Selma Kurz [SEP] voice type
Selma Kurz
Selma Kurz (October 15, 1874 – May 10, 1933) was an Austrian operatic soprano known for her brilliant coloratura technique.
Background.
Selma Kurz was born in Biala to a very humble Jewish family of eleven children. She grew up in Bielitz. While still a girl, she was taken to a convent to be trained as a seamstress. The nuns quickly discovered the beauty of her voice, however, and she also often sang in the local synagogue. These circumstances led local people to
raise some money so that she could go to Vienna and audition for Professor Gänsbacher, a prominent vocal teacher who did not teach women, but wrote important letters of recommendation. Little Selma was thus enabled to visit the imposing Schloss Totis, the Viennese residence, "en villéggiature", of the famous patron of the arts count Nicholas (Miklós) Esterházy de Galántha, who agreed to pay for her lessons with another prominent vocal pedagogue, Johannes Ress.
Once her career was established, Kurz consulted such world-renowned voice