Bella Paalen

Bella Paalen, real name Isabella Pollak (9 July[1][2][3] or 9 December[4] 1881 – 28 July 1964) was an Austrian-American operatic soprano of Hungarian origin.[5] She was engaged for 31 years at the k.-k. Hofoper in Vienna, later the State Opera, was appointed Kammersängerin there in 1933 and had to leave the country after the Anschluss because of her Jewish origins.

Bella Paalen, c. 1915

Life and career

Born in Pásztó, Austria-Hungary, Paalen was the daughter of Ernst Pollak (1851–1935) and Laura Pollak née Jamnitz (1858–1935).[6] The father came from Jungbunzlau, the mother from Vienna where her two brothers B. F. Dolbin (1883–1971) and Otto Friedrich Pollak (1885–1915) were born. Paalen's second brother and her parents also died in Vienna. In 1912, her brother Benno Fred changed his family name to Dolbin.[6]

She studied singing with Rosa Papier and Johannes Ress. In 1904, she made her debut at the Düsseldorfer Opernhaus – as Fidès in Meyerbeer's Le prophète. In 1905 and 1906, she was at the Stadttheater Graz. The Viennese court opera director and composer Gustav Mahler heard her in Graz as soloist in his Symphony No. 3, was impressed and engaged her to his house.

K.k. Hofoper in Vienna

From 1 September 1907 to 1 September 1937, Paalen was a member of the ensemble of the Imperial Court Opera and from 1918 of the Vienna State Opera. She sang leading roles there, but also medium, small and minor parts. She took part in two Viennese premieres, in 1907 as Kate Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and in 1911 as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss. This role became her parade role in Vienna, she sang Annina in a total of 173 state opera performances.[7]

She appeared on stage at the Vienna State Opera 58 times as Amneris in Verdi's Aida, 54 times as Rosalia in d'Albert's Tiefland, 46 times as Herodias, 39 times as Ortrud, 32 times as Clytemnestra and 31 times as Ulrica. She was part of the cast of the Vienna Un ballo in maschera in 1924, still considered legendary today, with Richard Tauber as Gustaf III, Mattia Battistini as René Ankarström and the ladies Vera Schwarz (Amelia), Bella Paalen (Ulrica) and Selma Kurz (Oscar). In the 31 seasons in which the artist was engaged at the Vienna Opera, she demonstrated her versatility. She was equally at home in the heavy Wagnerian repertoire as in German Spieloper and Viennese operettas, she sang the Italian and French repertoire with aplomb, as well as works from the Slavic repertoire. And she proved herself as a stand-in for smaller and larger roles. She took on the title role in Carmen, in which she had otherwise always impersonated Mercedes, and Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria rusticana, twice as Wigelis in Feuersnot, once as Gertrud in Hans Heiling and, surprisingly, on 17 January 1913, as the Steersman in Hans Heiling. Jänner 1913 the Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer, a tenor role.

Paalen was highly associated with the State Opera and was awarded the title Kammersängerin for her achievements in 1933.

Guest performances

Paalen made guest appearances – parallel to her engagement at the Vienna Opera – in Holland, Spain, England and Czechoslovakia. In 1911 and 1912, she sang Fricka in Die Walküre at the Amsterdam Wagner Society. In 1925, she made a successful guest appearance at the Royal Opera House in London in four Wagner roles (as Ortrud, Magdalene, Mary and Fricka) as well as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier. From 1934 to 1937, she sang two minor roles at the Salzburg Festival, in Der Corregidor by Hugo Wolf and in Elektra by Richard Strauss. According to Kutsch/Riemens, these guest performances brought her "great success".

Emigration and life in the United States

As it was no longer safe for Paalen to stay in Vienna due to her Jewish origins, she emigrated to the United States in 1939 with the help of Lotte Lehmann. Her brother B. F. Dolbin, a press illustrator, had also fled Germany for the US. "The late timing of her escape from Nazi Vienna indicates that she had probably felt protected by her 30-plus years of membership in the Vienna State Opera."[8] Like her brother, the singer settled in New York City, but was unable to find an engagement. From then on she worked as a singing teacher until 1959. She became a US citizen in 1944 and died in New York in 1964, aged 83.

Roles

Premiere
  • 1934: Marietta in Bittners Das Veilchen – Wiener Staatsoper, conductor: Clemens Krauss (8 December)

Repertoire

Bizet:

  • Mercedes and Titelpartie in Carmen

d'Albert:

Delibes:

Giordano:

Humperdinck:

Kienzl:

Lortzing:

Mascagni:

Meyerbeer:

Millöcker:

Mozart:

Puccini

Smetana:

Johann Strauß:

Richard Strauss:

Tschaikowski:

Verdi:

Wagner:

Wolf

Wolf-Ferrari:

Recordings

Publication
  • Worte des Gedenkens. In Aufbau (New York), vol. 13, 21. February 1947, No. 8.7.

References
  1. Karl-Josef Kutsch, Leo Riemens (2003). Großes Sängerlexikon. Vol. 5: Menni–Rappold (4 ed.). Munich: K. G. Saur Verlag. pp. 3486 f. ISBN 3598115989.
  2. Piet Hein Honig, Hanns-Georg Rodek: 100001. Die Showbusiness-Enzyklopädie des 20. Jahrhunderts. Showbiz-Data-Verlag, Villingen-Schwenningen 1992, p. 720.
  3. Horst Seeger: Opernlexikon. Florian Noetzel Verlag Wilhelmshaven 1987. p. 495. ISBN 3-7959-0271-1
  4. Wilhelm Kosch (ed.): Deutsches Theaterlexikon. Vol. II. Hurka–Pallenberg De Gruyter, Berlin, January 1971. p. 1722. ISBN 978-3-907820-29-2 (retrieved via De Gruyter Online)
  5. Felix Czeike (2004). Historisches Lexikon Wien. Vol. 4. Vienna: Kremayr & Scheriau/Orac. p. 477. ISBN 3218007488.
  6. Institut für Zeitungsforschung [in German] (2005). "Dolbin, Benedikt Fred (1883–1971): Nachlass". Bundesarchiv: Zentrale Datenbank Nachlässe (in German). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  7. Paalen, Bella on Großes Sängerlexikon, Volume 4, p. 3486
  8. Biographical Database and Encyclopedia of Austrian Women of the University of Vienna: univie.ac.at/biografiA/data/text/bio/paalen.htmPaalen Bella, née Isabella (Izabella) Pollak (Pollack) / opera singer, retrieved 7 February 2021

Further reading
  • Franz Hadamowsky, Alexander Witeschnik: Hundert Jahre Wiener Oper am Ring [Jubiläumsausstellung]. Wien: Aktionskomitee 100 Jahr-Feier der Wiener Staatsoper 1969, S. 100
  • Erich Hermann Müller: Deutsches Musiker-Lexikon, Dresden 1929
  • Walter Pass, Gerhard Scheit, Wilhelm Svoboda: Orpheus im Exil. Die Vertreibung der österreichischen Musik 1936 – 1945, Vienna 1995
  • Horst Seeger: Opernlexikon, Berlin 1978 (1987)
  • Theophil Stengel, Herbert Gerigk: Lexikon der Juden in der Musik. Mit einem Titelverzeichnis jüdischer Werke. Zusammengestellt im Auftrag der Reichsleitung der NSDAP auf Grund behördlicher, parteiamtlich geprüfter Unterlagen. In Veröffentlichungen des Institutes der NSDAP. Zur Erforschung der Judenfrage Bd. 2, Berlin 1940
  • Eva Weissweiler: Ausgemerzt! Das Lexikon der Juden in der Musik und seine mörderischen Folgen, Cologne 1999
  • Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (ed.), International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933–1945, Vol II, 2 Munich : K. G. Saur Verlag 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2, p. 882
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