Faßbender, Zdenka

OPERA SINGER (AUSTRIAN EMPIRE)
BORN 12 Dec 1879, Decin, Bohemia - DIED 14 Mar 1954, München, Bayern
BIRTH NAME Faßbender, Zdenka
GRAVE LOCATION Tutzing, Bayern: Alter Friedhof (next to the St. Peter und Paul Kirche), Graf-Vieregg-Strasse (at the wall)

The soprano Zdenka Fassbender studied with Marie Loewe-Destin in Prague. She debuted in 1899 at the Hoftheater in Karlsruhe as Rachel in Halévy's "La juive". In 1903 she performed the title part in Friedrich Klose's opera "Ilsebill". In Karlsruhe she met the conductor Felix Mottl, and when he accepted an engagement in Munich in 1904 she followed him there in 1905.

In Munich they had an affair but they couldn't marry because his first wife Henriette Standhartner didn't agree to a divorce. In 1909 she sang the title part in "Elektra" by personal request of its composer Richard Strauss. She sang the part in London in 1910 and 1913 and in 1912 and 1914 in Brussels. In 1911 Mottl broke down during the 100th performance of "Tristan and Isolde" in which Zdenka sang the part of Isolde. He married Zdenka on his deathbed.

She also sang in Berlin, Vienna, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Mannheim and Cologne. In 1920 she married the art publisher Edgar Hanfstaengl (1883-1958). In 1924 she retired from the stage, but in 1928 she appeared once more as Elektra in Munich.

Family
• Husband: Mottl, Felix (1911-1911)
• Husband: Hanfstaengl, Edgar (1920-1954)

Related persons
• has a connection with Strauss, Richard

Images

The grave of Edgar Hanfstaengl and Zdenka Fassbender at the Alter Friedhof, Tutzing.
Picture by Androom (01 Sep 2016)

 

Sources
• Scheibmayr, Erich, Gräber in Oberbayern - ausserhalb von München, Verlag Erich Scheibmayr, München, 1998
Liste der Begräbnisstätten von Persönlichkeiten – Wikipedia


Fassbinder, Rainer Werner

Published: 10 Dec 2017
Last update: 20 Apr 2022