Marta Eggerth, 1912–2013
The soprano who became the grande dame of operetta
Marta Eggerth asked to be paid for her first professional singing engagement in chocolates. The soprano was only 9 years old at the time, when airy romantic confections known as comic operettas were all the rage. No one could have predicted then that Eggerth would sing such works for nine decades, bringing their Old World charm to Broadway and becoming the doyenne of the genre.
Eggerth was born in Budapest as “the only child of a banker and a dramatic soprano,” said The New York Times. She became a teenage star in Vienna singing “the sprightly, tuneful work of Middle European composers” like Franz Lehar and Emmerich Kalman. Emerging just as sound came to the moving picture, she made dozens of musical films throughout Europe, and by the 1930s Variety “ranked her among the top 10 box-office attractions in the overseas market.”
The fame she secured with “her light, silvery soprano and her physical beauty” only increased when she married matinee-idol tenor Jan Kiepura, said The Washington Post. But both Eggerth and Kiepura had Jewish mothers and were forced to flee Europe in 1938 for the U.S. Though Eggerth made two films with Judy Garland, her Hollywood career never took off. But in 1943 she and her husband launched a Broadway revival of Lehar’s The Merry Widow, and went on to perform the operetta some 2,000 times over the next two decades.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Eggerth sang well into her 90s at Café Sabarsky in Manhattan. She attributed her voice’s longevity to a life of devoted abstinence: She never smoked, stayed out late, or drank any alcohol except the occasional glass of Hungarian Tokay wine.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
5 brain-busting cartoons about RFK Jr.
Cartoons Artists take on candidate suitability, the Kennedy family, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Right to roam: the battle to access England's green spaces
The Explainer A battle is being fought over access to England's green spaces
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: May 12, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Barry Humphries obituary: cerebral satirist who created Dame Edna Everage
feature Actor and comedian was best known as the monstrous Melbourne housewife and Sir Les Patterson
By The Week Staff Published
-
Mary Quant obituary: pioneering designer who created the 1960s look
feature One of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century remembered as the mother of the miniskirt
By The Week Staff Published