Selma
Kurz (soprano) was born in Biala, Silesia, in 1874. She
studied music with Professor Ress, and debuted as Mignon in
1895 at Hamburg. She soon became widely successful,
appearing in Vienna from 1899 and London from 1904, where
she sang Juliette in Romeo et Juliette (Gounod),
Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Elizabeth
in Tannhäuser (Wagner), Gilda in
Rigoletto (Verdi) and Oscar in Un Ballo in
Maschera (Verdi). She created the role of Zerbinetta in
the revised version of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf
Naxos in Vienna. She retired in 1926 and died in
1933.
Her voice was very pure and sweet, and was famous for her
fast and closely controlled shake.
Her voice, and the famous rapid shake, is well caught in
this recording which benefits from the lower surface noise
of the vinyl pressing. Transferred at 78rpm and digitally noise reduced (see the note on the introduction page).
If you would like to download
this recording you can do so from this page.
A CD of Kurz's later recordings (1923-4) have been issued
on Preiser
89504.
I have not heard this CD and list it here simply for
information. I can't guarantee it is still available.
Selma
Kurz (soprano) was born in Biala, Silesia, in 1874. She
studied music with Professor Ress, and debuted as Mignon in
1895 at Hamburg. She soon became widely successful,
appearing in Vienna from 1899 and London from 1904, where
she sang Juliette in Romeo et Juliette (Gounod),
Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Elizabeth
in Tannhäuser (Wagner), Gilda in
Rigoletto (Verdi) and Oscar in Un Ballo in
Maschera (Verdi). She created the role of Zerbinetta in
the revised version of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf
Naxos in Vienna. She retired in 1926 and died in
1933.
