On July 13, 2024, German mezzo-soprano Ruth Hesse died at the age of 87,

Born on Sept. 18, 1936, in Wuppertal, Hesse studied with Peter Offermanns in Wuppertal and later in Hamburg. She also studied in Milan and debuted in 1958 at the Theater Lübeck as Orpheus in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice.” She would continue with the company for two years until 1960 and afterward went to the Staatsoper Hannover where she performed for two seasons. In 1960, she made her debut at the Hamburg State Opera and the Bayreuth Festival and would go on to have a major career with the theaters until 1979.

She made her debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1962 and would remain with the company until 1995. With the Deutsche Oper Berlin, she performed a wide repertoire including the world premiere of Henze’s “Der junge Lord.”

Hesse would become a major mezzo all over Europe performing at the Wiener Staatsoper, Lyon Opera, Royal Opera House, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, Opéra de Marseille, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Chorégies d’Orange, Grand Théâtre de Genève, La Monnaie, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

She also made her mark in Italy at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and the Teatro La Fenice and performed in the U.S. at such theaters as the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Carnegie Hall, and Washington National Opera.

Some of her major roles included Eboli in “Don Carlo,” Ortrud in “Lohengrin,” Brangäne in “Tristan und Isolde,” the Nurse in “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” Herodias in “Salome,” Amneris in Verdi’s Aida, Azucena in his “Il Trovatore,” Maddalena in “Rigoletto” and Preziosilla in “La Forza del Destino,” among others.

In 1988, Hesse retired from the Wiener Staatsoper in the role of Herodias.

For her accomplishments at the Wiener Staatsoper, she was appointed a Kammersängerin.

Hesse left numerous recordings including “Tristan und Isolde, “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” with James King and Birgit Nilsson, and “Der junge Lord.”