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Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Note by Norman White |
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| Ernestine Schumann-Heink, one of the greatest contraltos in the history of recorded sound, was born Ernestine Rössler in Lieben, near Prague, on June 15th 1861.
Her father was employed by the Austrian army as a shoemaker, and dependent on his regimental postings, Ernestine was educated at convents in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy and Austria.
She began having singing lessons in her early teens and gave her first concert (the alto part in Beethoven's 9th Symphony) at the age of 15. Her first audition for a Viennese opera company was not encouraging. She was advised to buy a sewing machine and learn to be a good dressmaker. She would "never in this world" be an opera singer. Undaunted, she accepted an invitation to audition for the Royal Court Opera in Dresden, this time successfully obtaining a contract. Her first role, hardly suitable for a seventeen-year-old, was Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore! Her career continued with a wide variety of operas, in which she gained experience by singing many of the smaller roles. During the fourth season she fell in love with Ernst Heink one of the theatre staff, and married in 1882. When the theatre manager found out, they were both fired as there was a clause in the contract forbidding marriage without the written consent of the company! The next few years were to be the most desolate of her life. There was very little work to be found, even after a move to Hamburg, and her debts increased. When she was pregnant with her fourth child, her husband left her, and she contemplated suicide. Gathering her children she made for a nearby railway line and stood between the tracks of an approaching train. It was the sound of her daughter's voice asking to be taken home, that brought her to her senses just in time. An argument between the leading controller at the opera house and its management gave Ernestine the chance that she needed. She was asked to perform the role of Carmen without rehearsal, and took the opportunity without hesitation. The result was sensational. From then on she became the leading contralto in Hamburg, where she remained for fourteen years often with more than twenty performances a month. She began to make guest appearances in Berlin, Bayreuth, Paris and London. The Metropolitan Opera engaged her just after she had married her second husband, the actor Paul Schumann. It was then that she adopted the name Schumann-Heink, and her new life in America brought three more children. At the Met she was greeted with great acclaim and affection. For the next thirty years she performed a wide variety of repertoire, on the stage and concert platform, including musicals. During the First World War, as an American citizen, she dedicated her time and talent to raise money for the war effort, even though she had sons fighting on both sides. Her German son was killed in a submarine. Schumann-Heink's last appearance at the Met was as Erda in Siegfried Despite her great age she embarked on more concert tours and sang on the radio in a weekly programme sponsored by a baby food manufacturer. This gave her the reputation of America's favourite mum! In 1935 she became a film star in Here's to Romance and other film offers flooded in. She died, however, in 1936 from leukaemia. Ernestine Schumann-Heink had the remarkable gifts of great musical talent, survival, and an enormous sense of humour. Once, when she was in a New York restaurant, about to tackle a huge T-Bone steak, Caruso walked in. On seeing the size of the steak, he said, "Ernestine, you're not going to eat that all alone?" She replied, "No, mit Pomme Frittes!" |
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