Edges, Maria

Maria Krai
Maria Krai
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Place of Birth	; or; ;
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A place of death	or; ;
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Maria Kraja ( Alb. Marie Kraja ; September 24, 1911 , Zadar - November 21, 1999 , Tirana ) is an Albanian opera singer.

Content

1 Biography
2 notes
3 References
4 Literature

Biography

She was born in 1911 in Zadar in the Kingdom of Dalmatia , which later became part of Austria-Hungary in a Catholic family, who lived in a small Albanian region within the city. She was a relative of Mother Teresa ^[1] ^[2] . At the age of six, she moved with her family to her ethnic homeland in Albania in the city of Shkodra . In Albania, in the process of growing up, she became acquainted with national traditions and Albanian culture ^[3] .

In 1930 she began to practice singing. She received her musical education in Graz , Austria at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts , and graduated in 1934. After training, she taught at a secondary school in Shkodra, then at the Pedagogical Institute in Tirana . In Tirana, she began to act as a singer with pianist Tonin Guraziu. Krai represented Albania at the “Evening of the Nations” in Vienna.

Mary's singing was peculiar, which was due to a small German influence on her Albanian, which gave accuracy to the wording of the texts she sang. The singer’s repertoire included traditional urban Albanian songs that sounded new in the performance of a professional singer. She toured with Albanian pianist Lola Gyoka , together they recorded more than 300 songs. Despite the low recording quality of that time, phonograms are still in demand ^[3] .

In 1937, Maria gave a concert in Bari , Italy , and the following year she performed in Munich , Germany ^[4] . In 1938, she, together with Lola Gyoka and Tefta Tashko-Coco, organized a series of charity concerts in order to raise funds for the training in Milan of the Hungarian musician Krista Coco. In 1939, she gave a concert in Florence ^[4] .

After the end of World War II, Krai taught at the Jordan Misha Academy of Music, while continuing to perform on the opera stage. And in 1959 she became a soloist of the first Albanian opera Mrika , composer Prenk Jacob and librettist Lazar Siliki ^[4] .

Among the singer’s most famous performances, her performance in the operas of Iolanthe composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the Sold bride of composer Bedřich Smetana staged at the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Albania can be singled out.

Among the students of Maria Krai was Fadil Kokomani , later a dissident, executed for speaking out against Enver Khoja ^[5] .

She died in Tirana in 1999. She was awarded the highest recognition for artists of Albania - the title of People's Artist of Albania ^[6] .

Notes

↑ FBIS Daily Report: East Europe . - Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 1989. - P. 1. - “This morning, she paid a visit at the home of Artiste of the People Marije Kraja, a relative, as well as to the house where her mother and sister had lived for a long time. Mother Teresa then visited the No 40 Kindergarten in Tirana ... ".
↑ Gëzim Alpion . Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? . - Routledge, 2007. - P. 317. - “Albanian Catholic opera singer Marije Kraja, who is also known to have organized their funerals ...”. - ISBN 9780203087510 .
↑ ¹ ² Eno Koço. Albanian Urban Lyric Song in the 1930s . - Scarecrow Press, 2004. - P. 58–61. - ISBN 978-0-8108-4890-0 .
↑ ¹ ² ³ Robert Elsie. A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History . - IB Tauris, December 24, 2012. - P. 256. - ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3 .
↑ Kokomani dhe Lezho / Letra e rrallë e dy gazetarëve që tronditi diktaturën komuniste
↑ Sopranoja brilante Marie Kraja (2015). Date of treatment October 9, 2015.

Links

Sopranoja brilante Marie Kraja (Alb.)

Literature

M. Lalaj, Instituti Femnor “Nana Mbretneshë”, Tiranë: Qendra Kombëtare e Artit dhe e Kulturës, 2013. fq. 54. ISBN 9789994351909
David Cooper, Kevin Dawe: The Mediterranean in music: critical perspectives, common concerns, cultural differences. Scarecrow Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8108-5407-9
Flori Slatina: Portrete artistesh. Tirana: Gazeta 55, 1999. (alb.)

[1] FBIS Daily Report: East Europe . - Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 1989. - P. 1. - “This morning, she paid a visit at the home of Artiste of the People Marije Kraja, a relative, as well as to the house where her mother and sister had lived for a long time. Mother Teresa then visited the No 40 Kindergarten in Tirana ... ".

[2] Gëzim Alpion . Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? . - Routledge, 2007. - P. 317. - “Albanian Catholic opera singer Marije Kraja, who is also known to have organized their funerals ...”. - ISBN 9780203087510 .

[Koço2004-3] ¹ ² Eno Koço. Albanian Urban Lyric Song in the 1930s . - Scarecrow Press, 2004. - P. 58–61. - ISBN 978-0-8108-4890-0 .

[Elsie2012-4] ¹ ² ³ Robert Elsie. A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History . - IB Tauris, December 24, 2012. - P. 256. - ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3 .

[fadko2-5] Kokomani dhe Lezho / Letra e rrallë e dy gazetarëve që tronditi diktaturën komuniste

[6] Sopranoja brilante Marie Kraja (2015). Date of treatment October 9, 2015.