Viorica Ursuleac

Viorica Ursuleac was a Romanian soprano who studied in Vienna and made her stage debut at Zagreb in 1922 as Charlotte. She sang at the Vienna Volksoper and the Frankfurt Opera, where she met the conductor Clemens Krauss, whom she later married, before moving through the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera and, from 1937, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Strauss's favourite soprano, she created the title role in Arabella (1933, Dresden), the title role in the revised Die ägyptische Helena (1933, Salzburg), Maria in Friedenstag (1938, Munich) and the Countess in Capriccio (1942, Munich), and sang the title role at the public dress rehearsal of Die Liebe der Danae in 1944, giving 506 performances of twelve Strauss roles across her career. She also created leading roles for Sekles, Krenek and d'Albert.