Margarethe Bence

Margarethe Bence
Born (1930-08-13)August 13, 1930
Kingston, New York, US
Died April 1, 1992(1992-04-01) (aged 61)
Munich, Germany
Occupation
  • Operatic mezzo-soprano
  • Operatic contralto
  • Academic voice teacher
Organization

Margarethe Bence (August 13, 1930 – April 1, 1992) was an American opera singer, who sang both mezzo-soprano and contralto parts and was mostly active in German and Austria, including international festivals such as the Bayreuth Festival and the Salzburg Festival. Her repertoire included music from Baroque to contemporary premieres.

Career

Born in Kingston, New York in a German-American family on August 13, 1930, Bence began her voice studies in the United States. She toured with the Robert Shaw Chorale from 1950 to 1953, when she continued her studies in Stuttgart. Her teachers included Res Fischer and Ellinor Junker-Giesen.[1]

She appeared first in concert, especially in alto-parts of oratorios. In 1956 she joined the ensemble of the Württembergische Staatsoper, where she remained for 14 years. She studied a broad repertory, from Baroque to contemporary music, playing as both comic and tragic characters. She appeared as a guest artist, first in 1959 when the Stuttgart Opera performed Wagner's Parsifal at the Vienna State Opera. She was engaged there for Handel's Jephtha, with Fritz Wunderlich, and for Janáček's Jenůfa. In 1961, she appeared at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, which became one of her signature roles.[1]

From 1962 she was invited to international festivals. She performed at the Bayreuth Festival, in 1962 as Rossweisse and Waltraute in Der Ring des Nibelungen, the next year also Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, and a small part in Parsifal. In 1965 she performed Rossweisse once more.[2]

She sang at the Bavarian State Opera first in 1963, the role of Babekan in the premiere of Werner Egk's Die Verlobung in San Domingo. In 1966, she appeared at the Schwetzingen Festival in the premiere of Hermann Reutter's Der Tod des Empedokles, and she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.[3] The new production was staged by Günther Rennert and conducted by Karl Böhm, with Claire Watson and Ingvar Wixell as the noble couple, Reri Grist and Walter Berry as Susanna and Figaro, and Edith Mathis as Cherubino.[4][5] The production stayed in the repertory until 1971, always with Bence as Marcellina.[3]

Bence moved to the Bavarian State Opera in 1970, where she sang among others Annina in the production conducted by Carlos Kleiber which was recorded. She appeared as a guest internationally, including Berlin, Bucharest, Paris, Rome, Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco.[3]

From 1976 she was a member of the Vienna State Opera for eleven years, where she performed 266 times in 27 parts. She also appeared at the Wiener Volksoper.

From the 1970s, she was a voice teacher in Vienna and at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart.[3] Her students include Martina Claussen, Malin Hartelius and Anna Korondi.[6]

Bence died in Munich on April 1, 1992.[3]

Selected parts

Premieres

Repertoire

Alban Berg:

  • Garderobiere and Lulu's mother in Lulu[8]

Gottfried von Einem:

Wolfgang Fortner:

Handel:

Hans Werner Henze:

Leoš Janáček:

  • Magd, Tante, Schäferin, Frau des Dorfrichters in Jenůfa[8]

Ernst Krenek:

Pietro Mascagni:

Jules Massenet:

Mozart:

  

Mussorgski:

Puccini:

Rossini:

Smetana:

Richard Strauss:

Verdi:

Wagner:

Selected recordings

Opera

Concert

Sources: , , , , , , , , , all retrieved 13 November 2016

References

  1. 1 2 Kutsch, Karl-Joseph; Riemens, Leo (2003). Margarethe Bence. Großes Sängerlexikon (in German). 1 (4th ed.). Franc–Kaidanoff. pp. 336–337. ISBN 978-3-598-44088-5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Margarethe Bence" (in German). Bayreuth Festival. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Margarethe Bence (Contralto)". Bach-Cantatas. 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Wolfgang A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro". Salzburg Festival. 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Mozart, W.A.: Nozze di Figaro (Le) (Salzburg Festival, 1966)". Naxos. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Martina Claussen" (in German). Antonio Salieri Institut für Gesang und Stimmforschung in der Musikpädagogik. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "Friedrich Cerha Baal". Salzburg Festival. 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "Vorstellungen mit Margarethe Bence". Vienna State Opera. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  9. ↑ "Cantata BWV 206 / Schleicht, spielende Wellen, und murmelt gelinde!". Bach-Cantatas. 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
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