Selma Kurz

In 1910, Selma Kurz married the noted gynecologist, Professor Dr Joseph Halban (1876-1937), a professor at Vienna University, who later was knighted by the Austrian Emperor, becoming Ritter Joseph von Halban. With him she had two children, Désirée (1912-1996) and Georg (1915-1998). "Dési" Halban became a concert soprano who, among other things, recorded Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Bruno Walter. Notwithstanding her always delicate heath, Selma von Halban-Kurz had a notably happy family life in her palatial Vienna home until, in 1929, she became ill with cancer. After a battle with this disease, she died on May 10, 1933, in Vienna.

Her very last public appearance occurred in September 1932 at the baptism of Archduke Stefan (1932-1998), son of Archduke Anton and Princess Ileana of Romania. Although already mortally ill, the Imperial and Royal Kammersängerin sang Mozart's Ridente la calma and the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria as a gesture to the baby's grandmother, Queen Marie of Rumania, who had long been a close personal friend. Selma Kurz died nine months later.

Her last performance at the great theatre in the Ringstraße, where so many of her triumphs had been acclaimed by two generations of opera lovers from all over Europe and the world, took place on February 12, 1927. This appearance, as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, closed one of the most glorious operatic careers in the twentieth century.

Selma Kurz was many times invited to appear in the United States and received several tempting offers from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. None of these managed to induce her so far from Vienna and her family. It was only in 1921 that she finally sailed for the New World, appearing one single time in concert at the New York Hippodrome. This was supposed to be the first concert of a long tour, but she immediately took ill (she had possibly had a heart attack) and the tour was cancelled. She immediately returned to Vienna, where she had a long convalescence before she could return to performing with a voice that, all agreed, was never quite the same.

Der schleichende Tod (1918), La traviata (1909) and Johann Strauß an der schönen blauen Donau (1913). She was married to Josef von Halban.

Because of her popularity as a singer she appeared in two movies. Her first one was the opera recording of "La Traviata" (1909) and her second movie was "Johann Strauss an der schönen blauen Donau" (1913) directed by and with Karl Zeska, Hansi Niese, Mizzi Günther and Louise Kartousch.

She could make the public go mad with her long trills. People even came with stopwatches to determine that it was 'even one second longer than yesterday'. In a 1907 recording of Taubert's Der Vogel im Walde the trill lasts 24 seconds.

In London she was first heard in May 1904 in Rigoletto, with Enrico Caruso and Maurice Renaud. She then sang her famous page, Oscar, in Un ballo in maschera, with Giannina Russ, Caruso, Antonio Scotti and Marcel Journet.The following year she again sang A Masked Ball with Caruso and Mario Sammarco as well as her other favourite page role, Urbain in Les Huguenots, opposite Emmy Destinn, Caruso, Scotti, Journet and Clarence Whitehill. She also appeared in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette opposite Charles Dalmorès' Romeo. She also repeated, in these two seasons of coloratura successes, her Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, with Karel Burian in the title role.

It was Kurz's legendary singing in Mahler's 1903 revival of Un ballo in maschera as well as in Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba, that cemented her immense popularity with the Viennese public. (As Astaroth in The Queen of Sheba, perhaps her most famous role, she held audiences spellbound with her vocalization of the so-called Lockruf or 'Siren Call.') It also led to her being elevated to the position of Kaiserliche und Königliche Kammersängerin ('Imperial and Royal Court Singer') at the age of 29. She was often thereafter in attendance of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, always a devoted admirer of her art.

Selma Kurz left over 150 78-rpm recordings. The first were made for Emile Berliner in 1900. These were followed by Zonophone and Gramophone & Typewriter Company discs, dating from 1901-1906. She then made a long series for HMV (now EMI) in 1907-1914. These are by far the best of her recordings, capturing the attractiveness of her tone and the exceptional agility of her vocal technique. In 1924-25 she again recorded for HMV, which even made a number of electrical recordings of her singing, including a remarkable version of the "Siren Call" from The Queen of Sheba, complete with her trademark trill.

She was regularly engaged as an opera singer and she appeared at operas in Frankfurt and Vienna. No less than the composer Gustav Mahler engaged her at the Hofopera in Vienna in 1899 where she remained active for several decades.

After a singing study by Johannes Ress in Vienna and Mathilde Marchesi in Paris she began her professional career as a singer in Hamburg in 1895.

Selma Kurz was born on November 15, 1874 in Bielitz, Silesia, Austria-Hungary. She was an actress, known for Doktor Palmore.