Rysanek, Leonie (1926– )

Austrian soprano. Studied in Vienna with Jerger, and later with R Grossmann, whom she married. She made her debut in Innsbruck in 1949, as Agathe and appeared at Bayreuth from 1951 as Sieglinde, Elsa, Senta, and Elisabeth. From 1950 to 1952 she sang at the Saarbrucken Opera, as Tosca and Arabella, and in 1954 became a member of the Vienna Opera. From 1959 much of her success was at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, as Lady Macbeth, Tosca, Leonore, Aïda, Elisabeth de Valois, and the Kostelnička in Jenůfa (1992). She was admired in Strauss, notably as Salome, Chrysothemis, the Marschallin, Helena, and Clytemnestra (Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1992) as well as as Kundry, Ortrud, and Cherubini's Médée.