Every day we pass buildings and monuments that we hardly pay any attention to. Yet many of them tell exciting stories about days gone by and people who were once well-known in the city. This includes the fountain in Leopoldstraße, which most of you probably don’t know or have never consciously noticed. Yet it pays homage to an absolute Munich original.
77 Leopoldstraße
This magnificent building is considered a pearl of Art Nouveau by architecture enthusiasts. The façade with the asymmetrical gable is richly decorated with ornaments and stucco and the pretty floral patterns have elements of the Baroque style. There is a tower on the corner, which gives the building a stately air. You can lose yourself in the view if you make the effort to look up. The apartment building was designed by architect Martin Dülfer and completed in 1902. He was considered a pioneer of Art Nouveau and the building is a prime example of the architectural form that emerged in Munich and for which the city is famous.
But the building alone is not the only special feature at this address. In front of the house is a fountain with a stone basin and a bronze sculpture depicting a woman. She is wearing a frilly dress, a crown and a wide sash. The inscription on a plaque at the edge of the basin tells us more: “Miss Schneizlreuth lived at Leopoldstraße 77 all her life”. The fountain has stood here since 1992 and honors a Munich singer who first appeared on stage in the Odeons-Saal at the tender age of five and thrilled the audience.
Who was Bally Prell?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4BYlbXr1RM
Another plaque on the fountain explains that Bally Prell was the folk singer and humorist Bally Prell, who was born at 77 Leopoldstrasse in 1922 and died here almost 60 years later. Her real name was Agnes Pauline, but her brother Ferdinand gave her the nickname Bally, which later became her stage name. Her father had a great passion for folk singing and composed his own pieces.
He also wrote the song that gave her her big breakthrough. In 1953, at the age of 31, she performed for the first time in the Platzl and sang “Die Schönheitskönigin von Schneizlreuth” in her deep alto voice. The song is about a woman who travels from Schneizlreuth in Berchtesgaden to Munich to take part in a beauty contest. The lyrics, but also Bally with her appearance and costume, satirize the popularity of the emerging beauty pageants of the 1950s.
Bally performed at the Platzl all her life and remained faithful to the stage there. She not only sang her father’s songs, but also songs and arias she had composed herself. She also appeared in the films “Heiraten verboten” and “Zwei Bayern im Harem”. However, little is known about her private life. She lived a very reclusive life, mainly spending time with her family and rarely sought out conversation outside of the stage. She finally died in 1982 at the age of 59 as a result of a goitre operation and was laid to rest in Munich’s Nordfriedhof cemetery.
The fountain in front of Bally Prell’s house was erected 10 years after her death. The idea came from sculptor Wolfgang Sand, while the sculpture was designed by Werner Braun. A street in Lochhausen was also named after her in her honor. Her legendary stage costume, consisting of a dress, cape, gloves and crown, is on display in the city museum.