Elfriede Trötschel (Soprano)

Born: December 11, 1913 - Dresden, Germany
Died: June 20, 1958 - Berlin, Germany

The German lyric soprano, Elfriede Trötschel, had a short, but versatile and successful career. As well as taking many leading roles at the Dresden State Opera, she was also a successful concert singer.

Elfriede Trötschel began her career as a member of the Dresden Opera choir and became a soloist in 1933 after being selected by the Opera’s director, Karl Böhm. Her many roles on the operatic stage included Lola, Gretel, Esmeralda, Zerlina, Blondchen, Marie, Susanna, Nannetta, Zdenka, Jenufa, Donna Elvira, Bastienne, Oskar, Papagena, Marzelline, Sophie, Mimi and Madame Butterfly. She sang at the Salzburg Festival in 1941 and at the Berlin State Opera in 1950. In 1950 she sang Susanna at the Edinburgh and Glyndebourne Festivals, sang at the Vienna State Opera in 1952 and appeared at Convent Garden in 1953 in Strauss’s Arabella. Trötschel performed with some of the great conductors of the 20^th century, such as Fritz Stiedry, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Krauss, Keilbert, Eugen Jochum, Kempe, Otto Klemperer, Karl Böhm and Fricsay.

Elfriede Trötschel's recordings include Monteverdi’s Orfeo as Euridice (conducted by Helmut Koch), Weber’s Der Freischütz (as Agathe) under Kempe, Goetz’s The Taming of the Shrew, Haydn’s The Seasons (conducted by Fricsay), Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (under Ferdinand Leitner), Orff’s Carmina Burana (directed by Eugen Jochum) and the Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) (with Fritz Lehmann).

Sources: FrauenStadtArchiv Dresden - Biographische Sammlung - Trötschel, Elfriede; "Matthäus-Passion" (with Fritz Lehmann)
Contributed by Eric Spicer (August 2001), Aryeh Oron (February 2005)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Fritz Lehmann

Soprano

BWV 244

Günther Ramin

Soprano

BWV 244

Links to other Sites

FrauenStadtArchiv Dresden: Trötschel, Elfriede