Paula von Hentke, also Paula Hentke-Müller (around 1900 – around 1954) was a German operatic soprano who performed at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.

Life edit

Very little is known about Hentke except her engagements in the Wiener Staatsoper[1] from January 1922 until June 1925, during which she sang numerous small roles, but also appeared in some striking roles, for example 23 times as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, 17 times as Lucienne in Die tote Stadt, 14 times as Ida in Die Fledermaus and 9 times as Esmeralda in Die verkaufte Braut. She sang four times the dewman and the sandman in Engelbert Humperdinck's Fairy-tale opera Hänsel und Gretel.[2] She has also performed in operas by d'Albert, Pfitzner, Puccini, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner. At the Salzburg Festival in 1922 and 1925, she sang Barbarina, in 1926 Ida in the Fledermaus. From 1925, she had an engagement at the opera house Dortmund.[3]

In the 1932/33 season, she was engaged in Teplice.[4] In April 1932 she appeared again as Esmeralda at the Vienna State Opera, in May 1935 she took over the role of Adele at the Fledermaus.

Hentke was also a concert singer, for example she sang in 1922, 1923 and 1927 arias by Bizet and Meyerbeer, Johann Strauß, Handel and Mozart in concerts of the Wiener Symphoniker.[5][6][7]

In 1942/43, she appeared several times in the Vienna Schubert Hall with recitals, accompanied on the grand piano by Karl Hudez. She performed works by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms among others[8]

She also worked as a singing teacher. In 1954 she received a teaching assignment for opera-dramatic répétiteur at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.[9]

Main roles edit

Engelbert Humperdinck:

Korngold:

Meyerbeer

Mozart:

 

Smetana:

Johann Strauß:

Richard Strauss:

References edit

  1. ^ Paula Hentk performances at the Wiener Staatsoper
  2. ^ The performance figures given are minimum figures, as the cast lists of the Vienna State Opera have only been fully recorded since 1955 (as of October 2016)
  3. ^ "Theater und Kunst", Neues Wiener Journal [de], 17 March 1925, p. 11 (Digitized at ANNO (Austrian Newspapers Online)
  4. ^ Ensemble Teplitz, retrieved 11 November 2020.
  5. ^ Wiener Symphoniker: A. KONRATH, HENTKE, BALTZ / MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, DVOŘÁK, BIZET, MEYERBEER, BEETHOVEN at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-10-31), 26 November 1922, retrieved 11 November 2020.
  6. ^ Wiener Symphoniker: KURMANN, HENTKE, GAYER, ARAMESCO, A. TAUBER / REZNICEK, SMETANA, LAFITE, J. STRAUSS (SOHN), 20 February 1923, retrieved 10 November 2020.
  7. ^ Wiener Symphoniker: SPÖRR, HENTKE, FRIEDMANN / MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY, W. A. MOZART, BRAHMS at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-10-31), 10 July 1927, retrieved 10 November 2020.
  8. ^ "Konzerte und Vorträge", Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 16 October 1943, p. 7 (Digitized at ANNO (Austrian Newspapers Online)
  9. ^ "Aus den österreichischen Musikinstituten – Akademie Wien – Ernennungen". Österreichische Musikzeitschrift. Vol. 9. Vienna. 1954. p. 369.