Anny Konetzni

The elder of the famous Konetzni sisters -- both opera singers -- from Vienna, Anny Konetzni was born in 1902. Though in later years, she exclusively sang soprano roles, Anny Konetzni began her career as a contralto. She grew up in a musical family and then went to the Vienna Conservatory to study voice under Erik Schmedes. After private lessons with voice guru Jacques Stuckgold in Berlin, Konetzni made her professional debut at the Vienna Volksoper in 1925, still singing contralto. But by the time she appeared in a Paris Ring cycle in 1929, she had assumed her mature soprano guise. Her career grew at a healthy pace throughout the 1930s. First she filled miscellaneous roles at independent theaters throughout Germany, then she found regular homes at the Berlin Staatsoper and the Vienna Staatsoper. Covent Garden and La Scala audiences were the next to enjoy her luxurious, strong dramatic voice and then for the 1934 - 1935 season she joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York. WW II wreaked a certain amount of havoc on her career, but from war's end until her retirement from the stage in 1955, she was among the most sought after German sopranos, even if she never quite attained the status that her younger sister Hilde enjoyed. Following her retirement, Anny Konetzni taught voice at the Vienna Academy for a few years. She died in the autumn of 1968.