Elizabeth Schumann & Carl Armster

as Konigskinder & Fiddler "Konigskinder" Humperdinck

Elizabeth Schumann
1888-1952
German Soprano

Studied in Berlin and Dresden. She made her stage debut in Hamburg in 1909. Her initial career started in the lighter soubrette roles that expanded into mostly lyrical roles, some coloratura roles, and even a few dramatic roles. She remained at the Hamburg Opera until 1919, also singing during the 1914/15 season at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. From 1919 to 1938, she was a star of the Vienna State Opera. Her most famous role was that of Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier; but she also excelled in Mozart, taking the roles of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro.

Karl Armster
1883-1943
German Baritone

Debut in 1906 at the Stadttheater of Essen. Other engagements: 1907-11 Komische Oper Berlin, 1911-12 Stadttheater Elberfeld, 1912-17 Stadttheater (Opera House) Hamburg. In 1914 he sang the Amfortas in 'Parsifal' and the Gunther in 'Götterdämmerung' at the Bayreuth Festival, 1917-25 member of the Staatsoper Berlin. There he sang Barak in 1920 in the premiere of 'Frau ohne Schatten' by R. Strauss, in 1930 in the world premiere of the opera 'Christopher Colomb' by Darius Milhaud. 1913 guest performance in Amsterdam .After 1925 he only gave guest performances, so 1930-31 at the State Opera as the German Opera House Berlin. In 1931 he finally took leave of the stage. Roles were the Flying Dutchman, the St. Bris in the 'Huguenots' of Meyerbeer, the Escamillo in 'Carmen', the Amonasro in 'Aida', the Marcello in 'La Bohème', the Scarpia in 'Tosca', the Sharpless in 'Madame Butterfly', the Arkel in 'Pelléas et Mélisande', the Sebastiano in 'Lowland' of d'Albert, the Orest in 'Elektra' by R.Strauss and the Borromeo in 'Palestrina' by H.Pfitzner.