Janowitz, Gundula
- Alan Blyth
Extract
(b Berlin, 2 Aug 1937). German soprano. She studied in Graz and made her début in 1960 as Barbarina at the Vienna Staatsoper, where she was engaged for 30 years. Early roles there included Pamina (which she recorded with Klemperer), Purcell’s Dido, Mimì, Marzelline and, in 1964, the Empress (Die Frau ohne Schatten). At Bayreuth (1960–62) she sang a flowermaiden and Woglinde; at Aix-en-Provence (1963) Pamina; and at Glyndebourne (1964) Ilia. She made her Metropolitan début in 1967 as Sieglinde, which she also sang at the Salzburg Easter Festival (1967–8) and recorded for Karajan. At Salzburg she sang Donna Anna, Countess Almaviva, Fiordiligi (1968–72), the Marschallin and Ariadne (1978–81). In 1972 she sang a memorable Agathe with Böhm in a new production of Der Freischütz in Vienna, and in 1973 was Mozart’s Countess at the reopening of the Paris Opéra. She appeared at Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and La Scala, and made her Covent Garden début in ...
