Background
Marta Fuchs grew up in an artistic family, her father being a painter, member of the board of the guild and a city councillor.
Marta Fuchs grew up in an artistic family, her father being a painter, member of the board of the guild and a city councillor.
Marta attended the Königin-Katharina-Stift High School in Stuttgart and studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, the College of Music in Stuttgart.
In later years he put his efforts into managing his daughter"s career. In 1923 at the age of 25, she began her career as a soprano singing concerts and oratories. After undergoing further voice and drama training in Stuttgart, she made her debut as an operatic soprano at the state theatre in Aachen in 1928 with Gluck"s Orpheus, Zucena in Verdi"s Troubadour and with Carmen.
In 1930 she was engaged by the Staatsoper in Dresden.
After retraining from an alto to a high dramatic soprano, she sang, among other parts, Marschallin, Isolde, Brünnhilde, Arabella, and Fidelio. From 1935 onwards she was also part of the ensemble of the Berlin State Opera und des Deutsche Oper Berlin and appeared as guest in Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, London, Florence and Vienna.
From 1933 to 1942, she was a central figure at the Bayreuther Festspiele, where she played Isolde, Kundry and especially Brünnhilde. On February 20, 1935 she played the part of Maria Tudor in the premiere of Rudolf Wagner-Regeny"s Der Günstling.
In 1941, she sang Fidelio-Leonore at the Roman Opera.
She gave guest performances at Bayreuth (eg Kundry in Parsifal, 1938), Amsterdam, Paris, London, Berlin, Wien and Salzburg. In 1935 she sang in the premiere of Strauss"s Die schweigsame Frau. She died in the old-age home in Stuttgart-Sonnenberg on 22 September 1974.
She remained distant from the National Socialist regime. In 1936, she told Hitler, "Mr Hitler, you are going to make war!" After Hitler"s protestation, she replied, "I don"t trust you." In May 1939 Hitler greeted her asking, "Now, have I made war?" Fuchs replied, "I still don"t trust you!" During the years of National Socialism, using her personal acquaintance with Hitler and Göring, she used her reputation in the petitions to allow the continuation of the anthroposophical work in Germany.