Maria Helbling (Contralto)

Born: November, 1906 - Wintcrthur, Switzerland

The Swiss contrato, Maria Helbling, studied from 1930 to 1932 with the teacher Anna Triebel in Zürich, from 1932 to 1935 at the Conservatory of Zürich as a pupil of Ilona Durigo, and from 1935 to 1937 at the Musikhochschule Köln with Maria Philippi and obtained the state diploma..

Like her last two teachers, Maria Helbling was a respected concert and oratorio singer and appeared in concerts in her homeland of Switzerland (Zürich, Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne) with great successes. Her career took on an international level to Paris and Milan, to Germany, Belgium, Austria, Latvia, Sweden, Spain and Czechoslovakia. She sang alto parts in the great Passions (BWV 244, BWV 245) and Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) by J.S. Bach and many of his cantatas, oratorios, such as Messiah by George Frideric Handel, 9^th Symphony and Missa Solemnis by L.v. Beethoven's, Requiem and Masses by W.A. Mozart, Alto Rhapsody by Johannes Brahms, Les Béatitudes by Cesar Franck, Verdi’s Requiem, in works by Bruckner and Gustav Mahler; all of these parts consist only an excerpt from her repertoire. She also sang in contemporary compositions like Golgotha by Frank Martin or Le Laudi by H. Suter, and, in 1946, performed in Bern in the world premiere of the oratorio Leiden Hiobs by Hans Studer. She also sang in concert performances of some operas (L'Incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, Giulio Cesare by G.F. Handel), but did not appear on stage. On the other hand, she was a gifted interpreter of Lieder (Lieder cycles of Schubert, Kindertotenlieder by Gustav Mahler, Lieder by Othmar Schoeck).

Recordings: Handel Society (Cornelia in Giulio Cesare by G.F. Handel)

Source: Mostly Operissimo Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (November 2011)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2011); Manfred Krugmann (Photo 01, August 2011)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Alfred Ellenberger

Alto

BWV 8 [Excerpts], BWV 244 [Excerpts]

Links to other Sites