Hertha Tupper

Born: April 19, 1924 - Graz, Austria

The Austrian mezzo-soprano, Hertha Töpper, received her musical training in Graz, studying violin with her father at the Conservatory and voice with Franz Mixa at the opera school.

Hertha Töpper made her operatic debut in 1945 as Ulrike at the Graz Landestheater, where she sang until 1952. In 1951 she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival. After signing as a guest artist at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 1951-1952, she joined its roster. She was made a Bavarian Kammersängerin in 1955. In 1953 she made her first appearance at London’s Covent Garden as Clarion with the visiting Bavarian State Opera, and later returned for gust appearances. She made her USA debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1960 as Octavian, a role she repeated for her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in November 1962. From 1971 to 1981 she was a professor at the Munich Hochschule für Musik.

In 1980 Hertha Töpper retired from the operatic stage. Her operatic repertoire included many roles by Wagner, Verdi, and Strauss. As a concert artist, she was particularly noted for her performances of music by Bach. Together with Marga Höffgen, Hertha Töpper was one of the leading contralto singers of Bach’s vocal works during the 1950’s and the 1960’s, and she recorded many of them, mainly with Karl Richter and Fritz Werner.