Karin Branzell

Karin Branzell (24 September 1891 – 15 December 1974) was a Swedish operatic contralto (sometimes described as a mezzo-soprano), who had a prominent career at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in Europe. Her very wide range enabled her to sing both contralto roles and the occasional soprano role. She was particularly noted for her singing of the music of Richard Wagner, in roles such as Ortrud (Lohengrin), Venus (Tannhäuser), Erda (Das Rheingold and Siegfried), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), and Brunnhilde (Die Walküre). She was considered on a par with Margarete Klose and Kerstin Thorborg as a Wagnerian contralto. Amneris (Aida), Dalila (Samson et Dalila), Herodias (Salome), and Clytemnestra (Elektra) were among her other renowned roles.

Karin Maria Branzell was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 24 September 1891. She initially trained as an organist, and was engaged as assistant organist at the Hjorthagen Church in Stockholm from 1910 to 1913. She studied singing with Tekla Hofer and acting with Elisabeth Hjortberg in her native city. Her debut was at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm as Prince Sarvilaka in Eugen d'Albert's Izeyl, in the 1912-13 season. That year she also sang Nancy in Martha and Amneris in Aida. Her other teachers were Anna Eugénie Schön-René (a pupil of Pauline Viardot), Louis Bachner in Berlin, and Enrico Rosati in New York. She sang at the Royal Theatre 1913-18, and at the Berlin State Opera from 1920 to 1934, where she created the role of the Nurse in the Berlin première of Die Frau ohne Schatten under the composer, Richard Strauss, and was also heard as Azucena (Il trovatore), Laura (La Gioconda), Fides (Le prophète), Dalila (Samson et Dalila) and Carmen. She also appeared at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in 1935, 1937 and 1938. She sang there alongside Charles Kullman, Alexander Kipnis and Elisabeth Rethberg, as Konchakovna in a German-language version of Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.