Sontag Henriette

Sontag Henriette

Henrietta Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag is a German opera singer.

Biography

On January 3, 1806, in a small town in western Germany called Koblenz, one of the most famous opera singer Henrietta Sontag was born in the coloratura soprano in the 19th century.

Henrietta was the daughter of nomadic comedians, so from the age of 5 she participated in performances, and already in 1816-1821 she studied at the Prague Conservatory, where in 1820 she successfully made her debut on the Prague Opera Stage. There was no limit to the ovation in her honor.

Leipzig,, Berlin,, Paris London Moscow is only a small list of cities in which Henrietta Sontag delighted listeners with her vocals. She was the first to perform the soprano solo part in Beethoven's ninth symphony in 1824 and performed in the title part in Weber's "Euriant" in 1823 in Vienna. European newspapers and magazines were full of news about Sontag's successful tours.

The first few years of marriage with the Sardinian envoy in Paris, Count Peligrino Luigi Rossi, remained secret to the public due to its origin and artistic activity. But after a while, having gained fame in certain circles, the secret was solved. Despite the fact that Luigi Rossi had the title of count, he could not boast of much prosperity, so until the end of his days he lived at the expense of his wife.

In July 1830, Sontag first visited Moscow. Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin, having visited her concert and rehearsal, noted: "How simple and cute. Angel. " Alexander Yakovlevich Bulgakov in a letter to his brother said that she was very fond of Alyabyev's song "Nightingale." A few years later, Alyabyev dedicated to Sontag the elegy "When, soul, you asked..." to the poems of Anton Antonovich Delvig. This visit to Moscow was the only one in the life of the actress, all her further time in Russia, was connected with St. Petersburg, where the poet Ivan Ivanovich Kozlov dedicated the poem "You sang yesterday" to her, and Pushkin mentioned in a letter to his wife.

Coloratura virtuosity, coupled with the rare plasticity of her voice, made it possible to achieve great success both in operas and in concert performances.

Unfortunately, on tour in Mexico, she fell ill with cholera and could not defeat this terrible disease. On June 17, 1854, Henrietta Sontag died, leaving the world a bright memory of her beautiful opera voice.