16 Facts About Margaret Matzenauer

Margaret Matzenauer was an Austria-Hungary-born, later resident in the United States, mezzo-soprano.

Margaret Matzenauer performed key works from both the Italian and German operatic repertoires in Europe and the United States.

Margaret Matzenauer's father Ludwig was a conductor, her mother an opera singer.

Margaret Matzenauer reportedly considered herself Hungarian although she was born in what is western Romania, of German Jewish descent.

Margaret Matzenauer began singing major roles such as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore, Bizet's Carmen, Mignon by Ambroise Thomas, Waltraute and Erda in the Wagner's Ring cycles and Ortrud in Lohengrin.

Margaret Matzenauer first achieved fame in Europe as a contralto and mezzo-soprano, and she was engaged to appear at the 1911 Bayreuth Festival.

Margaret Matzenauer was tempted to tackle soprano parts as well but this expansion upwards of her repertoire did not prove to be an unqualified success due to limitations with her highest notes.

Margaret Matzenauer made her debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Aida on 13 November 1911, singing Amneris on opening night with a cast that featured Emmy Destinn as Aida and Enrico Caruso as Radames, with Arturo Toscanini conducting.

In 1911, Margaret Matzenauer married one of her Met colleagues, the Italian-born dramatic tenor Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana.

Margaret Matzenauer reportedly had an eidetic memory and on 1 January 1912 when, with only a few days' notice, she appeared in the highly demanding role of Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal, an opera she had never sung before.

Margaret Matzenauer sang at the Met for a total of 19 seasons, delivering a wide variety of roles including Eboli in the first Met production of Verdi's Don Carlos, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Marina in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio and Brunnhilde in Wagner's Die Walkure.

Margaret Matzenauer gave her farewell Met performance on 17 February 1930 as Amneris, but she continued singing opera elsewhere and giving concerts.

Margaret Matzenauer taught singing; two of her pupils were mezzo-sopranos Blanche Thebom and Nell Tangeman.

Margaret Matzenauer died in 1963, aged 81, at the Sherman Way Convalescent Hospital in Van Nuys, California.

Margaret Matzenauer's daughter was Adrienne Fontana, former nightclub singer and host of variety TV show Champagne and Orchids, on the DuMont Network in early television.

Margaret Matzenauer made a sizeable number of recordings, many of which are available on CD reissues.