Dresden

Emil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's... literature. Kästner was born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony. He grew up in the Königsbrücker Straße of Dresden's Äußere Neustadt. Close by, the Erich Kästner Museum is located on the ground floor of Kästner's uncle Franz Augustin's former villa on Antonstraße next to the Albertplatz. Kästner's father Emil was a master saddlemaker. His mother Ida, née Augustin, was a maidservant and housewife, and in her thirties trained to be a hairstylist in order to supplement her husband's income. Kästner had a particularly close relationship with his mother. While he lived in Leipzig and Berlin, he wrote her fairly intimate daily letters and postcards. His novels, too, seem to be pervaded by overbearing mothers. It was rumored that Erich Kästner's natural father was not Emil Kästner, but rather the Jewish family doctor, Emil Zimmermann . These rumors never were substantiated. Kästner wrote about his childhood in his 1957 autobiography When I Was a Little Boy.
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Erna Berger , was a prominent German coloratura lyric soprano. She is most famous for her Queen of the Night and her Konstanze. Along with Frida... Leider, Elisabeth Rethberg, Meta Seinemeyer, Tiana Lemnitz, Elisabeth Grümmer, Hilde Gueden, Lotte Lehmann, Martha Mödl and Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, she adorned the ranks of the most prominent German sopranos who were active during the decades following World War I. She was highly thought of by the great operatic and orchestral conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arturo Toscanini. Born in Dresden, Germany, Berger spent some years as a child in India and South America. She lived there later on as well, working as a clerk and a piano teacher, before borrowing enough money for the trip back to Germany. At the age of 26, she was able to secure a position as a soubrette soprano at the Semper Opera in Dresden, but her talent soon outgrew this post. She later held leading positions at the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Berger also gave concerts in Japan, America, and Australia.
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Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor. Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He... played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929. In addition to oboe, he played the piano regularly, as a soloist, in chamber music or accompanying, as a result of which, in 1933, the new Director of the Leipzig Opera invited Kempe to become a répétiteur, and later a conductor, for the opera. During the Second World War Kempe was conscripted into the army, but instead of active service was directed into musical activities, playing for the troops and later taking over the chief conductorship of the Chemnitz opera house. Kempe directed the Dresden Opera and the Dresden Staatskapelle from 1949 to 1952, making his first records, including Der Rosenkavalier, Die Meistersinger and Der Freischütz. ‘He obtains some superlative playing from the Dresden orchestra,’ commented The Record Guide.
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Hartmut Haenchen is a German orchestra conductor. Haenchen began his musical career as a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor. By the age of 15, he was... already conducting performances as cantor. As a 17-year-old, he attracted widespread attention with his revival of Johann Adolph Hasse's Requiem. Haenchen subsequently studied conducting and voice at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik. He then attended master classes in Berlin and at Carinthian Summer Festival in Austria, later attending rehearsals at the Bayreuth Festival and concerts conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Haenchen's first engagement was as director of the Robert-Franz-Singakademie in Halle and conductor of the Halle Philharmonic Orchestra in 1966. He went on to win first prize at the Carl Maria von Weber Competition in Dresden in 1971. In 1972-1973 Haenchen served as principal Kapellmeister of the Zwickau Theatre. During that period he made his debut at the Berlin State Opera, directing Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. He appeared there regularly until 1986. From 1973 to 1976, Haenchen was conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic and a regular guest with the Dresden State Opera.
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Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous... conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard Wagner. Bülow was born in Dresden, and from the age of nine he was a student of Friedrich Wieck . However, his parents insisted that he study law instead of music, and sent him to Leipzig. There he met Franz Liszt, and on hearing some music of Richard Wagner—specifically, the premiere of Lohengrin in 1850—he decided to ignore the dictates of his parents and make himself a career in music instead. He studied the piano in Leipzig with the famous pedagogue Louis Plaidy. He obtained his first conducting job in Zurich, on Wagner's recommendation, in 1850. Notoriously tactless, Bülow alienated many musicians with whom he worked. He was dismissed from his Zurich job for this reason, but at the same time he was beginning to win renown for his ability to conduct new and complex works without a score.
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Kurt Böhme was a German bass. He was born in Dresden, Germany, where he studied with Adolf Kluge at the Dresden Conservatory. He made his debut... in 1930 in Bautzen as Kaspar, one of his most important roles further on. From 1930 till 1950 he was member of the Dresden State Opera, 1949 he became member of the Munich State Opera an in 1955 member of the Vienna State Opera. In the 1950s and 1960s he gets known worldwide because of his acting talents, as Bass-Buffo Baron Ochs and also as "Bösewicht" . "Matteo" in Fra Diavolo; Dresden Nov. 1944. He was known for his interpretations of Wagnerian roles and Baron Ochs von Lerchenau in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.
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