Background
ROTHENBERGER, Anneliese was born on June 19, 1926 in Salenstein. Daughter of Josef Rothenberger and Sophie Haffner.
singer television presenter opera singer
ROTHENBERGER, Anneliese was born on June 19, 1926 in Salenstein. Daughter of Josef Rothenberger and Sophie Haffner.
She studied with Erika Müller, and took up her first engagement in Koblenz in 1943.
Die Fledermaus 1955, Der Rosenkavalier.She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss. In 1947, Günther Rennert offered her a job at the Hamburg Opera House, where she sang in Rennert"s now famous production of Alban Berg"s Lulu twenty years later, a role she would also perform at the Munich Opera Festival, under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi. 1954 saw her make her debut at the Salzburg Festival, and she appeared in Rolf Liebermann"s Schule der Frauen, three years later.
From 1954, she became a guest singer at the Vienna State Opera.
New York audiences had their first chance to hear the soprano"s fine voice in 1960, when she sang there in Der Rosenkavalier. Her performance prompted Lotte Lehmann to call her "the best Sophie in the world".
Herbert von Karajan chose her to appear alongside Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Sena Jurinac for the filmed performance of Der Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival. She also appeared in many contemporary operas by Henze, Britten, Hindemith, Carl Orff, Pfitzner, and Menotti.
In the 1970s, she became a popular television personality.
She retired in 1983. She wrote an autobiography in 1973: Melodie meines Lebens. She died in May 2010 in Münsterlingen, Switzerland, aged 85.
The Anneliese Rothenberger rose (aka Oregold rose) is named after her.
Married Gerd West. Dieberitz in 1954.