{{Short description|German actress and operatic soprano (1931–2022)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Renate Holm | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Renate Franke | birth_date = {{Birth-date|10 August 1931}} | birth_place = Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|2022|4|21|1931|8|10|df=y}} | death_place = Vienna, Austria | spouse = {{marriage|Horst-Wolfgang Haase|1965|1972|end=div}} | occupation = {{ubl | Actress | Operatic soprano | Voice teacher | Festival manager }} | organization = {{ubl | Vienna Volksoper | Vienna State Opera }} | title = Kammersängerin | awards = {{ubl | Austrian Decoration for Science and Art | Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany}} }}
'''Renate Holm''' (10 August 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a German-Austrian film actress and operatic soprano. She worked as a dentists' assistant and took private singing lessons, resulting in performances in musical films and schlager. She made her debut at the Vienna Volksoper in 1957, and moved on to the Vienna State Opera where she worked for decades. She appeared internationally and made many recordings, especially for the WDR in a series of operettas with conductor Franz Marszalek. She later worked as a voice teacher, juror at competitions, and festival manager. Her memoir was published in 2017.
== Life and career == Renate Franke was born in Berlin.<ref name="Kutsch/Riemens">{{cite book | last1 = Kutsch | first1 = K.-J. | author1-link = Karl-Josef Kutsch | last2 = Riemens | first2 = Leo | author2-link = Leo Riemens | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dsfq_5dFeL0C&pg=2126 | chapter = Holm, Renate | title = Großes Sängerlexikon | publisher = De Gruyter | edition = 4th | language = de | date = 2012 | pages = 2126–2127 | isbn = 978-3-59-844088-5 }}</ref><ref name="SH">{{cite web|date=26 April 2008|author=Stefanie Hanus|title=Renate Holm zu Gast bei Freunden|work=Lausitzer Rundschau|url=https://www.lr-online.de/lausitz/luckau/renate-holm-zu-gast-bei-freunden_aid-3194790|access-date=23 January 2019|language=de}}</ref> She said that she decided to become an opera singer at age twelve, inspired by a film version of Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'' with Maria Cebotari in the title role.<ref name=RHlautVG>{{cite web| url=https://www.wuff.eu/wp/renate-holm-kammersaengerin-hundefreundin-engagierte-tierschuetzerin/| title=Renate Holm Kammersängerin, Hundefreundin & engagierte Tierschützerin| author=Volker Grohskopf| date=22 March 2016| publisher=Petmedie Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. (WUFF), Maria Anzbach| access-date=19 December 2018| archive-date=20 December 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220042550/https://www.wuff.eu/wp/renate-holm-kammersaengerin-hundefreundin-engagierte-tierschuetzerin/| url-status=dead}}</ref> Her mother had taken her to the cinema as a treat for an excellent school report. In 1943 her parents separated.<ref name=RHlautEE/> That same year women with children were evacuated from the bombed-out centre of Berlin, and the Frankes were sent to the Spree Forest region roughly 90 km (50 miles) to the east of the city. Appreciative of her new surroundings, she spent the rest of her childhood around the village of {{ill|Ragow|de|Ragow (Lübbenau/Spreewald)}} where her mother served as local mayor and registrar. The girl's taste of musical performance came in Lübben where she was a member of the school choir and the church choir. She was a pupil at the Paul-Gerhardt-Gymnasium, a six-kilometer (four-mile) journey on a bicycle from her home at Ragow.<ref name=SH /> In Berlin, she had attended a school for girls, and the Lübben gymnasium provided her first experience of mixed gender schooling: fifty years later, she would still be in touch with two friends – a tenor and a bass – with whom she had formed a school vocal trio.<ref name="HolmDobretsberger2017" />
After World War II, the region ended up administered as part of the Soviet occupation zone, which in October 1949 was relaunched as the Soviet-sponsored German Democratic Republic (East Germany). In 1950, her mother arranged for a meeting with Waltraud Waldeck, a local singer and singing teacher who declared that Renate had a natural singing voice and should take singing lessons. Waldeck became Franke's first singing teacher.<ref name="HolmDobretsberger2017"/> To afford the lessons, she trained and worked as a dentist's assistant, also to satisfy her mother's interest in a solid profession.<!-- (Had the singing career not blossomed, she might have qualified a dentist.<ref name="HolmDobretsberger2017"/>)--> She also sold cigarettes and chocolates at a local theatre.<ref name=RHGlautFH>{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/adele-verpflichtet/4481504.html| author=Frederik Hanssen| title=Adele verpflichtet: Zum 80. Geburtstag der Sängerin Renate Holm |date=9 August 2011|work=Der Tagesspiegel|location=Berlin|access-date=19 December 2018}}</ref> She studied privately with the internationally known coloratura soprano Maria Ivogün in Berlin,<ref name="Kutsch/Riemens" /> and later with Maria Hittorf in Vienna.<ref name=RHlautAG>{{cite web|url=https://www.meinbezirk.at/hollabrunn/c-leute/renate-holm-feierte-ihren-85er_a1836459|author=Alexandra Goll (Hollabrunn)|title= Renate Holm feierte ihren 85er!|date=24 August 2016|publisher="Meinbezirk" Niederösterreich|work=Die bekannte Opern- und Operettendiva Renate Holm, mit Zweitwohnsitz in Altenmarkt im Thale, wurde 85.|access-date=19 December 2018}}</ref>
In 1953, her mother entered her in a local talent competition. She sang "Lied der Nachtigall" ("Song of the Nightingale") by Franz Grothe. By winning the contest, she caught the attention of the RIAS, an American-sponsored radio station set up in West Berlin to provide an alternative source of broadcast news and entertainment. She quickly established a singing career as a radio schlager singer, and then broadened her scope to include film music.<ref name=RHGlautFH/> It was around this time that she changed her professional name from Franke to Holm, in order to avoid confusion with the established schlager singer {{ill|Renée Franke|de}}.<ref name="HolmDobretsberger2017">{{cite book|author1=Renate Holm|author2=Christine Dobretsberger|title="Wer seiner Seele Flügel gibt ...": Mit Kunst das Leben meistern. Aufgezeichnet von Christine Dobretsberger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndZ3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58|date=11 October 2017|publisher=Amalthea Signum Verlag|isbn=978-3-903083-74-5|page=58}}</ref> During the mid-1950s, Holm appeared in musical films and ''heimatfilme'', becoming popular with cinema audiences. Her profile was further enhanced by operetta recordings and radio broadcasts.
=== Opera in Vienna === In 1957, Holm was engaged by Hubert Marischka to work at the Vienna Volksoper. She had just received an invitation to star as Eliza Doolittle in the German premiere of ''My Fair Lady'' at the Theater des Westens in Berlin, but was more interested in pursuing a career in opera.<ref name=RHlautCD/> Holm drove to Vienna in her new first car, taking her mother along.<ref name=RHlautEE/> She made her Volksoper debut as Princess Helene in ''Ein Walzertraum'' by Oscar Straus.<ref name="Kutsch/Riemens" /><!--Following the death of Stalin and a difficult negotiation between the wartime allies, the Soviet Union had agreed to end the four-power occupation of Austria in 1955: but two years later Vienna remained an impoverished city. Despite her substantial reputation and impressive earning power in Berlin, at the start Holm earned barely 300 Marks a month at the Viennese Volksoper. She had, she later told an interviewer, moved to Vienna only for artistic reasons (''"Das habe ich wirklich nur wegen der Kunst so gemacht"'').--><ref name=RHlautEE>{{cite web|title=Renate Holm, Kammersängerin|author=Dr. Ernst Emrich|publisher=Bayerischer Rundfunk|work=Das Online-Angebot des Bayerischen Rundfunks (transcription of radio interview)|url=http://www.br-online.de/alpha/forum/vor0205/20020513.shtml|date=13 May 2002|access-date=19 December 2018|archive-date=20 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220033856/http://www.br-online.de/alpha/forum/vor0205/20020513.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> She received international recognition when she moved to the Vienna State Opera. Her first performance there was as Gretchen in Lortzing's ''Der Wildschütz'' in 1960.<ref name="SN" /><ref name=RHlautCD/> She was a member of the ensemble for 30 years until 1991 after Herbert von Karajan offered her the permanent contract.<ref name=RHlautEE/> She performed at the house 470 times, remembered in roles such as Papagena in Mozart's ''Die Zauberflöte'', Marzelline in Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', Musetta in Puccini's ''La bohème'' and Blonde in Mozart's ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail''. She also performed as both Susanna und Contessa in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'', in Richard Strauss roles such as Zerbinetta in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' and Sophie in ''Der Rosenkavalier'', and as Adele in ''Die Fledermaus'' by Johann Strauss.<ref name="Vienna State Opera">{{cite web |title=Die Wiener Staatsoper trauert um KS Renate Holm |publisher=Vienna State Opera |url=https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/die-staatsoper/medien/detail/news/die-wiener-staatsoper-trauert-um-ks-renate-holm/ |date=21 April 2022 |language=de |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Vorstellungen mit Renate Holm |publisher=Vienna State Opera |url=https://archiv.wiener-staatsoper.at/search/person/1236 |date=2022 |language=de |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref>
Holm appeared at the Salzburg Festival as Blonde from 1961 to 1963, and as Papagena in 1974. She performed as Musetta at the Salzburg Easter Festival of 1975.<ref name="Kutsch/Riemens" /> Holm appeared in many of the world's great opera houses, performing alongside Rudolf Schock, Fritz Wunderlich, Hermann Prey and Peter Minich, among others.<ref name=RHlautME>{{cite web|url=https://www.meinbezirk.at/baden/c-leute/renate-holm-zu-gast-im-theatercaf_a3018594|date=5 November 2018| author= Maria Ecker (Baden)|title=Renate Holm zu Gast im Theatercafé |publisher="Meinbezirk" Niederösterreich| access-date=20 December 2018}}</ref> She appeared at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires from 1961, as Blonde, Susanna, Zerlina in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'', Papagena, and Isotta in ''Die schweigsame Frau'' by R. Strauss.<ref name="Kutsch/Riemens" /> She was a resident in Austria for more than sixty years. In 1971 she was awarded the honorific title Kammersängerin.<ref name=RHlautCD>{{cite web|url= https://www.wienerzeitung.at/themen_channel/wz_reflexionen/zeitgenossen/836257_Ich-wollte-es-immer-besser-als-gut-machen.html |title=Ich wollte es immer besser als gut machen|date=7 August 2016|author=Christine Dobretsberger|work=Kurz vor ihrem 85. Geburtstag zieht Kammersängerin Renate Holm eine Bilanz ihres vielseitigen künstlerischen Schaffens und verrät, wie es gelingen kann, dass man sich 30 Jahre lang fühlt, als ob man 50 wäre: Man braucht dazu Liebe zu seinem Beruf, Disziplin und schließlich auch Humor.|publisher=Wiener Zeitung GmbH|access-date=20 December 2018}}</ref> Her wide-ranging repertoire included classical opera, operettas and contemporary modern music theatre, lied and concert arias. She made Wienerlieder one of her specialties.<ref name="SN" /><ref name=RHlautOeAW>{{cite web| url=https://www.musiklexikon.ac.at/ml/musik_H/Holm_Renate.xml|title= Holm (eig. Franke), Renate |author1= Andrea Harrandt|author2=Georg Demcisin |publisher=Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online), Vienna| access-date=20 December 2018}}</ref> She made numerous operatic recordings for labels such as EMI, Decca and Polydor, and also for the radio, in particular the WDR. She appeared there with the operetta specialist Franz Marszalek conducting, including rarities such as ''Wenn Liebe erwacht'' by Eduard Künneke.<ref name=RHlautHJW>{{cite web|pages=29–30|title=Holm, Renate (d.i. Renate Franke)| issn=2366-6404|author=Hans J. Wulff (compiler) |date=22 April 2015| publisher= Medienwissenschaft: Berichte und Papiere| url=http://berichte.derwulff.de/0154_14.pdf|work=Der deutsche Schlagerfilm: Kleines biofilmographisches Lexikon der Musiker der Musik- und Schlagerfilme von 1945–1965|access-date=20 December 2018}}</ref>
She served as president of the Weinviertler Kultursommer, an annual festival, in 1986 and 1987, on the recommendation of its founder {{ill|Gerhard Gutruf|de}},<ref>Irene Suchy: "Wein. Wetter und Gesang. Musik". In: Mella Waldstein und Manfred Horvath (eds.): ''Das Weinviertel. Mehr als Idylle. Jahrbuch Volkskultur NÖ'', 2013, pp. 236–243.</ref> and gave there master classes in singing between 1983 and 1990.<ref name=Kultursommer>{{cite web| url=http://www.weinviertler-kultursommer.at/personen/2014-01-20-12-27-52/personen-nachname-h-n| publisher=MSc Interactive Media Management 6, Donau-Universität Krems i.A.| title=Holm, Renate| work=Personen ... "Weinviertler Kultursommer" (1982–1997)| access-date=21 December 2018| archive-date=11 August 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811014258/http://www.weinviertler-kultursommer.at/personen/2014-01-20-12-27-52/personen-nachname-h-n| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Holm continued to perform in concerts in the 21st century. She participated in festivals such as the {{ill|Elblandfestspiele Wittenberge|de}} in Germany, and in 2006 played Viktoria in the premiere of ''Mich hätten Sie sehen sollen'' at the Theater in der Josefstadt. She also still served as a voice teacher and a jury member in international competitions. Since 2009, she chaired the kuratorium of the Berlin-based ''Europäische Kulturwerkstatt''.<ref name=RHautAg>{{cite web|url=http://www.atg-agentur.de/holm.html|title=Renate Holm ... vita|publisher=Thorsten Groneberg, Steinhorst|access-date=21 December 2018|archive-date=21 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221230906/http://www.atg-agentur.de/holm.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
=== Personal life and death === Holm was a granddaughter of Karl von Bülow (1846–1921).<ref name=RHmit80lautKurier>{{cite web|date=5 December 2011|title=Vom Schlager zur Oper: Renate Holm wird 80|url=https://kurier.at/kultur/vom-schlager-zur-oper-renate-holm-wird-80/717.953|work=Im Geburtstags-Interview spricht die Opernsängerin Renate Holm über zwei Mal 40 Jahre, ihre Farm der Tiere und ein Arrangement mit dem Alter.|publisher=Telekurier Online Medien Vienna|access-date=19 December 2018}}</ref> She married Horst-Wolfgang Haase in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.fi/detail/news-photo/holm-renate-opernsaengerin-koloratursopran-d-oesterreich-news-photo/548172031|publisher=Getty Images International|title= Holm, Renate *10.08.1931 – Opernsaengerin, Koloratursopran, D/ Oesterreich – mit Ehemann Horst Wolfgang Haase nach der Trauung|date=14 April 2015 }}</ref> The marriage lasted seven years. She lived in Vienna for most of her life.<!-- in Vienna, and has for many years hosted cultural events at the 350 year old water mill at Altenmarkt im Thale (north of Vienna), which she acquired back in 1966--><ref name=RHlautAG/>
Holm died in Vienna on 21 April 2022, at the age of 90.<ref name="SN">{{Cite news|newspaper=Salzburger Nachrichten|url=https://www.sn.at/kultur/musik/opernstar-renate-holm-mit-90-jahren-gestorben-120237751|title = Opernstar Renate Holm mit 90 Jahren gestorben|trans-title=Opera star Renate Holm died at the age of 90 |date = 21 April 2022|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gala.de/stars/news/renate-holm--saengerin-und-schauspielerin-ist-gestorben-22841030.html|title=Sängerin und Schauspielerin ist gestorben|trans-title=Singer and Actress has died|website=gala.de|date=21 April 2022 |language=de}}</ref>
== Filmography == * ''Hit Parade'' (1953)<ref name="Amalthea" /> * ''The Telephone Operator'' (1954)<ref>{{cite web | last=Sowa | first=Steven | title=Deutscher Filmstar Renate Holm ist tot | website=www.t-online.de | date=21 April 2022 | url=https://www.t-online.de/-/92051978 | language=de | access-date=28 April 2022}}</ref> * ''The Big Star Parade'' (1954)<ref name="Amalthea" /> * ''Wunschkonzert'' (1955)<ref name="SN" /> * ''{{Ill|Where the Lark Sings (1956 film)|de|3=Wo die Lerche singt (1956)|lt=Where the Lark Sings}}'' (1956)<ref name="SN" /> * ''The Count of Luxemburg'' (1957)<ref>{{cite web|title=''Der Graf von Luxemburg''| website=filmportal.de | url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/der-graf-von-luxemburg_e7d0fc9ab6614f74868c33bfaa6f7037 | language=de | access-date=28 April 2022}}</ref> * ''Love, Girls and Soldiers'' (1958)<ref name="Amalthea" /> * ''Marina'' (1960)<ref name="SN" /> * ''Die Fledermaus'' (1972)
== Writing == * {{cite book | last=Dobretsberger | first=Christine |publisher=Amalthea Signum Verlag | title="Wer seiner Seele Flügel gibt ..." mit Kunst das Leben meistern | year=2017 | publication-place=Wien | isbn=978-3-99050-098-9 | oclc=986997787 | language=de|ref=none}}<ref name="Amalthea">[https://amalthea.at/autor/renate-holm/ Renate Holm] (in German) amalthea.at</ref>
== Awards == * Austrian Kammersängerin (1971)<ref name="Amalthea" /> <!--* Goldene Ehrennadel der Stadt Wien * Goldener Ehrenring der Wiener Staatsoper * Ehrenmedaille der Bundeshauptstadt Wien in Gold (1987) * Großes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Niederösterreich (2001)--> * {{ill|Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien|lt=Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien|de}} (2002)<ref>[http://www.wien.gv.at/rk/msg/2002/0403/012.html Ehrung für Kammersängerin Renate Holm] (in German) Vienna 3 April 2002, retrieved 28 May 2010)</ref> * Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2002)<ref name="Amalthea" /> <!--* Ehrenmitglied der Europäischen Kulturwerkstatt (EKW) Berlin – Wien--> * Officer's cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2002)<ref name="Amalthea" /> <!--* ''Berufstitel Professorin'' (2010)<ref>[http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20100630_OTS0124/kammersaengerin-renate-holm-erhaelt-berufstitel-professorin ''Kammersängerin Renate Holm erhält Berufstitel „Professorin“'']. APA-Meldung vom 30. Juni 2010, abgerufen am 14. Juni 2015.</ref> * Goldener Rathausmann der Stadt Wien (80. Geburtstag, 2011)<ref>[http://www.wien.gv.at/rk/msg/2011/08/11008.html ''Kammersängerin Renate Holm mit dem Goldenen Rathausmann ausgezeichnet. Hohe Auszeichnung anlässlich des 80. Geburtstages'']. In: ''wien.gv.at'', 10. August 2011, abgerufen am 30. Juli 2013.</ref> --->
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Bibliography == * {{cite book | last=Dassanowsky | first=Robert von | title=Austrian Cinema | publisher=McFarland | date=18 October 2007 | isbn=978-0-7864-3733-7}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0391556}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}} {{Authority control|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holm, Renate}} Category:1931 births Category:2022 deaths Category:German operatic sopranos Category:German film actresses Category:Actresses from Berlin Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class Category:Österreichischer Kammersänger