Singers from Berlin

Günther_Treptow

Günther Treptow (22 October 1907 in Berlin – 28 March 1981 in Berlin) was a German operatic tenor, best known for Wagner roles.
Treptow began his vocal studies in Berlin as a baritone under the Italian bass, Giovanni Scarneo. Treptow was since 1926 a member of the SA and Nazi Party (membership number 38 579) until the discovery in 1934 of his mother's Jewish heritage. He was banned from performing until being granted special permission to do so from Joseph Goebbels on 6 June 1935. He made his stage debut in Berlin, as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier, in 1936. He sang at the Vienna Volksoper in 1938, as Florestan in Fidelio. He appeared at the Sopot Festival in 1939, in the title role of Tannhäuser. He made his debut at the Munich State Opera in 1940, the Vienna State Opera in 1947, and the Bayreuth Festival in 1951.
He quickly established himself as one of the leading heldentenors of his generation, in roles such as Siegmund in Die Walküre, Siegfried in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde. Besides Wagner, he also sang such roles as Max in Der Freischütz, Steva in Jenůfa, Canio in Pagliacci, and the title role in Otello.
On the international scene, he made guest appearances at La Scala in Milan, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, also appearing in Leningrad and Moscow.
He sang at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1961 until his retirement in 1972.

Charlotte_Ander

Charlotte Ander (born Charlotte Andersch, 14 August 1902 – 5 August 1969) was a German actress.
She was born in Berlin, the daughter of German stage/film couple Rudolf Andersch and Ida Perry. Ander was trained at the Berliner Staatstheater. Ander was a star in the silent era before making the transition to sound. Her film career started in 1920 with the film Die letzte Stunde and Danton (1921). Innumerable starring roles in silent movies and early talkies with super-stars Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, and Hans Albers followed.
On 21 February 1927, she created the role of Mascha in the world premiere of Der Zarewitsch by Franz Lehar at the Deutsche Künstler Theater in Berlin, alongside Rita Georg and Richard Tauber, with the composer conducting.
She celebrated her greatest success in 1933 with the role of the record shop assistant Nina in Ein Lied geht um die Welt aka A Song Goes Around the World in which she starred with then popular singer Joseph Schmidt and her mother, Ida Perry. In 1933, after the Nazis came to power, because she was not reinrassig or pure-blood, it became difficult for Ander to find work. She went to England and made at least two films including Maid Happy (1933), but soon found roles as hard, or harder, to find in England than they had been in Germany.
Despite the difficult conditions for her in Nazi Germany, Ander returned. She could make a living although not often in front of the cameras. Her only two Nazi era German films were Wie einst im Mai (1938) and Anton the Last (1939). Here fortunes were somewhat better on the stage where she worked until 1950 before returning to the screen in The Benthin Family. Her final film was Das tanzende Herz (1953). She died in West Berlin.

Meta_Seinemeyer

Meta Seinemeyer (September 5, 1895 – August 19, 1929) was a German opera singer with a spinto soprano voice.
Seinemeyer was born in Berlin, where she studied at the Stern Conservatory with Ernst Grenzebach. She made her debut at the Deutsche Opernhaus in 1918. She joined the Dresden Semperoper in 1924, and began appearing at the Vienna State Opera in 1927.
On the international scene, she sang at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, as Agathe in Der Freischütz, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1926, and at the Royal Opera House in London in 1929, as Eva, Elsa in Lohengrin and Sieglinde.
Besides the great Wagner heroines, she also played an important role in the renaissance of Verdi's operas in Germany, winning considerable acclaim as Leonora in La forza del destino, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos, and the title role in Aida. She was also admired as Marguerite in Faust, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, and the title role in Tosca.
She took part in the creation of Ferruccio Busoni's Doktor Faust in Dresden in 1925.
Her voice is notable for her flawless management of register breaks, resulting in a seamless stream of tone from top to bottom. The voice has a very rich, enveloping sound, discernable even despite the limitations of the extant acoustic recordings. In some of these she partners the tenor Tino Pattiera, with whom she often appeared on stage.
One of the greatest German singers of her generation, her career was cut short when she died of leukemia in Dresden a few weeks short of her 34th birthday. Very shortly before her death, she married the conductor Frieder Weissmann(1893–1984). She is buried at the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery close to Berlin.

Erna_Sack

Erna Dorothea Luise Sack (née Weber; 6 February 1898 – 2 March 1972) was a German lyric coloratura soprano, known as the German Nightingale for her high vocal range.

Margarethe_Arndt-Ober

Margarethe Arndt-Ober (b. Berlin, April 15, 1885–d. Bad Sachsa, March 17, 1971) was a German opera singer who had an active international career during the first half of the twentieth century. A highly skilled contralto, Ober enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful association with the Berlin State Opera from 1907 to 1944. She also was notably a principal singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1913 and 1917.