Attractive full length Mishkin photograph of the noted contralto as Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal with autograph signature
- SIGNED
Signed in black ink at lower left "Margarete Matzenauer Kundry / Parsifal." With "Copyright Mishkin Studio New York" embossed to lower left corner. 145 x 197 mm.
An unusual image, with the singer depicted reclining on a patterned rug with a pastoral scene in the background.
Laid down to mounting sheet. Margaret Matzenauer "made guest appearances with many companies (including those of Covent Garden and Bayreuth) before her American début at the Metropolitan Opera as Amneris under Toscanini (1911) ... Enthusiastically praised for her acting, Matzenauer had a photographic memory (she performed Kundry at 24 hours’ notice having never sung the part before), and her musicianship was exceptional. ... As a concert artist she is especially remembered for her performances of Das Lied von der Erde under Mengelberg, the American première of Oedipus rex under Koussevitzky and many Bach works under Bodanzky. After leaving the Metropolitan she continued to give concerts and recitals, appeared occasionally in opera, and was active as a teacher." Philip L. Miller in Grove Music Online
Herman Mishkin (1870-1948) served as the Metropolitan Opera's official portraitist from 1908-1932, producing an important body of work documenting "The Golden Age of Opera.
An unusual image, with the singer depicted reclining on a patterned rug with a pastoral scene in the background.
Laid down to mounting sheet. Margaret Matzenauer "made guest appearances with many companies (including those of Covent Garden and Bayreuth) before her American début at the Metropolitan Opera as Amneris under Toscanini (1911) ... Enthusiastically praised for her acting, Matzenauer had a photographic memory (she performed Kundry at 24 hours’ notice having never sung the part before), and her musicianship was exceptional. ... As a concert artist she is especially remembered for her performances of Das Lied von der Erde under Mengelberg, the American première of Oedipus rex under Koussevitzky and many Bach works under Bodanzky. After leaving the Metropolitan she continued to give concerts and recitals, appeared occasionally in opera, and was active as a teacher." Philip L. Miller in Grove Music Online
Herman Mishkin (1870-1948) served as the Metropolitan Opera's official portraitist from 1908-1932, producing an important body of work documenting "The Golden Age of Opera.