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Maria Jeritza sang the premiere of ROSENKAVALIER and was honored at The Met with a display of her costume jewelry on the Grand Tier in 2017.

Opera and Concert Series could be dedicated to Maria Jeritza for NJPAC in 2021/22. Jeritza was a superstar at the Metropolitan, Vienna, Czech, + LaScala Opera Companies. Jeritza also premiered Opera’s by Puccini, Strauss, + Janacek. Jeritza also loved, lived, and retired, to her home in Newark NJ.

The New York Times noted in their obituary she was a star of Opera’s Golden Age in the 20th century.

She was an Opera Diva, who lived, retired, and died In Newark in 1982 at 94. She attended and supported opera at The Mosque Theatre and Symphony Hall in Newark, NJ. Her appearances would generate instant applause at each performance with her blond hair and blue tinted glasses.

Homage to Maria Jeritza, who resided In Newark made opera history in Brno, Newark, The Met, Vienna as she inspired and worked with Giacomo Puccini, Leos Janacek, and Richard Strauss during her career.

MARIA JERITZA, STAR OF OPERA’S ‘GOLDEN AGE,’ DIES AT 94 …

www.nytimes.com/1982/.../maria-jeritza-star-of-opera-s-golden-age-dies-at-94 .- Maria Jeritza, the internationally renowned soprano who has beencalled … Miss Jeritza was one of the great artists of opera’s’’golden age,’’ (1887–1982) longtime resident of Newark,NJ who sang for Richard Strauss, Leos Janacek, and GiacomoPuccini :Premiere’s at the Met, Vienna, Brno, LaScala in her illustrious career in Europe and the United States.

Richard Strauss wrote 4 Last Songs (and one last song for Maria(Jeritza ) who retired to Newark after her international opera careerfrom Vienna to The Met.

Puccini loved Jeritza as his favorite TOSCA. Maria started thetradition of Tosca laying prone on the floor to sing “Vissi d’arte.”Jeritza premiered Janacek’s JENUFA among other highlights from Brno,Vienna and Milan. Her legendary musical soirees occurred at her homein North Newark. It should be an Historic Site and turned into a OperaMuseum while it still stands though now in private hands. Her postretirement appearances at The Met and Symphony Hall (formerly theMosque Theatre) garnered a rash of applause from the opera audience.

ArtsPRunlimited, Inc is part of Fractured Atlas< https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=11419 >

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Beautiful

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May 2, 2021Liked by Opera Daily

Having now listened to various performances of the Final Trio (Act III: Marie Theres'! Hab' mir's gelobt, Ihn lieb zu haben) from Richard Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier", I still prefer Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade and Renée Fleming in concert (Claudio Abbado, conductor, The Berliner Philharmoniker, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXi8U1twwrc).

Those three divine voices, the Opera Daily synopsis, and the tongue-in-cheek "'Der Rosenkavalier' In Three Minutes" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoNl3kWntK4) were my incentives to watch the 1962 film with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAw4iDDWby8).

The Strauss music, of course, was the best part. My favorite melody was a signature Strauss waltz in Act II, when the comically oblivious and obtuse country Baron grabbed Sophie from behind (after she had turned her back on him), and attempted to dance. Anyone who has ever had to fend off an unwanted suitor can surely relate.

Strauss's vision of Habsburg royalty was mocking, modern and moralistic simultaneously. The Baron as unsuspecting cuckold provided comic relief. The Marschallin, who cheated on her husband away at war with Octavian, her young lover, literally pushed him away in an attempt to hide the affair. That he would be lusted after by the Baron while in disguise, and then drafted to deliver the silver rose to Sophie, whom the Baron sought as his bride, set the stage for him to meet and fall in love with the latter. That the Marschallin released him is a form of absolution for her self-indulgent adultery. She knew the day was coming when he would abandon her. When that time came, she released him. Nothing like a repentant sinner woman for artistic virtue-signaling, right?

The presentation of the rose finds its echoes in the contemporary (and absurd) TV series, "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette", so popular in the USA. "Der Rosenkavalier", which surely influenced the show's concept, should be recommended viewing for all contestants.

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