Marie Renard and Paula Mark by Adèle (4)

Marie Renard, born Marie Pölzl (1864-1939); Austrian mezzo-soprano/soprano.
In 1882 she made her debut at Graz as Azucena in “Il Trovatore”. From 1882/85 she was engaged at the “Deutschen Theater” in Prague and from 1885/88 at the “Hofoper Berlin”. In 1888 she was contracted by the “Wiener Hofoper” where she remained until her retirement from the stage in 1900.
Here she sang in 1890 the title role in the first Viennese performance of Massenet's “Manon”. In 1892 she created the role of Charlotte in Massenet’s “Werther”, with the tenor Ernest Van Dyck in the role of Werther. For this Viennese premiè the opera was translated into German. Also in 1892 she sang Eva in the world premiere of “Ritter Pázmán” by Johann Strauss II. Further on she created the role of Frau Dot in the première of Goldmark's “Das Heimchen am Herd” (1896) and Tatjana in the first Viennese performance of Tchaikovsky's “Eugene Onegin” (1897). Her farewell performance to the Viennese public (1900) was as Carmen, one of her star roles.

Paula Mark-Neusser (1869-1956); Austrian soprano.
From 1883/90 she studied at the Conservatory in Vienna; piano with Wilhelm Schenner and singing with Johann Ress. In 1890 she made her debut as a singer at the Leipzig Opera. In 1893 she was engaged at the Wiener Hofoper, where in 1892 she already had made several guest appearances. Here she remained until 1897 but she had to adjust her vocal activity for a long time after a serious illness. In 1892 she performed the role of Nedda in the Viennese premiere of Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" , which was conducted by the composer himself. Leoncavallo described her as the best Nedda he ever heard. After her marriage in 1897 with the doctor and pianist Edmund von Neusser (1852-1912) she gave up her singing career in 1899, although it had just reached its peak. From 1924/50, she worked as a professor at the Vienna Academy of music.

On the photo Marie Renard is seen as Hänsel and Paula Mark as Gretel in Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel”.