Gundula Janowitz

The voice of soprano Gundula Janowitz is regarded as one of the most beautiful among those of singers in her later 20th century generation. Janowitz had an unusually durable career, extending from the '50s to the late '90s. Her repertory was broad, stretching from <a href="spotify:artist:1QL7yTHrdahRMpvNtn6rI2">Handel</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:6pAwHPeExeUbMd5w7Iny6D">Richard Strauss</a> and often including Italian as well as German-language works. Reissues of Janowitz's recordings and performances have appeared well into the 21st century; she appeared in 2024 on the album Karajan A-Z: Wagner, Wolf-Ferrari.

Janowitz was born in Berlin on August 2, 1937, but grew up in Graz, Austria. She is an Austrian citizen. Janowitz's career began in the late '50s with a 1959 performance as Barbarina in <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>'s Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera under conductor <a href="spotify:artist:5zCaQxjl110XTrm4LQ1CxY">Herbert von Karajan</a>. The following year, she made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany as a flower maiden in <a href="spotify:artist:1C1x4MVkql8AiABuTw6DgE">Wagner</a>'s Parsifal. She became a permanent member of the cast at the Vienna State Opera in 1962. Janowitz worked closely with <a href="spotify:artist:5zCaQxjl110XTrm4LQ1CxY">Karajan</a> in the '60s at the Vienna State Opera, singing weightier roles like that of the Empress in <a href="spotify:artist:6pAwHPeExeUbMd5w7Iny6D">Richard Strauss</a>' Die Frau ohne Schatten, often at <a href="spotify:artist:5zCaQxjl110XTrm4LQ1CxY">Karajan</a>'s urging, in addition to <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>; it was in <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>'s Die Zauberflöte that she made a major early recording in 1964 for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a>, under conductor <a href="spotify:artist:2ljDHW0zt90SrHDwjVIGXs">Otto Klemperer</a> with the <a href="spotify:artist:09KZU0NsS7jRa5p0SflmGY">Philharmonia Orchestra</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4bXvXL4mlRJP41vVBeVkrp">Chorus</a> in England. In addition to <a href="spotify:artist:5zCaQxjl110XTrm4LQ1CxY">Karajan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2ljDHW0zt90SrHDwjVIGXs">Klemperer</a>, Janowitz worked with many of the other major conductors of the second half of the century, including <a href="spotify:artist:6XVxGOzn7c2rLi1GpXxm5v">Eugen Jochum</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0dicUFoK5LIbqu6OoHu8VH">Georg Solti</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3fyr5uksidSlLzsUjRIz5A">Karl Böhm</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2LmyJyCF5V1eQyvHgJNbTn">Leonard Bernstein</a>.

Janowitz made her debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1967 as Sieglinde in <a href="spotify:artist:1C1x4MVkql8AiABuTw6DgE">Wagner</a>'s Die Walküre and at London's Covent Garden in 1976 as Donna Anna in <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>'s Don Giovanni. Her repertory extended to Italian opera, including several <a href="spotify:artist:1JOQXgYdQV2yfrhewqx96o">Verdi</a> roles, such as the lead in Aida. Janowitz appeared on many of the world's major opera stages, including those at La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Salzburg Easter Festival. In Salzburg, she began to develop a lieder-singing career that would outlast her operatic one, extending into the late '90s. Her final operatic performance came on May 18, 1990, at the Vienna State Opera in <a href="spotify:artist:6pAwHPeExeUbMd5w7Iny6D">Strauss</a>' Ariadne auf Naxos. She remained active as a teacher in her later years. Janowitz's recording catalog is vast, encompassing more than 200 items; many of her albums remain standard readings of German operas. Her album The Last Recital: In Memoriam Maria Callas, recorded in 1999, was issued in 2017. ~ James Manheim, Rovi