Maria Jeritza Suggest updates
Mimi Jedlitzková
Born Brno (Brünn), 6 October 1887.
Died Orange, NJ, 10 July 1982.
Moravian (naturalized American) soprano.
Maria Jeritza was a soprano of great dramatic gifts and personal beauty, who had a long and successful career, associated particularly with the Vienna State Opera and the New York Met. She created two roles in Strauss operas - Ariadne in the first version of Ariadne auf Naxos (Stuttgart 1912) and the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten (Vienna 1919). She was particularly noted for her interpretations of Tosca and Thaïs, as well as Carmen and the dual role of Marie/Marietta in Korngold's Die tote Stadt. She appeared in the first Vienna production of La fanciulla del West and the Met premieres of Die tote Stadt, Jenůfa and Turandot.
She sang little in Britain, and her only operatic appearances came at Covent Garden in the 1925 season, when she sang Tosca and Fedora. She returned in 1929, and embarked on a concert tour of Britain giving several recitals in Scotland. At this time her formal name was Baroness Popper - the Baron being the second of her four husbands.
