Margarethe Arndt-Ober

Arndt-Ober as Amneris.

Margarethe Arndt-Ober (1885–1971) was an American opera singer of German descent who had an active international career during the first half of the twentieth century. A highly skilled contralto,^[1] Ober enjoyed a particularly long and fruitful association with the Berlin State Opera from 1907 to 1944. She also was notably a principal singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1913 and 1917.

Biography

Born Margarete Ober in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants,^[2] Ober studied singing in Berlin with Benno Stolzenberg and Arthur Arndt, the latter of whom eventually became her second husband in 1910.^[3]

Ober made her professional opera debut as Azucena in Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore at the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt in 1906. After a short stint at the Opera i Operetka w Szczecinie, she became a principal singer with the Berlin State Opera in 1907, remaining with that company for over 35 years. In 1908 she had her first major success in Berlin singing Amneris in Verdi's Aida with Enrico Caruso as Radames. That same year she portrayed the tile role in the German premiere of Jules Massenet's Thérèse.^[4] In April 1910 she sang in the world premiere of Arthur Nevin's Poia. In 1913 she portrayed Eboli in the Berlin premiere of Verdi's Don Carlos.^[3]

In 1913 Ober joined the roster of principal singers at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, singing with the company for four seasons. She made her debut with the company on November 21, 1913, as Ortrud in Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.^[5] With the company she notably sang Octavian in the United States premiere of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Katharine in the Met's first production of Hermann Goetz's Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung, and Alisoun in the world premiere of Reginald de Koven's The Canterbury Pilgrims. Her other Met roles included Amneris, Azucena, Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Dalila in Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila, Eglantine in Carl Maria von Weber's Euryanthe, Erda in both Wagner's Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Fricka in Wagner's Die Walküre, Laura in Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Nancy in Friedrich von Flotow's Martha, Waltraute in Wagner's Götterdämmerung, and the Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder. Her final and 182nd performance at the Met was as Marina in Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov on April 27, 1917.^[6]

Ober's opera career at the Met ended shortly after the outbreak of World War I. She fainted on stage after hearing of fighting between the United States and Germany during World War I. With the rise of prejudice against German-Americans in the United States, the Met decided to dismiss Ober while she was rehearsing on October 2, 1917. The house justified the action by saying that the singer loathed the United States. Ober sued for $50,000, maintaining she was "simply an artist". She returned to Germany after the court's decision, which was not made public.^[7][8]

Ober returned to Germany after being fired from the Met and continued to perform at the Berlin State Opera until her retirement from the stage in 1944. In 1924 she portrayed Kostelnicka in the Berlin premiere of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa. Other Berlin highlights included appearances in three more world premieres: Eduard Künneke's operetta Die große Sünderin (31 December 1935), and the operas Der singende Teufel by Franz Schreker (10 December 1928) and Peer Gynt by Werner Egk (24 November 1938).^[3]

Outside of Berlin, Ober was a regular performer at the Zoppot Festival, appearing there almost every year from 1922 to 1942.^[4] She also made appearances in Spain, Holland, and Norway, and at most of Germany's major opera houses. Her voice is preserved on a number of recordings made on the HMV, Odeon, Parlophon, Pathé, and Victor labels.^[3]

She died in 1971.

External links

• Margarethe Arndt-Ober at Flickr Commons

References

1. ^ First Week's Opera Bills, New York Times, November 8, 1913, pg. 13.
2. ^ W.F. Dowling Dies, Retired Jurist, 70, New York Times, November 3, 1948, pg. 7.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Biography of Margarethe Arndt-Ober at operissimo.com (in German)
4. ^ ^{a b} Biography of Margarethe Arndt-Ober at cantabile-subito.de
5. ^ The Stage, Munsey's Magazine, 1914, pg. 100.
6. ^ Metropolitan Opera Archives
7. ^ "Met's New Rosenkavalier". New York Times. January 24, 1969. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60C14FA395D137A93C6AB178AD85F4D8685F9. Retrieved 2010-09-24. "Mrs. Clarence H. Mackay, reminiscing the other day, had no trouble remembering the first time she heard a performance of "Der Rosenkavalier." It was on Dec. 9, 1913, and she was in it, creating the role of Sophie in the first Metropolitan Opera production of Richard Strauss's work." 
8. ^ "German Women Eager to Get Away," April 23, 1918, accessed January 20, 2010

Persondata
Name	Arndt-Ober, Margarethe
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1885
Place of birth
Date of death	1971
Place of death