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The German soprano, Margarethe Burckhard, began her stage career in 1902 at the Stadttheater of Rostock. Afterwards she was engaged from 1904 to 1907 at the Hoftheater Schwerin. In Schwerin she sang on January 15, 1905 the title role in the premiere of in the opera Die vernarrte Prinzess by Oscar von Chelius. From 1907 to 1911 she was engaged at the Hoftheater of Hannover; and then, from 1911 to 1920, at the Hoftheater of Stuttgart. On October 25, 1912 in Stuttgart in the premiere of the Richard Strauss' opera Ariadne auf Naxos the role of Najade; in 1913 she participated there in the premiere of the opera Ulenspiegel by Walter Braunfels as Nele. She appeared as a guest at the Hofoper of Dresden (1903), at the Festival of Wiesbaden (1905), at the Hoftheater of Karlsruhe (1910), and since 1905 frequently at the Berliner Hofoper. She could be heard at the Covent Garden Opera in London in 1906 as Gutrune in Götterdämmerung and as Margiana in Barbier von Bagdad by P. Cornelius. She appeared on the stage as well as in the concert hall in an extensive repertoire. Her stage repertoire included roles as Pamina in Zauberflöte, Agathe in Freischütz, Undine in Lortzing's opera of the same name, Senta in Fliegenden Holländer, Elsa in Lohengrin, Eva in Meistersingern, Aida, Mimi in La Bohème, Sophie in Rosenkavalier, Marguerite in Faust by Gounod, Micaela in Carmen, the title heroine in Mignon by A. Thomas, Elsbeth in Leoncavallo's Roland von Berlin and Hanna Glawari in Lehár's Lustiger Witwe.
Margarethe Burchard departed from the stage in 1920 as Martha in Tiefland by d'Albert in Stuttgart. Since 1908 she was married with the actor and director Kurt Junker (1878-1953), working in Stuttgart, and appeared therefore also under the name Margarethe Junker-Burchardt.
Recordings: G&T (Schwerin, 1905), HMV (Hannover 1908-1910), on both labels in solos and duets; recordings also on Grammophone, Odeon und Zonophone. |
