Born: 1 June 1881, Romania
Died: 19 May 1963
Country most active: United States, Germany
Also known as: Margarete Matzenauer or Margarethe Matzenaur
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Born in Hungary to German parents, Margarete Matzenauer, a contralto soprano, was perhaps the most outstanding example of her type of voice in the 1920s. After an inconsequential debut in Strasburg in 1901, she sang in Munich, Bayreuth, and London. At the Metropolitan Opera from 1911 until 1930, the beauty of her voluminous voice and her regal bearing established her as a force to be reckoned with, even against rivals of considerable power. She sang mezzosoprano and soprano roles at the Met and in Chicago, and continued to appear in operatic productions until 1942.