YODELING operatic contralto - SCHUMANN-HEINK - Millocker

A PARTY RECORD for your opera buddies! Schumann-Heink lets down her hair to yodel!

Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936) sings a little-known Alpine YODELING song by Millocker, "I und mei Bua," recorded for Victor Sept. 29, 1908.

One wonders when and why Schumann-Heink learned to yodel...and whether she had 2nd thoughts about having recorded this gem, as it didn't remain in the Victor catalog all that long.

Shumann-Heink was born as Tini Rössler to a German-speaking family in the town of Lieben, near Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of the Austrian Empire. Her father Hans Rössler was a shoemaker. The family moved to Graz when Tini was thirteen. Here she met Marietta von LeClair, a retired opera singer who agreed to give her voice lessons.

In 1877 she made her first professional performance, in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Graz. Tini made her operatic debut at Dresden's Royal Opera House on October 15, 1878 as Azucena in Il Trovatore—at age 17. The photo in the video, showing the THIN young contralto, was taken when she was 18, in 1879.

In 1882 she married Ernest Heink, secretary of the Dresden Opera, with whom she had four children; this violated the terms of their contracts, and both were abruptly terminated from their positions. Heink took a job at the local customs house and was soon transferred to Hamburg. Ernestine remained in Dresden to pursue her career, and eventually rejoined her husband when she secured a position at the Hamburg Opera.

Ernest Heink was again thrown out of work when Saxons were banned from government positions, and departed to Saxony to find work. Ernestine, pregnant, did not follow him; they were divorced in 1893. That year she married actor Paul Schumann, with whom she had three more children. The second marriage lasted until Paul Schumann's death in 1904.

Her breakthrough into leading roles was provided when prima donna Marie Goetze argued with the director of the Hamburg opera. He asked Ernestine to sing the title role of CARMAN, without rehearsal, which she did to great acclaim. Goetze, in a fit of pique, cancelled out of the role of Fides in La Prophete, to be performed the FOLLOWING night, and was again replaced by Ernestine. Schumann-Heink replaced Goetze as Ortrud in Lohengrin the NEXT evening, again without rehearsal--and was offered a ten-year contract.

She performed with Gustav Mahler at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, and became well known for her performances of the works of Richard Wagner at Bayreuth, singing at the Bayreuth Festivals from 1896 to 1914.

She first sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1898, and performed with the Met regularly thereafter for decades.

Schumann-Heink made the first of her many phonograph recordings in 1900.
In 1905 she married William Rapp, Jr., her manager. They divorced in 1915.
She and her new husband lived near Montclair, New Jersey from 1906 to 1911.

She then moved to 500 acres of farmland just outside of San Diego, California, where she would live for most of the remainder ofher life.

In 1909 she created the role of Clytemnestra in debut of Richard Strauss' Elektra, of which she said she had no high opinion. Strauss, for his part, was not entirely taken by Schumann-Heink; according to one story, during rehearsals he told the orchestra "Louder! I can still hear Mme. Schumann-Heink!"

During World War I she toured the United States raising money for the war effort, although she had relatives fighting on both sides of the war - including her son August Heink, a merchant mariner who joined the German submarine service, and stepson Walter Schumann, and sons Henry Heink and George Washington Schumann, all in the United States Navy.

In 1915 she appeared as herself in the early documentary film Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco, which was directed by and starred Fatty Arbuckle.

In 1926 she first sang Silent Night (in both German and English) over the radio for Christmas. This became a Christmas tradition with US radio listeners through Christmas of 1935.

Her last performance at the Met was in 1932. In her later years she had a weekly radio program, the Gerber (baby food) Hour. Most of these programs survive which, incidentally, don't run an hour!

Ernestine Schumann-Heink died of leukaemia in 1936.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• gmmix
• yodel
• yodeling
• Millocker
• Alpine
• opera
• contralto
• Schumann-Heink
• Wagner
• Wagnerian
• Victor

[MrCafiero]

When the vocal registers are balanced and coordinated you can yodel. It is absolutely good for the voice. What happens in yodeling is that you go from strong chest and crack out to falsetto/headvoice. These old singers were masters of vocal registration which is all, but lost today.

[gmmix]

Interesting commentary worth noting.

[karynchaotic]

this woman is a huge inspiration to me--i'm the only contralto in my school right now, and it's getting to be a pain to find soprano after soprano, without finding anyone i sound remotely like.

[gmmix]

The range of good music for a contralto is rich. True contraltos are something of a rarity. Opera buffs can lists 15 good sopranos to one good contralto. Go with your talent and interest, which obviouly exists or you wouldn't be scouting YouTube for samples and inspiration. If you haven't yet, do listen to the other Schumann-Heink video I've posted. She IS an inspiration, remembered fondly SEVENTY YEARS after her death!

[rupepill]

She sounds like a jolly lady. On an occasion ater in her splendid career, when her figure had come into its full bloom, Madame Schumann-Heink was asked by an anxious stage manager to move sideways to avoid disturbing the musicians at a concert. "Fool!" she said, sweeping the unfortunate man aside, "With me, there is no sideways!"

[gmmix]

GREAT anecdote. Thanks for sharing it.

[dinastein44]

Ms. Schumann-Heink was known for her great sense of humour and likewise, for her hearty appetite. Once Caruso met her in a restaurant, about to tuck into a huge steak. Astonished, he asked her: "Are you going to eat this alone?" She answered: "No, of course not - with french fries!"

[pug6666]

Adele is a good contralto my grandmother who listens to a lot of opera said I'm correct in that guess also i looked it up contraltos are amazing.

[MrSkylark1]

@MrCafiero

You are absolutely right.  No one knows how to sing as they did in the Golden Era.

[OLIVCHEN77]

BRAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVAAAAaaa

[towhook]

I think I've just been Tim rolled. This is Tiny Tim isn't it? lol

[Surykatkaaa]

@gmmix She sings amazing :D

I always thought I am a contralto but now I'm not sure...I'm definitely not a soprano, nor contralto, and my voice can go high and low. People also say I talk quite high, and I have a range of only E3 - A5 so I highly doubt I am one. Maybe you or some other person can help me find my voicetype please, I've done a lot of research...

[VivaRenata]

@karynchaotic You wrote this comment a long time ago but hope my reply reaches you! There's a reason you're one of a few real contraltos around, and that is the unfortunate development of musical culture after WWII which has been chronicled, for example, in books by Harold Schonberg (former music critic of the NY Times, see his "The Great Conductors"). The tuning of instruments has been raised and every mezzo around wants to sing The Queen of the Night. Listen to Ferrier and continue singing!

[VivaRenata]

Would like to thank gmmix for a concise and excellent biography and for posting these fantastic recordings of an operatic legend.

[OlDoinyo]

Infectious. What a sense of fun she must have had.

[AstDerek]

Amo su personalidad

[norisv]

The highest note is an F#, that's not high. Any operatic sopranos would probably be more comfortable singing this song in the key of Bb/B, which means ending it with a high Bb/B.