Background
Borkh was born as Ingeborg Simon in Mannheim, Germany, in 1921.
Borkh was born as Ingeborg Simon in Mannheim, Germany, in 1921.
She studied singing in Milan and made her debut in 1940 at the opera in Lucerne as Czipra in Johann Strauss II"s Der Zigeunerbaron.
dancing, piano) in Vienna and Milan, then in Switzerland in German version of Konsul (Menotti); Institute career since 1951, Bayreuth, Paris, Vienna, Edinburgh Festival; first visit to United States of America 1953; World Premiere of Irische Legende (Egk) 1955; appeared as Salome and Elektra, Carnegie Hall, New York 1958: Metropolitan Opera, New York 1958; Bavarian Court Singer 1963; appeared at opening of Nationaltheater, Munich, in Die Frau ohne Schatten 1963; Grand Prix du Disque for Elektra, Antigone (Orff), and Schonberg’s Gurrelieder; Reinhard RingShe was initially an actress and had some training in dance, both of which served her well in opera: she became known both for her voice and for her dramatic intensity - the "singing actress" exemplified, years before the term became common usage. She remained in Switzerland until 1951, when she sang a sensational Magda in the first German-language performance of Gian Carlo Menotti"s The Consul in Basel. lieutenant was her key to international stardom, leading to engagements in the world"s great opera houses: Vienna, Munich, Berlin, London, New York, and San Francisco.
But it was as Salome and Elektra - both by Richard Strauss - that she gained her greatest fame.
None of her performances were captured on film—except for the Dyer"s Wife from Munich—but some of her great performances were recorded, and both complete works as well as excerpts from a wide array of performances are now available on Civil Defense. The complete works include Antigone, Turandot, Iphigénie, Medea (Gui), Die Frau ohne Schatten (Keilberth), Die Walkuere (Sieglinde / Bayreuth, Keilberth 1952), and her famed Elektra and Salome (Mitropoulos). Borkh was one of the leading dramatic sopranos of the 1950s and 1960s, though she recorded infrequently.
She can be heard on Civil Defense performing Scenes from Elektra and Salome, conducted by Fritz Reiner in the 1950s (Radio Corporation of America Victor 09026 68636-2) as well as a famous 1960 version of Elektra with the Dresden Staatskapelle Opera Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Karl Böhm (Deutsche Grammophon 445 329-2). Her Turandot was recorded for DECCA, conducted by Erede, with del Monaco, Tebaldi and Zaccaria in the other leading roles.
Also for DECCA, she recorded a famous recital in which she sings mostly arias from Italian operas.
Borkh retired from opera in 1973 after seven performances of Elektra in Italy, and briefly went back to the theater as an actress of the spoken word. She also for a while turned chanteuse, doing a unique cabaret act, a souvenir recording of which, Inge Borkh singt ihre Memoiren, is available on Preiser Civil Defense.