Frieda Hempel

Frieda Hempel (1885-1955) was among the brightest stars of opera's Golden Age, one of the first singers whose entire career could be documented by recordings. These captured a coloratura voice of great lyric beauty which Hempel used with remarkable intelligence, in opera and on the concert stage. She created the Marschallin in _Der Rosenkavalier_ in both Berlin and at the Metropolitan Opera, where she debuted with Caruso in 1912, and her performances of Mozart and Verdi remain highlights.Her...See more

Frieda Hempel (1885-1955) was among the brightest stars of opera's Golden Age, one of the first singers whose entire career could be documented by recordings. These captured a coloratura voice of great lyric beauty which Hempel used with remarkable intelligence, in opera and on the concert stage. She created the Marschallin in _Der Rosenkavalier_ in both Berlin and at the Metropolitan Opera, where she debuted with Caruso in 1912, and her performances of Mozart and Verdi remain highlights.Her own account of her life is supplemented in _My Golden Age of Singing_ with a prologue and epilogue by Elizabeth Johnston, and with extensive material by William R. Moran, including press reports of Hempel�s career and aspects of her life about which she preferred to be silent.Elizabeth Johnston received degrees from Mills College and the University of California, Berkeley, and studied voice and composition in Germany and Italy. She lives in Berlin. William R. Moran is the founder and honorary curator of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound. Together with Andrew Farkas, he serves as Series Editor for Amadeus Press's Opera Biography Series, of which this is the tenth volume. See less