Born: January 5, 1928 - Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Died: March 12, 2011 - Lohmar, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
The German mezzo-soprano, Margrit Caspari, was born as an officer's daughter, whose barracks were located in Reutlingen/Germany. Around the year 1940 she went to school in Riederich, near Reutlingen. She grew up in Hamburg and studied singing with Wihelm Dürr at the Musikhochschule in Hannover.
Margrit Caspari made her debut was in Detmold. She was engaged in various German speaking stages, including in Aachen, Basel, Detmold, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Cologne, Pforzheim, Wuppertal and Zürich. At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, she was first engaged as a guest (seasons 1964-1965, 1965-1966) and then engaged (until 1993-1994). One of her last roles there was Giovanna in Verdi's Rigoletto (September 15, 1993). During the 1950's she got married to Mr. Caspari but this marriage ended in divorce after a few years but it produced a son named Thomas who possibly still lives in the area around Cologne.
After her retirement Margrit Caspari moved to a small village named Winterscheid/Westerwald. She lived in a kind of old cottage all by herself with her dogs several haflinger horses (horse breeding). Even though she continued to perform in churches every now and then with oratorios or arias. So she kept her warm expressive alto voice up to the end. She died very suddenly while she was scraping up snow on March 12, 2011.
Recordings: Giacomo Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi (as Zita) with Düsseldorfer Symphoniker conducted by Robert Schaub, recorded live in Düsseldorf on March 25, 1973 (Premiere Opera). |