Knobel, Marita: Singing Opera in Germany
A Practical Guide
book
Singing Opera in Germany is the first book devoted specifically to this target group. It guides foreign students and young professionals on their career path from their choice of vocation to their first engagement in a German theatre. Among the topics it discusses are the demands of training and everyday professional life, including auditions, caring for the voice, opera choruses, and acting on the opera stage. It also has useful tips on such mundane matters as visas, work permits, contracts, money, taxes, insurance, and writing applications. Rounding off the book is a bilingual glossary of technical terms (from German to English and English to German), a select bibliography, mailing addresses, and suggested repertoire. Practical tips, good advice and useful information written by active professionals make this book a must for every budding young singer.
Contents include
- Daily living in Germany
- Studying in Germany
- How to audition
- Professional behaviour
- Managing your career
- Sample letters in German
- Valuable web-sites
- German-English theatre terms
The authors
Marita Knobel is a longstanding soloist at the Munich Opera and has been involved for many years in the advanced training of young opera singers.
Brigitte Steinert is a manager responsible for cultural matters.
In the autumn of 1923, a young man produced the first music editions of his newly founded publishing house in his parents’ living room. He named his company Bärenreiter. In the spring of 1924 when Karl Vötterle came of age, he was able to register it with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. At first, he mainly put out folk song collections, church as well as organ music including early music by Leonhard Lechner and Heinrich Schütz, at the time primarily known in specialist circles.
During the last months of the Second World War, the publishing house in Kassel was destroyed and once more a fresh beginning had to be made. With the start of the extensive German music encyclopaedia MGG – "Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart" – as well as numerous series of scholarly-critical complete editions such as the “New Mozart Edition” and the “New Bach Edition”, the visionary founder of the publisher created the basis for the further development of Bärenreiter. The musicological editions increasingly aroused interest abroad, and Bärenreiter found itself on an expansion course.
When Karl Votterle died in 1975, his daughter Barbara took over the helm, supported by her husband Leonhard Scheuch. Under their leadership, the catalogue grew significantly and the brand BÄRENREITER URTEXT was established. Finally, in 2003, their son Clemens Scheuch joined the publisher which today he is managing together with his parents. Thus Bärenreiter has remained a family business to this day and has become a company of international standing in the world of classical music.
