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SELMA KURZ
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.
'D'AMOR
SULL'ALI ROSEE ('Il Trovatore') (Verdi)
Historic Masters HMB6 (modern vinyl pressing of HMV 053279) (1911)
(2.2MB)
Her voice, and the famous rapid shake, is well caught in this
recording which benefits from the lower surface noise of the vinyl
pressing.
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.