Margaret Matzenauer

Margaret Matzenauer was a mezzo-soprano and contralto born on 1 June 1881 in Temesvár, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, the city now known as Timișoara, Romania. Of German Jewish descent, she considered herself Hungarian. Her father Ludwig worked as a conductor, and her mother was an opera singer. Matzenauer died on 19 May 1963 at the Sherman Way Convalescent Hospital in Van Nuys, California, at the age of 81.

Matzenauer received her operatic training in Graz and Berlin, and made her debut in 1901 in the role of Puck in Weber's Oberon. She built her early European career as a contralto and mezzo-soprano, taking on major roles including Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore, the title role in Bizet's Carmen, Mignon by Ambroise Thomas, and Wagner roles such as Waltraute, Erda, and Ortrud in Lohengrin. Her European reputation led to an engagement at the 1911 Bayreuth Festival. She also attempted soprano parts, though this extension of her range upward was limited by difficulties with her highest notes.

Her American debut came at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 13 November 1911, when she sang Amneris in Aida on opening night alongside Emmy Destinn as Aida and Enrico Caruso as Radamès, with Arturo Toscanini on the podium. Within days she demonstrated her versatility by appearing as Brangäne in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. On 1 January 1912, with only a few days' notice, she sang the demanding role of Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal, a work she had never previously performed. Matzenauer went on to sing at the Met for 19 seasons, with credits including Eboli in the first Met production of Verdi's Don Carlos in 1920, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Marina in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio, and Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre. Her farewell Met performance took place on 17 February 1930, again in the role of Amneris, though she continued performing opera and giving concerts afterward.

In 1911, Matzenauer married Italian-born dramatic tenor Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana (1878–1936), a fellow Met colleague, through whom she acquired Italian citizenship. The marriage ended in divorce in 1917. In 1924, she appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in London at a Special Sunday concert with pianist Solito de Solis. In 1936, she took the role of Madame Pomponi in the Columbia Pictures film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

Matzenauer also worked as a singing teacher, counting mezzo-sopranos Blanche Thebom and Nell Tangeman among her pupils. Her final stage appearance was on Broadway in 1942, in the play Vickie. Tenor Giacomo Lauri Volpi named her in his book Voci parallele as one of only three true contraltos he encountered during his career, alongside Gabriella Besanzoni and Matilde Blanco Sadun. Her daughter, Adrienne Fontana, was a former nightclub singer and hosted the variety television program Champagne and Orchids on the DuMont Network. Matzenauer made a substantial number of recordings, many of which have been reissued on CD.