made dozens of recordings with the best artists of her generation, especially for the Decca/London label.

[edit] Literature

  • D. Brook, Singers of Today (Revised Edition - Rockliff, London 1958), 100-103.