Erzsébet Házy

Biography

Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia to Hungarian parents, Házy grew up in her parents' native country and was a Hungarian citizen. She studied singing at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Géza László. She began her career as a member of the Hungarian Radio Choir before making her professional opera debut in 1951 as Oscar in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the Hungarian State Opera House. She remained committed to that house for many years where she excelled in soubrette and coloratura soprano roles. She notably appeared in several world premieres at that house, including Sándor Szokolay's Hamlet (1968), Szokolay's Samson (1973), and György Ránki's Az ember tragédiája (1970, "The Tragedy of Man").

Házy also worked regularly as a performer in operettas at the Vienna Volksoper for many years. As a guest artist she made appearances at the Prague State Opera, Sofia National Opera, Romanian National Opera, Bucharest, Great Theatre, Warsaw, Glyndebourne Festival, Finnish National Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Oper Köln, Komische Oper Berlin, Sydney Opera House, and the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden.

Házy was awarded the Franz Liszt Prize in 1963, was appointed a Meritorious Artist in 1968, and in 1970 she received the Kossuth Prize by the People's Republic of Hungary. She died from ovarian cancer in Budapest, Hungary at the age of 53.

Critics

"When she stepped on the podium, she enthused the atmosphere with her soul. She was the type of artist who carried a unique aura. This was the main secret of her success at home and abroad. She had that almost indefinable ability by which a great actress or a singer-personality does not live her part, rather she becomes the personification of it." (Musicologist Peter Varnai)

Recordings

German CDs:

German operetta films with Erzsébet Házy:

Hungarian films with Erzsébet Házy: