Opera Singer. Primarily a coloratura soprano, she is remembered for her career at the Vienna State Opera (VSO) during the early 20th century. Born Marguerite Feigstock in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she made her 1900 operatic debut at Cologne as the title heroine of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor". After refining her art she was engaged for the VSO in 1903 by Maestro Gustav Mahler and in her time before the public sang such coloratura fare as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Sulamith from Karl Goldmark's "The Queen of Sheba", the doll Olympia of Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffman", and Fiordiligi from Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte". Grete was also to tackle some heavier parts such as the tragic Cio-cio-San, the doomed teenage Geisha of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and in 1908 was to appear in the Vienna world premiere of Goldmark's "Ein Wintermarchen", an operatic treatment of Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale". She was to remain in Vienna following her 1911 marriage to Johann Schuschny and though she converted to Catholicism in 1940 was still considered Jewish and thus was shipped to Maly Tratsianiets, either dying enroute or being killed in the camp. A number of her recordings have been preserved.
Opera Singer. Primarily a coloratura soprano, she is remembered for her career at the Vienna State Opera (VSO) during the early 20th century. Born Marguerite Feigstock in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she made her 1900 operatic debut at Cologne as the title heroine of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor". After refining her art she was engaged for the VSO in 1903 by Maestro Gustav Mahler and in her time before the public sang such coloratura fare as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Sulamith from Karl Goldmark's "The Queen of Sheba", the doll Olympia of Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffman", and Fiordiligi from Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte". Grete was also to tackle some heavier parts such as the tragic Cio-cio-San, the doomed teenage Geisha of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" and in 1908 was to appear in the Vienna world premiere of Goldmark's "Ein Wintermarchen", an operatic treatment of Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale". She was to remain in Vienna following her 1911 marriage to Johann Schuschny and though she converted to Catholicism in 1940 was still considered Jewish and thus was shipped to Maly Tratsianiets, either dying enroute or being killed in the camp. A number of her recordings have been preserved.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
Advertisement
See more Forst memorials in:
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
