Gabriele Schnaut

From 2008, she ventured into dramatic mezzo-soprano character roles such as Klytämnestra in Elektra, Herodias in Salome and Kostelnicka Buryjovka in Janáček's Jenufa. She performed and recorded works by composers of the 20th century and appeared in the world premieres of operas by Wolfgang Rihm and Jörg Widmann. She portrayed her roles with "dramatic conviction".

• Name — Gabriele Schnaut • Born — 24 February 1951 • Birthplace — Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany • Died — 19 June 2023 • Education — * Peter Cornelius Conservatory • University of Mainz • Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts • Occupation — Classical singer (mezzo-soprano and dramatic soprano) • Organizations — * Bayreuth Festival • Hamburgische Staatsoper • Bayerische Staatsoper • Universität der Künste • Years Active — 1976–2019 • Title — Kammersängerin • Awards — Bavarian Order of Merit

Gabriele Ruth Maria Schnaut was born in Mannheim on 24 February 1951, the daughter of a physician, Schnaut grew up in Mainz. She received violin and singing lessons as a child. She had also lessons in both ballet and expressionist dance, trained rowing for two years and took part in a theatre group. She studied first at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Mainz, majoring in violin, and at the same time musicology at the University of Mainz. At the conservatory, she had to take a second subject and chose voice because she wanted to avoid piano. Her teacher sent her to Musikhochschule Frankfurt, where she studied with Elsa Cavelti from 1971. Cavelti trained her as a contralto but predicted soon that she would be Sieglinde some day. Her studies were supported by a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. She achieved, together with Uta-Maria Flake, a first prize at the 1975 Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in Bonn. She also studied with Aga Zah-Landzettel in Darmstadt. During her studies, she appeared as an alto soloist with the Gächinger Kantorei in Bach cantatas, conducted by Helmuth Rilling.

Schnaut's first permanent engagement was as a mezzo-soprano in 1976 at the Staatsoper Stuttgart. She had only small roles there, and was advised by Catarina Ligendza to move to a smaller house to gain experience with heavier roles. In 1978, made her debut at the Staatstheater Darmstadt as Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and became a member of the ensemble. In 1977 Schnaut performed at the Bayreuth Festival for the first time, as Waltraute and the Second Norn in the Jahrhundertring staged by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez. She appeared in these roles in its filmed version Der Ring des Nibelungen. She performed at the festival in 1980 as Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung, and in 1985 as Venus in Tannhäuser and the Third Norn. Schnaut was a member of the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 1980, where she performed the role of Ophelia in the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Die Hamletmaschine. She performed Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck in an authorised version, which was a step on her way into the soprano range.

In private study with Hanne-Lore Kuhse in East Berlin, Schnaut developed to a dramatic soprano. She travelled once a month for several days of training. In 1985 she sang the title role of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at the Theater Dortmund. She portrayed major roles at the Bayreuth Festival, in 1986 Sieglinde in Die Walküre, and in 1987 as Ortrud in Lohengrin. In 1988 she appeared as Isolde at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in the production by Ruth Berghaus which was her international breakthrough. From 1986 to 1990 she was a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, from 1995 a member of the Hamburgische Staatsoper, and then at the Bayerische Staatsoper. She made her debut in Munich in 1982 as Marie in Wozzeck. In 1992 she appeared on the occasion of the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, both as Venus in Wagner's Tannhäuser in a Hamburg production staged by Harry Kupfer, and in the role of Waldvogel in Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder. In 1994 she appeared at La Scala in the title role of Elektra by Richard Strauss and as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1996 as Brünnhilde. Reviewer Allan Kozinn from The New York Times wrote about her performance, with Plácido Domingo as Siegmund, Deborah Voigt as Sieglinde, Robert Hale as Wotan, and conducted by James Levine: She performed as Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal at the Wiener Staatsoper from 1996. In Hamburg she sang both the Nurse and the Dyer's Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss. In Munich, she appeared as Elektra in a production staged by Herbert Wernicke, identifying with the role. In 2000, she was Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival. She performed the title roles of Puccini's Tosca and Turandot, recorded on DVD at the Salzburg Festival in 2002. In 1997, the magazine Die Deutsche Bühne named her "the only real dramatic singer-actor of our time ("die einzige, echte hochdramatische Sängerdarstellerin unserer Zeit"), for her "impressive stage presence, based on scenic detailed work and psychological insight in her characters".

Schnaut changed to character roles in the mezzo-soprano range from 2008. In Munich she appeared as Emilia Marty in Janáček's Věc Makropulos and mezzo roles Klytämnestra in Elektra and Herodias in Salome. In 2006 she sang the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Das Gehege, a monodrama commissioned by the State Opera to be combined in a double bill with Salome, both directed by William Friedkin. Schnaut appeared as Euphrat in the world premiere of Jörg Widmann's Babylon in October 2012, conducted by Kent Nagano. In 2013 she portrayed the desperate character of the sacristan Kostelnicka Buryjovka in Janáček's Jenufa like a heroine from ancient tragedy, but with tentative gestures of affection, as a review noted. She appeared at the Staatsoper Berlin, in the Schillertheater, in 2014 as Widow Begbick in Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, and a reviewer noted that she "sang with relish and dramatic conviction and the rough quality of her aging voice was an excellent match for hard-edged sentimentality of Weill's music". In 2019 she portrayed Herodias at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as a distinctive character profile.

The last residence of Schnaut and her husband Walter Knirim was Rottach-Egern. Schnaut died on 19 June 2023, at age 72, after a short severe illness.