Aino Ackté
Aino Ackté | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Aino Ackté | |
| Born | April 23, 1876 |
| Died | August 8, 1944 (aged 68) |
| Occupation | Finnish soprano |
Aino Ackté (April 23, 1876 Helsinki – August 8, 1944 Vihti, originally Achte) was a Finnish soprano. She was the first international star of the Finnish opera scene after Alma Fohström, and a groundbreaker for the domestic field.
Ackté's parents were mezzosoprano Emmy Achte and the conductor-composer Lorenz Nikolai Achte. Aino Ackté married doctor Heikki Renvall in 1901 and gave birth to a daughter (Glory Leppänen). Mies Reenkola, their son, was born in 1908.
The young Ackté studied singing under her mother's tutelage until 1894 when she entered the Paris Conservatory (Edmond Duvernoy and Alfred Girodet). Her successful debut at the Paris Grand Opera happened in 1897 in Faust and she was signed on for six years as a result.
In 1904 Ackté signed on to the New York Metropolitan Opera where she remained until 1906. In 1907 she created the title role of Richard Strauss' Salome in Leipzig and in 1910 in London. The Covent Garden premiere was an enormous success and Strauss himself proclaimed Ackté the "one and only Salome". Ackté considered the London performances her real breakthrough.
Jean Sibelius dedicated his tone poem Luonnotar to Aino Ackté and she premiered the work on September 10, 1913 at the Gloucester Festival in England. Ackté ended her international travels that same year and returned to Finland, where she gave her farewell performance in 1920. Her final public performances took place at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1930.
In 1911, Ackté, Oskar Merikanto, and Edvard Fazer founded the Kotimainen Ooppera, a predecessor to the Finnish National Opera (renamed in 1914 Finnish Opera and then in 1956 the Finnish National Opera). She was to act as its director in 1938 and 1939.
After parting ways with the National Opera, Ackté organized an international Savonlinna Opera Festival beginning on July 3, 1912; they were held 1912-14, 1916 and 1930.
Aino Ackté's coterie included among others Albert Edelfelt, who painted a famous full portrait of her in 1901.
She died of pancreatic cancer in Nummela, Vihti in August 1944.
She has a park road named after her, near the Olavinlinna in Savonlinna and another street in Helsinki, Finland. Her old summerhouse, Villa Aino Ackté, located in Helsinki is being rented by the city for cultural activities and meetings.
Ackté is most likely original model for the opera diva character Bianca Castafiore in comics books of "Adventures of Tintin" by Belgian Hergé.
References
- This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the Finnish Wikipedia, retrieved March 3 2005.
- Severi Nygård: Tintti Suomessa (Tintin in Finland), Helsingin Sanomat, Kuukausiliite, October 2008.
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