Gabriele Schnaut (24 February 1951 – 19 June 2023) was a German classical singer who started her operatic career as a mezzo-soprano in 1976 and changed to dramatic soprano in 1985. She performed at the Bayreuth Festival from 1977, in the filmed Jahrhundertring, to 2000. After a breakthrough performance as Richard Wagner's Isolde at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in 1988, she became a leading dramatic soprano on the stages of the world in roles such as Wagner's Brünnhilde and Richard Strauss' Elektra. From 2008, she ventured into dramatic mezzo-soprano character roles such as Klytämnestra in Elektra, Herodias in Salome and Kostelnicka Buryjovka in Leoš Janáček's Jenufa.
She performed and recorded works by composers of the 20th century and appeared in the world premieres of operas by Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann. She portrayed her roles with "dramatic conviction".
Life and career
Born in Mannheim on 24 February 1951, the daughter of a physician, Schnaut grew up in Mainz. She received violin and singing lessons as a child. She had also lessons in both ballet and expressionist dance, trained rowing for two years and took part in a theatre group. She studied first at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Mainz, majoring in violin, and at the same time musicology at the University of Mainz. At the conservatory, she had to take a second subject and chose voice because she wanted to avoid piano. Her teacher sent her to Musikhochschule Frankfurt, where she studied with Elsa Cavelti from 1971. Cavelti trained her as a contralto but predicted soon that she would be Sieglinde some day. Her studies were supported by a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. She achieved, together with Uta-Maria Flake, a first prize at the 1975 Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in Bonn.
Mezzo-soprano
Schnaut's first permanent engagement was as a mezzo-soprano in 1976 at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. She had only small roles there, and was advised by Catarina Ligendza to move to a smaller house to gain experience with heavier roles. In 1978, made her debut at the Staatstheater Darmstadt as Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and became a member of the ensemble.
In 1977 Schnaut performed at the Bayreuth Festival for the first time, singing Waltraute and the Second Norn in the Jahrhundertring staged by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez. She appeared in these roles in its filmed version Der Ring des Nibelungen. She performed at the festival in 1980 as Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung, and in 1985 as Venus in Tannhäuser and the Third Norn.
Schnaut was a member of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 1980, where she performed the role of Ophelia in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Die Hamletmaschine. She performed Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck in an authorised version, which was a step on her way into the soprano range.
Soprano
In private study with Hanne-Lore Kuhse in East Berlin, Schnaut developed to a dramatic soprano. She travelled once a month for several days of training. In 1985 she sang the title role of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Theater Dortmund. She portrayed major roles at the Bayreuth Festival, in 1986 Sieglinde in Die Walküre, and in 1987 as Ortrud in Lohengrin. In 1988 she appeared as Isolde at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in the production by Ruth Berghaus which was her international breakthrough.
From 1988 she was a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, from 1995 a member of the Hamburgische Staatsoper, and then at the Bayerische Staatsoper. She made her debut in Munich in 1982 as Marie in Wozzeck. In 1992 she appeared on the occasion of the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, both as Venus in Wagner's Tannhäuser in a Hamburg production staged by Harry Kupfer, and in the role of Waldvogel in Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder. In 1994 she appeared at La Scala in the title role of Elektra by Richard Strauss and as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1996 as Brünnhilde. Reviewer Allan Kozinn from The New York Times wrote about her performance, with Plácido Domingo as Siegmund, Deborah Voigt as Sieglinde, Robert Hale as Wotan, and conducted by James Levine:
She performed as Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal at the Wiener Staatsoper from 1996. In Hamburg she sang both the Nurse and the Dyer's Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss. In Munich, she appeared as Elektra in a production staged by Herbert Wernicke, identifying with the role. In 2000, she was Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival. She performed the title roles of Puccini's Tosca and Turandot, recorded on DVD at the Salzburg Festival in 2002.
