Vera Little

Vera Pearl Little-Augustithis (10 December 1928 – 24 October 2012) was an American contralto and mezzo-soprano opera singer, who belonged to the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for more than four decades. She performed all important mezzo-soprano roles of the repertoire, appearing at major international opera houses and festivals. She took part in world premieres of operas by Hans Werner Henze, in 1965 Der junge Lord in Berlin, and in 1966 Die Bassariden at the Salzburg Festival.

Vera Little
Born
Vera Pearl Little

(1928-12-10)December 10, 1928
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedOctober 24, 2012(2012-10-24) (aged 83)
Berlin, Germany
Other namesVera Little-Augustithis
EducationTalladega College
OccupationOperatic mezzo-soprano
OrganizationDeutsche Oper Berlin
TitleKammersängerin

Life

Born in Memphis, Tennessee,[1] Little won a Munich opera competition in 1950. After graduating from Talladega College in Alabama in 1952, she came to Paris to study with a Fulbright Scholarship[2] with Georges Jouatte.[1] She studied further in Rome, Copenhagen, and in Germany with Margarete Bärwinkel and Richard Sengeleiter.[1]

Playbill for Henze's Der junge Lord

In 1958 Carl Ebert brought her to Berlin to what was then called the "Städtische Oper Berlin", later Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she remained based for more than four decades.[2] There she had a major success in 1963 in the title role of Bizet's Carmen.[1][3][4] She took part in the 1965 world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Der junge Lord, as Begonia.[1]

She was the first colored singer to perform at the invitation of Vittorio Gui in the Vatican before Pope John XXIII, singing a Bach cantata in 1959 which made her internationally known.[1] She appeared at the Salzburg Festival in 1966 in the world premiere of Henze's Die Bassariden[5] She recorded the role of Giovanna in Donizetti's Anna Bolena in a 1967 broadcast by Westdeutscher Rundfunk, with Teresa Żylis-Gara in the title role and Karl Ridderbusch as Enrico (Henry VIII), conducted by Alberto Erede.[6] In 1970, she was awarded the title Kammersängerin.[7] After many negotiations and complications, she appeared in 1973 for the first time in her hometown Memphis as Ulrica in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.[8]

Besides music, she was interested in literature. She wrote poems, some of which were set to music by Boris Blacher.[2] Some were translated by Hans Wollschläger. In 1999, she published a memoir of her career.[1]

Little died in Berlin at the age of 84.[2]

Publications
  • Vera Little (1988). A touch of warmth / Ein Hauch von Wärme. Berlin: Helvetia-Verlag. ISBN 3-9801987-0-7.
  • Vera Little (1978). Tears in my eyes. Vantage Press.

References
  1. Kutsch, K. J.; Riemens, Leo (2012). Little, Vera. Großes Sängerlexikon (in German) (4th ed.). Walter de Gruyter. pp. 2755–2756. ISBN 978-3-59-844088-5.
  2. "Kammersängerin Vera Little-Augustithis verstorben". Neue Musikzeitung. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  3. "The First Black of the Deutsche Oper". BZ. 2012-11-06. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  4. "German Music Students Boo Soprano Vera Little, p. 59". Jet. 1958-02-20. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  5. "Hans Werner Henze / Die Bassariden". Salzburger Festspiele. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  6. Opera Depot label (New York), OD 10388-2 (2 CDs). Opera Discography Listing.
  7. Vera Little 1988,Tears in my eyes on WorldCat p. 4
  8. "Gerri Major's Society World, 6". Jet. 1973-02-15. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
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