Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.21857/y26kecdpo9

A Star Was Born in Nuremberg: The Reception of the Formative Period in the Career of Dunja Vejzović (1971 – 1975)

Ivan Ćurković ; University of Zagreb Academy of Music, Zagreb, Croatia *

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

Following her studies and the initial steps of a career in her native Zagreb, the Croatian opera singer Dunja Vejzović left for Germany and, in 1971, joined the ensemble of the Nuremberg Opera. While initially performing a broad range of minor and major roles, her 1973 performance as Venus in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser foreshadowed the subsequent international triumph in the Wagnerian repertoire. A more important turning point in her early career was the portrayal of Azucena in Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore in 1974, directed by Hans Neuenfels in his operatic debut. This production, a milestone in the career of the pioneer of German Regietheater, marked the beginning of Vejzović’s numerous collaborations with innovative directors.
In addition to musicological and theatre studies literature, this investigation of the beginnings of an operatic career is primarily based on the Dunja Vejzović Press Clipping Archive (Hemeroteka). Collected and preserved by the singer in her home, the archive was catalogued and its contents digitised between 2024 and 2025. It contains an extensive collection of concert and opera programmes, reviews, interviews and other articles from periodicals, as well as other primary sources documenting this extraordinary career. The following roles in 19th-century operas in the formative period under investigation (1971 – 1975) received extensive press attention and are subject to analysis: Fenena (Giuseppe Verdi: Nabucco), Carmen (Georges Bizet: Carmen), Venus (Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser), Clytemnestra (Richard Strauss: Elektra), Azucena (Giuseppe Verdi: Il trovatore), Marina (Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov) and the Foreign Princess (Antonín Dvořák: Rusalka).
The analysis focuses on how the singer portrayed roles subsumed under the following categories of the German Fach (Stimmfach) system: dramatic soprano, high dramatic soprano (hochdramatischer Sopran), dramatic mezzo-soprano, lyrical mezzo-soprano and dramatic alto. At first pigeonholed by critics as both alto, mezzo-soprano and soprano, her subsequent ability to explore the liminal regions of the different Fächer and the tendency to venture into soprano territory was universally praised. When it comes to acting, the early performances of Dunja Vejzović were often described by both herself and the reviews as cold and stiff. It was the deconstructed collaborative portrayal of Azucena that freed her to become an active acting participant in the creative process of German Regietheater, paving the way for future roles.
It is therefore possible to conclude that the foundations of the stellar career of Dunja Vejzović were laid in Nuremberg. This period defined the hallmarks of her operatic artistry: repertoire versatility, a desire to transcend the boundaries of the mezzo-soprano Fach, and a commitment to dramatic, unconventional stage expression.

Keywords

Dunja Vejzović; mezzosoprano; soprano; Fach (Stimmfach); Giuseppe Verdi; Azucena; Hans Neuenfels; Regietheater; reception; press clippings

Hrčak ID:

349922

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/349922

Publication date:

29.7.2026.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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