RUZENA HORAKOVA Czech-Argentine Opera mezzo-soprano signed photo, 1943

Description

Autographed 5" x 7" original 5" x 7" matte double-weight, Frantisek Hlek of Prague photograph of the Czech-Argentine mezzo-soprano, Prague, July 20, 1943.
Růžena Hořáková, née Bendáková (1909 - 2001), Czech mezzo-soprano.
She studied singing privately with Otýlie Hinke, a teacher who prepared her for a drama school at the German Music Academy, where she studied from 1934 to 1937.  Her first position was with the opera house in Liberec, where her debut was the role of Buryjovka in Jenůfa. That same year she moved to Brno, where she quickly established herself as a member of the opera company when she sung the role of Ulrika in Verdi's "UN Ballo in Maschera". She sung many roles especially two in Dvořák's operas, Marfa in "Dimitri" and Ježibaba in "Rusalka". She was also a concert recitalist, singing more than 400 mezzo-soprano songs from baroque to contemporary. After the end of World War II she sung a number of concerts in Vienna, especially in 1947. A concert in England in 1948 was  extremely successful.
She married Leoš Firkušný, a Czech music scientist and pianist Rudolf Firkušný's brother. After 1947, the mezzo began to sing more foreign engagements.  She and her husband Leoš Firkušný moved to Buenos Aires and the same year she was widowed.  Undeterred, she became a soloist at the Colon Opera in Buenos Aires. For her Argentinean audience, she often performed a number of songs by Czech composers; Leoš Janáček, Bedřich Smetana and Zdeněk Fibich.  She also sang mezzo-soprano works of Bohuslav Martinů, Béla Bartók and other modern composers.
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