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Born: August 2, 1922 - Kassel, Hesse, Germany
Died: October 29, 1998 - Berlin, Germany |
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The German mezzo-soprano, Gertraud Prenzlow, was taught by her father, the vocal pedagogue, and was first employed as a chorister at the Staatstheater of Cottbus and Staatstheater of Göttingen, then at the Staatstheater in Hannover.
As the first real solo roley, Gertraud Prenzlow sang the Mercedes in Georges Bizet's Carmen (1946). In 1950, she was invited to the Staatsoper of Berlin, where she had a successful career for more than two decades. Here she sang all the great roles of her voice, from Classical and Baroque opera works to contemporary operas and operettas. Guest engaments led her to the musical metropolises of the GDR, Italy, France, Poland, West Germany and to the CSSR. She was appointed honorary member of the Berlin Staatsoper and was also active in the Komische Oper Berlin in the years 1958-1967. She sang at the Berlin Staatsoper in the premieres of the operas Die Verurteilung des Lukullus by Paul Dessau (May 14, 1951 as Tertullia), Der arme Konrad by Jean Kurt Forest (October 4, 1959) and Reiter in der Nacht By Ernst Hermann Meyer (November 17, 1973). At the Festspielen von Bayreuth she appeared in 1958 as Soloblume in the Parsifal.
In addition to her perormances on the stage, Gertraud Prenzlow had a second great career as concer and especially as an oratorio singer. She devoted herself especially to the vocal music of J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel. |
