- Johanna Gadski
with a secure, powerful, ringing voice and an excellent technique.
After receiving her musical education in Stettin, she made her operatic debut in Berlin in 1889 in the role of
Undine . Highlights of her subsequent career in Germany included appearances at the 1899Bayreuth Festival and at the 1905-06 Munich Festival.Gadski built her international reputation in English-speaking countries. She made her successful American debut in New York in 1895 (with the
Damrosch Company) and became popular, too, in Great Britain. She appeared, for instance, at the Worcester Festival and sang in London at theRoyal Opera House ,Covent Garden , in 1899.In 1899-1900, Gadski embarked on a concert tour of the United States. She also joined the star-studded roster of singers at the New York
Metropolitan Opera , singing there in 1898-1904 and 1907-17. At the height ofWorld War One , however, she was declared an enemy alien and deported from the United States. She resumed her career in Germany but returned to the United States with a touring company in 1929-31. By this late date, however, her voice had been eroded by age and hard use. She returned to Germany and died in Berlin in 1932.During the years of her prime, Gadski was particularly celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic as a
Wagnerian singer; but she was equally splendid as a performer of the more strenous Italian operatic roles.She made numerous recordings in the early years of the 20th century which have been released complete on two sets of CDs by Marston Records. Despite their technical limitations, these old recordings confirm that Gadski was one of the greatest dramatic sopranos of the past 120 years.
References
Adapted from . Other information drawn from "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera" (second edition), by Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack (Oxford University Press, London, 1980) and "The Record of Singing" (volume one), by Michael Scott (Duckworth, London 1977).
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