Irene Eisinger

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Irene Eisinger

Irene Eisinger (8 December 1903 – 8 April 1994) was a German and British opera singer and film actress. Her career was closely linked to the foundation and the early years of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Life and career

Irene Eisinger was born in Cosel, Silesia, Germany (now Koźle, now in the district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland). She was trained as a soubrette soprano and studied acting with Paula Mark-Neusser in Vienna and piano with G. Schönewald.[1]

Operas and films

Her debuts – both in opera and film – took place in 1926. She played a minor role in

Der Zigeunerbaron and as Adele in Die Fledermaus. Musicologist Elizabeth Forbes describes her singing: "Her voice, bright-toned, light and very flexible, and her charming, diminutive appearance, invariably drew adjectives such as 'enchanting' and 'winsome' from the critics."[2]

In 1930 came what can be considered her breakthrough in both Germany and Austria as she debuted as Adele in

Die lustigen Weiber von Wien and the title role in another Zelnik-version of Die Försterchristl, now with sound and singing.[7][8]

Cherubino in Salzburg was hers until 1933, and in 1931 she added another role to her Salzburg repertory: Papagena in

Die Zauberflöte – again with repeat invitations until 1933.[9] In 1932, Eisinger performed in the Cabaret opera Rufen Sie Herrn Plim by Mischa Spoliansky[10] and sang Luise Matthes in the Kurt Weill opera Die Bürgschaft next to Hans Reinmar [de] and Lotte Lenya at the Städtische Oper Berlin. The conductor was Fritz Stiedry.[11][12]

She appeared in two short films (Kabarett-Programm Nr. 4, 1931, and Eine Johann-Strauss-Fantasie, 1933) and did several recordings with

Siegfried Arno, Paul Morgan, Joseph Schmidt, Erik Wirl
and Richard Fritz Wolf.

Emigrantion, Glyndebourne, ROH

Although very popular with the Berlin audience, Eisinger was forced to leave Germany because of her Jewish origins shortly after the

Machtergreifung by the Nazi party in 1933. She could not sing any longer in any theatre of the German capital. She took refuge in Czechoslovakia and went to sing in the opera houses of Prague, Amsterdam and Bruxelles – and once again at the Salzburg Festival. In 1933, in addition to Cherubino and Papagena she was invited to sing a role in a Richard Strauss opera. It was to be her last appearance in Salzburg. She sang Hermione in the first production of the second version of Die ägyptische Helena
.

Eisinger continued to sing at

Die Zauberflöte in 1935, returning there each year but one, until the outbreak of the Second World War forced the festival to close down.[2] The 1935 Glyndebourne recording of Così fan tutte, conducted by Fritz Busch, gives an idea of Eisinger's voice, her stylish singing and her delightful personality. Although she did not appear at the Festival in 1936, the artist sang the Aquarellen waltz, op. 258, by Josef Strauss
at a concert in Glyndebourne this year – with 600 of John Christie's employees and tenants present, to commemorate the birth of Christie's son George on 31 December 1934. Due to its success, the concert had to be repeated.

In 1936 the impresario

Hänsel und Gretel, with Maggie Teyte as Hänsel, sung in German language. A week later she sang Adele in Die Fledermaus (in English), "winning a particular triumph" with the song Mein Herr Marquis.[2]

For the next three seasons, Eisinger returned to Glyndebourne, where she added Susanna and Barbarina in

Le nozze di Figaro to her Glyndebourne repertory while still continuing to sing her other roles. By now she was permanently living in England. In 1939 Eisinger sang Ilya in a university production of Mozart's Idomeneo at Cambridge and acted in Beatrice Saxon Snell's musical Georgian Springtime at the Embassy Theatre in London – with Geoffrey Dunn, Frederick Ranalow, and George Skillan in the cast.[14] In 1940, when Glyndebourne toured The Beggar's Opera, she took over Polly Peachum from Audrey Mildmay who had contracted Rubella during the London run. Furthermore, she participated in the movie comedy Young Man's Fancy and was invited by BBC to sing in Die Fledermaus and in Arlecchino, a single act opera by Ferruccio Busoni.[15]

When Glyndebourne closed down, Eisinger withdrew from the stage.

Her last operatic performances were a series of seven performances of Così fan tutte in the original Glyndebourne production of Carl Ebert at the Edinburgh International Festival in August and September 1949 – together with a prominent cast consisting of Suzanne Danco (Fiordiligi), Sena Jurinac (Dorabella), Petre Munteanu (Ferrando), Marko Rothmüller (Guglielmo), John Brownlee (Don Alfonso) and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Hans Oppenheim. She sang Despina.

Thereafter she was heard only in broadcast concerts on BBC.

Private life

Eisinger married Gerhard Schönewald, called Gert, a physician from London of German origin who had emigrated from Bad Nauheim. The couple had two daughters, Susanne (born in 1944) and Emily-Ruth (1946). The couple later divorced.

Eisinger died on 8 April 1994, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, Great Britain.[16]

Recording

  • Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), role of Despina. Glyndebourne Festival Opera Company conducted by Fritz Busch. HMV DB 2652 bis DB 2673 – Glyndebourne, June 1935

Filmography

Title Year Role Director
The Bohemian Dancer 1926 Frederic Zelnik
Two Hearts in Waltz Time 1930 Anni Lohmeier Géza von Bolváry
The Forester's Daughter 1931 Christl Lange called "Försterchristl" Frederic Zelnik
The Merry Wives of Vienna 1931 Leopoldine Géza von Bolváry
The Immortal Hour 1939 Etain Rutland Boughton
Young Man's Fancy 1939 Singer at the Hôtel de L'Univers
Robert Stevenson

Sources

  • Elizabeth Forbes: Obituary: Irene Eisinger. In: The Independent, 30 April 1994.
  • Josef Kaut: Die Salzburger Festspiele 1920–1981, Mit einem Verzeichnis der aufgeführten Werke und der Künstler des Theaters und der Musik von Hans Jaklitsch, Salzburg: Residenz Verlag 1982,
    ISBN 3-7017-0308-6
    , pp. 258, 261, 265, 268 and 269.
  • Jürgen Kesting: Die großen Sänger. Volume 2. Verlag Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2008, p. 700.

References

  1. ^ vgl. Müller, Reinhard: Paula Mark-Neusser. Archived 20 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine In: Archiv für die Geschichte der Soziologie in Österreich
  2. ^ a b c Elizabeth Forbes: Obituary: Irene Eisinger in: The Independent (London), 30 April 1994.
  3. ^ Musik: Joh. Strauss, Text nach dem Französischen bearb. v. C. Rößler u. M. Schiffer; Neugestaltung v. Max Reinhardt, musikal. Einrichtung von Erich Wolfgang Korngold, see Johann Strauß auf operone.de
  4. ^ See: Ensemble 1930
  5. ^ Cast List of Die Fledermaus. Db-staatscoper.die-antwort.eu, Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Zwei Herzen im 3/4 Takt | filmportal.de". Filmportal.de. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Die lustigen Weiber von Wien | filmportal.de". Filmportal.de. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Die Försterchristl | filmportal.de". Filmportal.de. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  9. ^ see: Kaut, p. 268 and 269.
  10. ^ Berthold Leimbach: Tondokumente der Kleinkunst und ihre Interpreten 1898-1945. Göttingen, Selbstverlag 1991, without page numbers.
  11. ^ "Besetzungsliste". Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  12. ^ Opening night was 10 March 1932. "The plot bears clear parallels with the rise of Nazism in Germany". Therefore the opera was banned after Hitler came into power.
  13. ^ "Scene 18. Kleine Acrobat (Lyric by Howard Dietz): The Acrobat – Gerald Nodin. His Partner – Irene Eisinger. Gerald Nodin's and Irene Eisinger's costumes designed by Ernst Stern. Executed by B. J. Simmons & Co., Ltd.", see Cast list
  14. ^ The Dramatic List Who S Who In Theatre, A Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage Tenth Edition. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  15. ^ vgl. Aufstellung von Alan Robinson bei musicweb-international.com
  16. ^ "Obituary: Irene Eisinger". The Independent. 29 April 1994. Retrieved 31 July 2023.

Further reading

External links
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