Schick, Margarete (Luise née Hamel)

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Schick, Margarete (Luise née Hamel)

Schick, Margarete (Luise née Hamel), noted German soprano; b. Mainz, April 26, 1773; d. Berlin, April 29, 1809. Her father was the bassoonist J.N. Hamel. After keyboard and vocal training, the elector of Mainz ennabled her to continue her vocal studies with Domonicus Steffani in Würzburg; returning to Mainz, she sang at the electoral court while pursuing further studies with Righini; made her stage debut there in 1791. She settled in Berlin in 1793 as a court chamber and theater singer; also sang at the National Theater (from 1794). She especially excelled in operas by Gluck and Mozart; her most celebrated role was Gluck’s Iphigenia, but she also was admired for Mozart’s Susanna and Zerlina. Her contemporaries regarded her as the equal of the famous Mara. In 1791 she married the violinist Ernst Schick.

Bibliography

K. von Levezow, Leben und Kunst der Frau M.L. S., geboren Hamel (Berlin, 1809).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Schick, Margarete (Luise née Hamel)

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