Born: November 12, 1939 – Slovakia
Died: November 16, 1993 – Munich, Germany
Lucia Popp initially studied medicine for two semesters. Later a voice teacher at her Academy, happened to hear her singing during a performance of Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and offered her voice lessons.
Only then did Ms. Popp begin studying music and singing at the Conservatories of Brünn and Prague. She attended the Bratislava Music Academy for four years, completing course in general music and voice studies. She began her studies as a mezzo-soprano, but her voice quite suddenly developed a high upper register.
Lucia Popp made her stage debut as a singer at age 23 at the Bratislava Opera singing Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In 1963 Herbert von Karajan heard her sing and engaged her on the spot to sing with the Vienna State Opera company. Her first appearances were so successful that before long she was offered a three-year contract with the Vienna State Opera.
She started her engagement there in 1963, and became famous overnight singing the Queen of the Night, a role in which she was considered unsurpassed. In 1963 she sang also Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at the same opera house.
Here is Ms. Popp in “Four Last Songs” by Richard Strauss:
