1908 BERLIN Frieda HEMPEL Barbiere di Siviglia Arie der Rosina UNA VOCE POCO 1&2

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25

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From 1900 to 1910, three Divas reigned at the Berlin Royal Staatsoper: Emmy Destinn for the dramatic roles, Frieda Hempel, for the Lyric-Coloratura, and Geraldine Farrar for the pretty roles. Different from her later Victors, Hempel is considerably wilder on her Berlin Records, interpolating top notes and candenzas since she could. Among the true Conoisseurs of the voice, Hempels sweet, even production, and amazing agility above the stave are still a benchmark for any Coloratura.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL 1910 Berlin recording,

Barber of Seville ARIE DER ROSINE Part I & 2 Una voce poco fa in German

this is one of her great recordings with exciting interpolations and unexpected high notes

Frieda Hempel sings "Frag'ich mein beklomm'nes Herz" (Una voce poco fa) from Barbiere by Rossini. Here Hempel sings entire aria on two 12" sides in F-dur. Latter half io sono docile is ornamented with unusual interpolations. 


Berlin Germany Recording Date:1910-10-06
Arie der Rosine 1 Teil – Frag' ich mein beklomm'nes Herz
Issued:043151

Arie der Rosine  2 Teil

Issued:043152

Please see top of the page for condition

Frieda Hempel was born in Leipzig, Germany, and studied first at the Leipzig Conservatory and afterwards at Stern conservatory, Berlin, where she was a pupil of Selma Nicklass-Kempner. Her earliest appearances were in Breslau, singing Violetta, Queen of the Night and Rosina. She made a debut in Schwerin in 1905, and was engaged there for the next two years, singing also Gilda, Leonora and Woglinde.

She made such a success that the Kaiser Wilhelm II requested the Schwerin authorities to release her to sing also in Berlin. She made a debut there in 1905 as Frau Fluth (in Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor). She sang at the Royal Court Opera, Berlin, from 1907 to 1912, where she was also admired as Lucia, Marguerite de Valois and Marie.

She appeared at the Covent Garden, London in 1907 as Bastienne, as Humperdinck's HSnsel und Gretel, as Eva and Elsa and again as Frau Fluth: Melba and Selma Kurz were taking centre stage in the more popular roles.

In 1912 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York as Marguerite de Valois. She sang regularly in New York thereafter into the 1920s. She was the first to sing the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier in New York (for Gatti-Casazza, December 9 1913) and in Berlin, and she also sang the role in London in 1913. She was in the Met 1913 Ballo in maschera as Oscar, with Caruso, Emmy Destinn, Margarete Matzenauer and Pasquale Amato, and with them in Boito's Mefistofele; also the 1916 Marriage of Figaro with Matzenauer, Geraldine Farrar and Antonio Scotti. Her La fille du rTgiment was presented there in 1917. Hempel had a very wide dramatic range, from Rosina or Queen of the Night to Wagner's Eva and Weber's Euryanthe (Metropolitan, 1914 revival).

After 1919 she devoted herself to concert recitals, and left the Metropolitan Opera House somewhat abruptly, making way for the career of Amelita Galli-Curci. However she then made a second career on the concert platform, excelling in the performance of lieder of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Hugo Wolf, in Mozart concert arias, and the like. She became famous for recitals in which she appeared in costume as the famous nineteenth-century soprano Jenny Lind. She began making records for Odeon Records in 1906, and cut a later series for The Gramophone Co/Victor Records; most are by the acoustic process. She died in Berlin.