Marie Brema - Bayreuth, America and Europe

Bayreuth, America and Europe

She was then brought to the notice of Cosima Wagner by Hermann Levi, and was invited to take part in the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, where she sang the roles of Ortrud in Lohengrin and Kundry in Parsifal. She was the first English singer to appear there. Established as a Wagnerian, in 1894 she made her first tour of the United States of America with the Damrosch Company, and in addition to those two roles also appeared as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde and Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. Her Brünnhilde was considered especially fine, not only for her splendid vocalisation but also for her stature and handsome appearance. Returning to Europe she performed these roles at Bayreuth, and added to them the second Brünnhilde (Götterdämmerung) and Fricka in Das Rheingold.

In America Marie Brema sang Brangäne in a German Tristan in a cast with Lillian Nordica as Isolde, Jean de Reszke as Tristan and brother Edouard as King Mark, and also in The Ring, performances under the direction of Anton Seidl and Felix Mottl. During the 1898-99 season at the Met she sang Fides in Meyerbeer's Le prophète opposite both de Reszkes and Lilli Lehmann. In various parts of Europe, in Paris, Berlin and Brussels, for example, she appeared with great success as Dalila in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila, a role which especially suited her, and as Amneris in Verdi's Aida. Orfeo also remained a most important role throughout her career. In the London 1897 season David Bispham, Wotan in Walküre, called her 'superb' alongside Ernest van Dyck, Susan Strong and Ernestine Schumann-Heink.

In 1897 Brema was among those invited to perform at the State Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, where she sang 'Plus grand dans son Obscurité' from Gounod's La reine de Saba. Other performers included Bispham, Nevada, de Lucia and Mme Albani. Brema and Bispham sang again by royal invitation at Osborne House not long afterwards.

In 1897 she also performed the Wesendonck Songs of Wagner (Felix Mottl arrangement) at the Queen's Hall for Henry Wood on a Wagner birthday concert (May 22), and later in the same programme delivered Brünnhilde's Immolation scene. Wood enjoyed working with her, and called her 'a really great Wagnerian singer.' He remarked that she could dramatize the parts without making gestures, and was 'certainly German in style.' In 1898 she introduced Saint-Saëns's La fiancee du timbalier. In November and December 1900 she appeared for Wood in three special Wagnerian concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, with orchestras of 200 members.