Born: February 1, 1919 - Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
Died: January 22, 2001 - Leipzig, Saxony, Germany |
The German soprano, Philine Fischer (née: Franke; married name: Sannemüller), made her debut in 1944 as Micaela in Georges Bizet's Carmen at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater. After the success of the George Frideric Handel oratorio Messiah conducted by Hermann Abendroth at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig in 1945, she advanced to the status of prima donna of the 1950's. From 1945 to 1952 she was engaged at the Leipzig Opera and from 1952 to 1980 at the Halle Opera House, which awarded her honorary membership. She performed regularly at the Handel Festival in Halle (Saale) and she sang 14 operas by G.F. Handel, among others Alcina, Deidamia and Mahamaya (as the character of Cleofide in the original libretto is named in a German translation) in Poro. She worked with the likes of Horst-Tanu Margraf, Rudolf Heinrich, Heinz Rückert,[2] Rolf Apreck, Werner Enders, Kurt Hübenthal, Günther Leib and Hellmuth Kaphahn. In Hamburg she was appointed Kammersänger. Her last role in Halle was Herodias in Salome by Richard Strauss. She retired in 1981 and died in Leipzig at age 81.
Philine Fischer was a member of the board of directors of the Gewerkschaft Kunst (DDR) in Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund and was elected in October 1963 at the suggestion of the Cultural Association of the GDR as a successor candidate in the People's Chamber of the German Democratic Republic.
Discography: Mahamaya in G.F. Handel's Poro, Händel-Festspielorchester Halle, conductor: Horst-Tanu Margraf (recorded July 1958 published: Berlin Classics 1998). |