Adele Kern

She was one of the impressive ranks of Austrian and German soprani leggeri who made international careers in the 1920s and 1930s, including Irma Beilke, Erna Berger, Irene Eisinger, Ria Ginster, Maria Ivogün, Fritzi Jokl and Lotte Schöne.

From 1928, she had her greatest success in Vienna as the maid Yvonne in 19 performances of Krenek's so-called jazz opera Jonny spielt auf, which was later banned by Nazi Germany as degenerate music, and in 1930 as Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola with Koloman von Pataky as her partner.

Don Giovanni was conducted by the outgoing Vienna State Opera Director Franz Schalk, the Rosenkavalier his successor and her mentor from Frankfurt, Clemens Krauss.

In 1929 and 1931 she took part in two exemplary Max Reinhardt productions in Berlin: as Adele in the Fledermaus (at the Deutsches Theater) and as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann (at the Großes Schauspielhaus).

At the Berlin Theater des Westens in December of the same year she took part in the premiere of Eduard Künneke's Singspiel Die lockende Flamme.

She gave guest performances at the Milan Scala and at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, in Paris, Venice and Rio de Janeiro.

There, in her hometown, the artist achieved extraordinary popularity due to her razor-sharp coloratura, the silvery tone of her voice and the unusual brilliance of her performance.

In July 1944, however, she gave a guest performance as Zerbinetta in Krakow in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos ordered by Governor General Hans Frank.

[7] Beethoven: Brüll: d’Albert: Donizetti: Heuberger: Humperdinck: Krenek: Lehár: Lortzing: Mozart: Offenbach: Pergolesi: Pfitzner: Puccini Rimski-Korsakov: Rossini: Johann Strauß: Richard Strauss: Thomas: Verdi: Wagner: Weber Wolf-Ferrari: Sources for the roles of her repertoire:[8][9] Recordings on Parlophon, Polydor and Vox.

Her first role (and her last) was Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, which was extremely demanding both technically and artistically.