36 Facts About Gabriele Schnaut

Gabriele Schnaut was a German classical singer who started her operatic career as a mezzo-soprano in 1976 and changed to dramatic soprano in 1985.

Gabriele Schnaut performed at the Bayreuth Festival from 1977, in the filmed Jahrhundertring, to 2000.

Gabriele Schnaut performed and recorded works by composers of the 20th century and appeared in the world premieres of operas by Wolfgang Rihm and Jorg Widmann.

Gabriele Schnaut received violin and singing lessons as a child.

Gabriele Schnaut had lessons in both ballet and expressionist dance, trained rowing for two years and took part in a theatre group.

Gabriele Schnaut studied first at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Mainz, majoring in violin, and at the same time musicology at the University of Mainz.

Gabriele Schnaut's teacher sent her to Musikhochschule Frankfurt, where she studied with Elsa Cavelti from 1971.

Gabriele Schnaut's studies were supported by a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

Gabriele Schnaut achieved, together with Uta-Maria Flake, a first prize at the 1975 Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in Bonn.

Gabriele Schnaut had only small roles there, and was advised by Catarina Ligendza to move to a smaller house to gain experience with heavier roles.

In 1977 Gabriele Schnaut performed at the Bayreuth Festival for the first time, singing Waltraute and the Second Norn in the Jahrhundertring staged by Patrice Chereau and conducted by Pierre Boulez.

Gabriele Schnaut appeared in these roles in its filmed version Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Gabriele Schnaut performed at the festival in 1980 as Wellgunde in Gotterdammerung, and in 1985 as Venus in Tannhauser and the Third Norn.

Gabriele Schnaut was a member of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 1980, where she performed the role of Ophelia in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Die Hamletmaschine.

Gabriele Schnaut performed Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck in an authorised version, which was a step on her way into the soprano range.

In private study with Hanne-Lore Kuhse in East Berlin, Gabriele Schnaut developed to a dramatic soprano.

Gabriele Schnaut travelled once a month for several days of training.

Gabriele Schnaut portrayed major roles at the Bayreuth Festival, in 1986 Sieglinde in Die Walkure, and in 1987 as Ortrud in Lohengrin.

Gabriele Schnaut made her debut in Munich in 1982 as Marie in Wozzeck.

Gabriele Schnaut made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1996 as Brunnhilde.

Gabriele Schnaut's Brunnhilde undergoes a real transformation: she is unusually spirited in her second-act discussions with Wotan, thoroughly regal at the start of her encounter with Siegmund and disconsolate, but not entirely repentant, in the finale, when she is condemned to life as a mortal.

Gabriele Schnaut performed as Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal at the Wiener Staatsoper from 1996.

Gabriele Schnaut performed the title roles of Puccini's Tosca and Turandot, recorded on DVD at the Salzburg Festival in 2002.

Gabriele Schnaut changed to character roles in the mezzo-soprano range from 2008.

Gabriele Schnaut appeared as Euphrat in the world premiere of Jorg Widmann's Babylon in October 2012, conducted by Kent Nagano.

Gabriele Schnaut appeared at the Staatsoper Berlin, in the Schillertheater, in 2014 as Widow Begbick in Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, and a reviewer noted that she "sang with relish and dramatic conviction and the rough quality of her aging voice was an excellent match for hard-edged sentimentality of Weill's music".

Gabriele Schnaut was a professor of voice at the Universitat der Kunste in Berlin between 2005 and 2014.

Gabriele Schnaut died on 19 June 2023, at age 72, after a short severe illness.

Gabriele Schnaut appears as Waltraute and Second Norn in the film of the Jahrhundertring, filmed in 1980.

Gabriele Schnaut recorded Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio with Christoph von Dohnanyi.

Gabriele Schnaut's vocal acting is excellent: an example is her eruption after the on-stage plotting.

Gabriele Schnaut starts with steady, controlled recitative before moving into her truly dramatic soprano with some fairly horrible leaps which she hits well.

Gabriele Schnaut recorded Brunnhilde in Die Walkure with Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra for Decca.

Gabriele Schnaut appeared as Iocaste in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with Paavo Jarvi, Ortrud in Lohengrin on a DVD of the Bayreuth Festival with Peter Schneider and Puccini's Turandot on a DVD of the Salzburg Festival with Valery Gergiev.

Gabriele Schnaut was honoured with the title Kammersangerin in Hamburg in 1995.

Gabriele Schnaut was a recipient of the Bavarian Order of Merit.