Born in Graz, Hansmann studied voice at the Graz Conservatory, also the piano, violin and guitar. She studied further in Amsterdam with Paula Salomon-Lindberg. She made her debut in 1958 at the Graz Opera as the 2nd Boy in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. In 1964 she joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.[1]
Hansmann recorded Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine with the Monteverdi-Chor, conducted by Jürgen Jürgens. She also recorded Bach cantatas,[1] sacred music by Mozart and Mendelssohn's Lobgesang.[1] She appeared as one of the Flower Maidens in Georg Solti's 1972 recording of Parsifal, with René Kollo in the title role.[2]
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who conducted pioneering recordings of Monteverdi's operas and Bach's Mass in B minor
Hansmann was a singer in recordings by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, pioneering historically informed performances. She appeared in Monteverdi's operas, as La Musica and Euridice in L'Orfeo, alongside Lajos Kozma as Orfeo.[3] A reviewer noted: "Rotraud Hansmann as Euridice sings beautifully with crisp diction and much attention to inflection."[4] She performed the parts of Amore and Minerva in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, with Sven-Olof Eliasson [sv] in the title role, and as Virtù and Drusilla in L'incoronazione di Poppea, alongside Helen Donath as Poppea, Elisabeth Söderström as Nerone, Cathy Berberian as Ottavia and Paul Esswood as Ottone.[3] In 1968 Hansmann recorded the first soprano part of Bach's Mass in B minor.[1]
Hansmann was a professor of voice at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna,[5] teaching singers such as Theresa Grabner [de], Yasushi Hirano [de] and Jan Petryka [de].
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