Herta Talmar (4 July 1920 – 24 June 2010) was an Austrian operetta singer (soprano) as well as an actress.
Born in Salzburg, Talmar first stood on a theatre stage at the age of eleven; in the operetta Die Kaiserin by Leo Fall at the Salzburger Landestheater. She received her singing training at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1952 she appeared at the Landestheater Salzburg as a guest in the operetta Ballnacht in Florenz by Edwin Burmester (music based on motives by Johann Strauss II); after that she was engaged there permanently. From 1952 to 1957 Talmar was then a member of the ensemble at the Salzburg Landestheater. There she appeared in numerous operetta productions, among others in Die gold'ne Meisterin (1953), Abschiedswalzer by Ludwig Schmidseder. (1953, with Hubert Marischka as partner), Marietta by Walter Kollo (1953), Her Last Waltz by Oscar Straus (1954) and in August 1956 with Johannes Heesters in Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow . From 1957 Talmar worked as a freelancer, gave guest performances and sang mainly for radio. Her repertoire mainly consisted of operetta, but also musicals, folk songs, popular Viennese songs and schlagers.
Talmar became known especially for her numerous operetta cross sections, which were created in the 1950s and 1960s and published exclusively on Polydor records. Almost the entire popular operetta repertoire was recorded, including Wiener Blut , Der Bettelstudent , Gasparone , Der Vogelhändler , The Merry Widow , The Count of Luxembourg , Der Zarewitsch , The Land of Smiles , Paganini , Die Csárdásfürstin , Countess Mariza , The Circus Princess , The Dollar Princess , A Waltz Dream , The Cousin from Nowhere , Schwarzwaldmädel , Im weißen Rößl , Saison in Salzburg , Viktoria und ihr Husar and The Flower of Hawaii . In these recordings Talmar always sang the soprano part under the musical direction of the operetta conductor Franz Marszalek, with changing tenor partners such as Sándor Kónya, Fritz Wunderlich, Franz Fehringer and Reinhold Bartel; further performers were often Peter Alexander, Willy Hofmann , Rita Bartos and Renate Holm. In addition, Polydor produced a series of so-called composer pictures in the 1950s. Here Herta Talmar often formed a singing couple with Herbert Ernst Groh. With the orchestra Kurt Edelhagen a cross-section of the musical My Fair Lady was also produced, in which Talmar, however, only sang lady Eliza, while the flower girl Eliza was sung by the cabaret artist and monologist Cissy Kraner
Talmar made numerous complete recordings of operettas and musical comedies on radio in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly on Westdeutscher Rundfunk with Franz Marszalek. Under the musical direction of Marszalek, complete operetta recordings such as Der fidele Bauer (1954), Die Försterchristl (1955) were made, A Waltz Dream (1954), Adrienne (1956), Gasparone (1956) and Auf der grünen Wiese by Jara Beneš (1959). Because of her pleasant speaking voice and her acting talent Talmar always took over the speaking role of the respective part; often in comparable productions for singers and actors separate interpreters were engaged. In addition, countless single titles from operettas were recorded. Among them there are many rarities.
Talmar's radio recordings at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, as far as they have survived, have been released extensively in recent years on CDs, in some cases on several labels (Line Music, Membran, Hamburger Archiv für Gesangskunst). In 1958 a recording of Lehár's Die Lustige Witwe was made with Talmar at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk with Fred Liewehr as Danilo. [1]
In February 1955 a radio recording of the musical comedy Das kleine Café by Robert Stolz was made at the Bayerischer Rundfunk, in which Talmar sang alongside Christl Mardayn and Peter Alexander. [2] In July 1955 followed also at the Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, a musical potpourri with Talmar with music from the film Die Deutschmeister ; under the musical direction of Robert Stolz, the tenors Herbert Ernst Groh and Ferry Gruber. [3] At the end of 1955 a recording of the operetta Venus im Grünen by Oscar Straus was made in Vienna at the Österreichischer Rundfunk, in which Waldemar Kmentt was Talmar's tenor partner.
In the 1960s Talmar took part in several operetta adaptations (The Empress, The Cousin from Dingda, The Beggar Student, Gasparone, Paganini, A Night in Venice) which were made for television. She lent her singing voice to actresses Gerlinde Locker, Birgit Bergen and Gardy Granass.
After ending her singing career in the mid-1960s, Talmar appeared as an actress, among others at the Münchner Volkstheater in 1968. Talmar last lived in Salzburg, where she died in June 2010 shortly before her 90th birthday.
Franz Lehár was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow.
The Land of Smiles is a 1929 romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner-Beda. The performance duration is about 100 minutes.
Der Zigeunerprimas is a three-act operetta, which was composed by Emmerich Kálmán. The libretto was written by Julius Wilhelm and Fritz Grünbaum. It premiered at the Johann Strauß Theatre in Vienna on 11 October 1912.
Eduard Künneke was a German composer notable for his operettas, operas, theatre music and some orchestral works.
Robert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.
Alfred Maria Willner was an Austrian writer, philosopher, musicologist, composer and librettist.
Fritz Löhner-Beda, born Bedřich Löwy, was an Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer. Once nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remain popular today. He was murdered in Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration camp.
Nico Dostal was an Austrian composer who later specialised in operetta and film music.
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William McCreery Ramsey was an American-German jazz and pop singer, journalist and actor famous for his German-language hits. He returned to Germany a year after he had served compulsory military service with the U.S. Air Force there. Active as a singer of jazz and pop already as a soldier, he made a career in different fields of musical entertainment. He sang and recorded German schlager, also German-language cover versions of English hits, jazz and swing. He appeared in films and television series, and ran popular series on radio and television as presenter.
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Irene Eisinger was a German and British opera singer and film actress. Her career was closely linked to the foundation and the early years of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
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Benno Paul Kusche was a German operatic baritone, who was praised as one of the best Mozart and Wagner singers, especially in character roles and opera buffa.
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Peter Minich was an Austrian stage actor who became a tenor performing in operas, operettas and musical films. He was for decades the lead tenor of the Volksoper in Vienna, focused on Viennese operetta.
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Marjon Lambriks is a Dutch soprano who made an international career, especially in Austria. Her focus became operetta, whether performed on stage, for the radio, or in recordings. She recorded the role of Annina in Verdi's La traviata alongside Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti.
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