Dorothee Manski (March 11, 1892 – February 24, 1967) was a German-born American operatic soprano and voice teacher. She appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 335 performances, and took leading roles internationally, such as Wagner's Isolde at the Salzburg Festival.
Career
Dorothee Manski grew up in Berlin. She studied there at the Prox School and the Conservatory of Music[1] with Emmy Raabe-Burg. She made her operatic debut in her hometown at the Court Opera, where she was a member for the 1913/14 season. Among her early roles were Tebaldo in Verdi's Don Carlos and the First Esquire when Wagner's Parsifal was first performed at the house. From 1914 to 1919, she also sang at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, including the title role of Sharazade by Bernhard Sekles in 1917. She performed at the Staatsoper Stuttgart from 1919 to 1921, and then returned to Berlin, where she sang at the State Opera from 1922 to 1926.[2] She appeared as Eurydice in Offenbach's Orpheus in der Unterwelt, directed by Max Reinhardt.[1]
Manski was married to the German physician, violinist and composer Walter Bransen. Their daughter Inge Manski (1920–2001) also became a successful singer.[2] Manski died in Atlanta,[1] and was interred in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, Indiana.[9]
Recording
Manski's voice appears as Freia and Gutrune in transcription recordings from the Metropolitan Opera between 1936 and 1941, conducted by Artur Bodanzky, alongside Friedrich Schorr as Wotan and Gunther, Marjorie Lawrence as Brünnhilde and Lauritz Melchior as Siegfried, which were reissued as CD.[10]
Notes
^according to her birth certificate, registry office Berlin Charlottenburg No. 450 from March 15, 1892.
^Her age when she died was given as 72 in an obituary which does not match either birth date.
^Dean Fowler, Alandra (1994). Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices (PhD). University of Arizona.