Lucia popp biography template
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Finally Popp’s parents got a visa and could regularly visit their daughter and assist at her performances.
That changed overnight the moment I brought home the first complete recording of Franz Lehar’s Der Graf von Luxemburg(1968). Mozart dominated her early career, particularly the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte.” She made her professional debut with the role at age 23 and would make a famed recording in 1963 with the role; she was 24.
Restored Czechoslovakia fell into communist hands in 1948 and the iron curtain came down.
A great deal of her time Lucia was with her grandmother who often told her of the old dual monarchy and of the many, many times she, her sister and her daughter (Lucia’s mum) took the train at Slovakia’s capital Pressburg (nowadays Bratislava) to go shopping or to attend the opera or operetta some 35 miles further away in Vienna; Pressburg being in their opinion a suburb of Vienna.
After her return to Vienna in Spring 1967 there was more than enough work though with hindsight it remains strange that one of her greatest roles initially escaped her. The word went around and Walter Legge was one of the first to hear about this new miracle. It was in the Don Giovanni-production I first heard Popp live. With her musical facility she had no trouble learning new roles instantly and record them even if they didn’t belong in her natural province and she would never sing them on the stage.
Popp's mother was a gifted lyric soprano who gave concerts but did not pursue an operatic career; she frequently sang duets with her daughter at home, offering Lucia her first exposure to vocal music and instilling a love for singing.[2] Her father, Rudolf Popp—an engineer by training—served as a cultural attaché to the British embassy in London during part of his career, which further enriched the household with artistic discussions and international perspectives; he had earlier been a soldier in the Slovak division allied with Germany during World War II.[2][4] As communists took power in Czechoslovakia after 1948, the family navigated the political shifts, with Popp spending much of her childhood with her grandmother, who recounted vivid stories of the dual monarchy era, blending personal history with a broader cultural heritage.[2]After completing her schooling, Popp initially pursued medicine at Comenius University in Bratislava for a few months but soon shifted her focus to the performing arts, enrolling in the drama section of the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava.[2][5] This transition reflected her growing passion for stage performance, influenced by her family's artistic milieu, though her vocal talents would emerge more prominently during her academy years.[6]
Vocal Training and Discovery
Popp enrolled at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava to study drama, initially pursuing a career in acting rather than music.[6][1] During her time there, her vocal talent emerged unexpectedly when she was cast as Nicole in a production of Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, a role that included singing.Even Gueden, usually not very sympathetic towards younger colleagues, encouraged and kissed her.
The seven major Mozart-operas were produced by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conducted by Kertesz until his untimely heart-attack at the Israeli-seaside in 1973. Otto Schenk who would direct a brand-new Rosenkavalier had more or less promised her the Sophie. Her colleagues were Keilberth, Prey, Stich-Randall, Rothenberger, Evans, Hoengen.
Everybody in the business knew that she had had a liaiso with Carlos Kleiber (“Try to have that with a genius”, she afterwards mocked herself ) before returning for a short time to her husband.
Though the family is rather discreet, it is clear that father Popp belonged to the communist `nomenclature`.
In 1992 her beloved mother died. Still with the advent of Youtube several radio broadcasts are now available on the net and one can listen to her interpretation of Giuditta in 1967 and a magnificent rendition of Louisé’s “Depuis le jour” (with the exception of the first sentence and “je suis heureuse” one doesn’t’ understand a word).
She would later marry the pianist of that audition, the Hungarian conductor Georg Fischer. Mother Popp was a gifted lyric soprano who had given some concerts but had never appeared in an opera. She was one of the few singers I could stand in this repertoire as I don’t like lieder at all (and yes, I can speak German) but she always offered the outstanding colour of the voice, the technical mastery of piano, mezza voce and messa di voce.
In this lavish, festive staging, Popp's comic timing shines through in her portrayal of the elegant yet spirited Rosalinde, amid the operetta's ballroom splendor. Later on Karajan would try to get her for another queen of the night ( a role she no longer liked).