Sucher, Rosa (née Hasselbeck)

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Sucher, Rosa (née Hasselbeck)

Sucher, Rosa (née Hasselbeck), German soprano, wife of Josef Sucher; b. Velburg, Feb. 23, 1849; d. Eschweiler, April 16, 1927. She received her early musical training from her father, a chorus master. She sang in provincial operas, then in Leipzig, where she married Josef Sucher in 1877; they subsequently were engaged at the Hamburg Stadttheater (1878-88). In 1882 she made her London debut as Elsa in Lohengrin; in 1886 she appeared in Vienna. She made regular visits to the Bayreuth Festivals (1886-96) and was a principal member of the Berlin Royal Opera (1888-98). On June 8, 1892, she made her Covent Garden debut in London as the Siegfried Briinnhilde; on Feb. 25, 1895, she made her American debut as Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y., under the sponsorship of the Damrosch Opera Co. In 1903 she gave her farewell operatic performance in Berlin as Sieglinde. In 1908 she settled in Vienna as a voice teacher. She publ, her memoirs, Aus meinem Leben (Leipzig, 1914). Among her other fine roles were Euryanthe, Elisabeth, and Senta.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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