Meta Seinemeyer’s Repertoire
The following are the roles that Seinemeyer definitely sang. An asterisk * means that the date of at least one performance of the role is known for certain. (See the chronology for details.) The date of her debut in the role is given, when known. For the roles that are not marked with an asterisk, I have at least two reliable sources that say she sang them. All roles were sung in German, which was the practice at German opera houses at the time. If you know of any other roles she sang that are not included here, please let me know!
Andreae:
*Abenteuer des Casanova (Frau des Inquisitors; Dresden, Oct. 18, 1926)
Berlioz:*La Damnation de Faust (Marguerite; Berlin, Sept. 1921)
Bizet:
*Carmen (Micaela; earliest known performance: Berlin, Apr. 8, 1924)
Busoni:
*Doktor Faust (Duchess of Parma; Dresden, Mar. 21, 1925)
Cornelius:
*Barbier von Bagdad (Margiana; Dresden, Dec. 17, 1928)
d'Albert:
*Tiefland (Antonia; earliest known performance: Berlin, Jan. 28, 1919)
Giordano:
*Andrea Chenier (Madeleine; Dresden, Jan. 31, 1925)
Gounod:
*Faust (Marguerite; Berlin, Oct. 22, 1921)
Graener:
*Don Juans letztes Abenteuer (Cornelia; Berlin, May 23, 1924)
Kienzl:
*Der Evangelimann (Martha; Berlin, Apr. 7, 1922)
Lortzing:
*Undine (Berthalda; earliest known performance: Berlin, Jan. 24, 1920)
Maillart:
*Das Glöckchen des Eremiten [Les Dragons de Villars] (Georgette; Berlin, Oct. 25, 1918)
Mascagni:
*Cavalleria Rusticana (Santuzza; earliest known performance: Dresden, Sept. 12, 1925; she may have sung the role in Berlin as well)
Mozart:
*Cosi fan tutte (Fiordiligi; Dresden, Sept. 27, 1927; she may have sung this role in Berlin as well)
*Don Giovanni (Donna Anna; Dresden, Mar. 13, 1928)
*Le Nozze di Figaro (Countess; earliest known performance: Dresden, Oct. 3, 1926; a few sources say she sang this role in Berlin, before 1925)
*Die Zauberflöte (First Lady, Pamina; earliest performance as First Lady: Berlin, Jan. 12, 1924; earliest performance as Pamina: Berlin, probably 1924)
Oberleithner, Max von:
*Der eiserne Heiland (Annina; Berlin, Sept. 30, 1918)
Offenbach:
*La Belle Hélène (Helen; Berlin, Jul. 1, 1918)
*Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Antonia, Giulietta; first performance as Antonia: Berlin, Aug. 8, 1918; earliest known performance as Giulietta: Berlin Staatsoper, Oct. 20, 1919. I do not know whether she ever sang Antonia and Giulietta in the same performance.)
Puccini:
*La Bohème (Mimi; Berlin, 1923-24 season)
*Manon Lescaut (Manon; Dresden, Sept. 12, 1928)
Il Tabarro (Giorgetta)
*Tosca (Tosca; Berlin, 1923-24 season)
Schubert:
*Die Weiberverschwörung (Gräfin Ludimilla; Dresden, Nov. 20, 1928)
Strauss, Johann:
*Die Fledermaus (Rosalinde; Berlin, Aug. 5, 1918)
*Tausend und eine Nacht (Leila; Berlin, Feb. 16, 1924)
*Der Zigeunerbaron (Saffi; earliest known performance: Berlin, May 21, 1921)
Strauss, Richard:
Ariadne auf Naxos (Ariadne; scheduled to sing in Dresden, Jan. 22, 1926, but cancelled because of illness. Seinemeyer was never given another chance to sing the role, but she obviously knew it, so the role is listed here)
*Der Rosenkavalier (Marschallin; Dresden, Mar. 24, 1927)
Tchaikovsky:
*Queen of Spades (Lisa; Dresden, Jan. 26, 1929)
Verdi:
*Aida (Aida; earliest known performance: Berlin, May 4, 1924)
*Un Ballo in Maschera (Amelia; Berlin; 1923-24 season)
*La Forza del Destino (Leonora; Dresden, Mar. 20, 1926)
*Otello (Desdemona; earliest known performance: Dresden, Apr. 26, 1925)
*Il Trovatore (Leonora; Berlin, Jul. 8, 1921)
Wagner:
*Der fliegende Holländer (Senta; Berlin, 1921-22 season)
*Lohengrin (Elsa; Berlin, Aug. 20, 1921)
*Die Meistersinger (Eva; Berlin, 1922-23 season)
*Parsifal (Flower Maiden; Berlin, Dec. 22, 1919. A handwritten document in the Dresden Opera Archive says specifically that it was the First Flower Maiden that she sang).
Der Ring des Nibelungen:
*Das Rheingold (Wellgunde; Berlin, Nov. 8, 1920; one source says she sang Flosshilde)
*Die Walküre (Gerhilde, Sieglinde; earliest known performance as Gerhilde: New York, Mar. 31, 1923; earliest known perrformance as Sieglinde: Dresden, Apr. 18, 1925)
*Götterdämmerung (Wellgunde, Second Norn, Gutrune; earliest performance as Wellgunde: Berlin, Jun. 17, 1921; one source says she sang Flosshilde. A handwritten document in the Dresden Opera Archive says that she sang Gutrune in 1925, but I have not been able to trace any actual performance.)
*Tannhäuser (Elisabeth, Venus; earliest performance as Venus: Berlin, Nov. 7, 1919; earliest performance as Elisabeth: Berlin, Jun. 6 or 11, 1921)
Weber:
*Der Freischütz (Agathe; earliest known performanace: Berlin, Jan. 21, 1919)
Seinemeyer also sang part of Act 1 of Weber's Euryanthe while she was studying at the Sternsches Konservatorium in Berlin, but I do not know whether she ever sang the complete role.
Non-operatic:
Beethoven:
*Symphony No. 9 (1926 at the latest)
Mozart:
Requiem (Seinemeyer was scheduled to sing the soprano part on Apr. 10, 1927, but cancelled. I do not know whether she ever actually sang the part, but I assume she knew it, since she was scheduled for a performance.)
Schubert:
*Stabat Mater (Dresden, Nov. 16, 1928)
In addition, there are three roles that Seinemeyer may have studied shortly before her death. They are:
Berlioz:
Benvenuto Cellini (Teresa; according to an article by a friend, written shortly after her death, Seinemeyer was scheduled to sing this role in Dresden in June 1929, but was too ill and had to cancel. But a handwritten document in the Dresden Opera Archive, which mentions all her cancellations in 1928 and 1929, does not mention Benvenuto Cellini, and it is not listed among the operas in her Dresden repertoire.)
Gluck:
Alceste (Alceste)
Wagner:
Tristan und Isolde (Isolde)
The following are roles that Seinemeyer possibly sang, but I haven’t been able to find anything to confirm it.
Humperdinck:
Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel). If she did sing Gretel, it was in Berlin.
Puccini:
Madama Butterfly (Butterfly; a handwritten document in the Dresden Opera Archive lists Butterfly in her repertoire, but I have found no evidence she actually sang the role)
Strauss, Richard:
Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian). If she did sing Octavian, it was in Berlin.
The roles that Seinemeyer dropped from her repertoire before she came to Dresden are: Marguerite (La Damnation de Faust), Micaela (Carmen), Antonia (Tiefland), Cornelia (Don Juans letztes Abenteuer), Berthalda (Undine), Georgette (Das Glöckchen des Eremiten), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Helen (La Belle Hélène), Antonia (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Giulietta (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Giorgetta (Il Tabarro), Leila (Tausend und eine Nacht), Wellgunde (Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung), Gerhilde (Die Walküre), Second Norn (Götterdämmerung), and Venus (Tannhäuser).
Many thanks to Brigitte Euler of the Dresden Opera Archive, who showed me a list of the roles Seinemeyer sang in Dresden. There are two versions of this list--handwritten and typed. The only role mentioned in the handwritten list that is not mentioned in the typed version is Butterfly. Thanks to Charles Mintzer, who provided me with copies of Charles Jahant’s research notes on Seinemeyer, which list several of her roles I might not otherwise have known about. Thanks also to Russ Hornbeck for providing me with additional information on Seinemeyer's Berlin performances.
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Copyright 2002 Vicki Kondelik.