23 Facts About Selma Kurz

Selma Kurz was an Austrian coloratura soprano known for her brilliant coloratura technique.

Little Selma was thus enabled to visit the imposing Schloss Totis, the Viennese residence, en villeggiature, of the famous patron of the arts count Nicholas Esterhazy de Galantha, who agreed to pay for her lessons with another prominent vocal pedagogue, Johannes Ress.

Selma Kurz was first heard in Vienna at a student concert of Ress pupils on 22 March 1895.

Selma Kurz got good notices and offers poured from many opera houses, especially the ones in provincial Germany, which were always looking for new talent.

Selma Kurz made her debut in the title role of Ambroise Thomas's opera Mignon at the Hamburg Stadttheater, on 12 May 1895.

Selma Kurz appeared there and at Frankfurt am Main for the next four seasons, singing diverse roles including Eudoxie in Halevy's La Juive, Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhauser and Bizet's Carmen.

Selma Kurz immediately offered her a contract and she made her debut at the theatre that would become her artistic and spiritual home, as Mignon, on 3 September 1899.

Selma Kurz was often thereafter in attendance of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, always a devoted admirer of her art.

Selma Kurz created that composer's Madama Butterfly for Vienna as well as Saffi in Johann Strauss's Der Zigeunerbaron.

Selma Kurz sang Tatiana and Sophie in 1911 and, in one of the many high points of her Viennese career, created Zerbinetta in the world premiere of the second version of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, on 4 October 1916.

Form the outset Selma Kurz was widely required all over Europe and she appeared successfully in both opera and concert at the Grand Opera in Paris, the Princely Opera in Monte Carlo, Rome, Salzburg, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, Ostend, Bucharest and Cairo.

Selma Kurz then sang her famous page, Oscar, in Un ballo in maschera, with Giannina Russ, Caruso, Antonio Scotti and Marcel Journet.

Selma Kurz appeared in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette opposite Charles Dalmores' Romeo.

Selma Kurz repeated, in these two seasons of coloratura successes, her Elisabeth in Tannhauser, with Karel Burian in the title role.

Selma Kurz repeated Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera and added Catalani's Loreley, obviously a Bassi vehicle.

Selma Kurz was then not heard at the Royal Opera until 1924, when she sang La boheme and La traviata.

Selma Kurz was many times invited to appear in the United States and received several tempting offers from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Selma Kurz immediately returned to Vienna, where she had a long convalescence before she could return to performing with a voice that, all agreed, was never quite the same.

In 1910, Selma Kurz married the gynecologist, Joseph Halban, a professor at Vienna University, who later was knighted by the Austrian Emperor, becoming Ritter Joseph von Halban.

Selma Kurz married Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker in 1937.

Selma Kurz was a very beautiful woman, 1.6 m, fragile and delicate.

Selma Kurz could make the public go mad with her long trills.

Selma Kurz recorded a number of pieces accompanied by the Czech violinist Vasa Prihoda.