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Ludwig Suthaus
Ludwig Suthaus (12 December 1906 – 7 September 1971) was a German operatic heldentenor. Life Born in Cologne Suthaus was a stonemason's apprentice when his singing talent was first discovered. He subsequently started his voice studies at the age of seventeen in his hometown of Cologne. His teacher, Julius Lenz, originally mistook him for a baritone, but in 1928 Suthaus debuted as a tenor in Aachen in the role of ''Walther von Stolzing'' in Richard Wagner's ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. From 1932 to 1941, he was engaged in Stuttgart, but was fired in 1942 because he would not join the Nazi party. Suthaus subsequently got a new contract at the Berlin State Opera. After the war, in 1949, he switched from the State Opera - now based in East Berlin - to the "Städtische Oper" which was based in West Berlin, and remained a member of that company until the end of his career. Since the end of the forties, Suthaus appeared regularly at the Vienna State Opera and as guest at ...
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Heldentenor
A heldentenor (; English: ''heroic tenor''), earlier called tenorbariton, is an operatic tenor voice, most often associated with Wagnerian repertoire. It is distinct from other tenor '' fächer'' by its endurance, volume, and dark timbre, which may be, in its middle register, like that of a baritone. The voice may also sound clear or metallic. It is one of the rarest voice types in opera. Heldentenor roles, such as the title roles in '' Siegfried'' and ''Lohengrin'', often require commanding stage presence and strong acting ability. In some cases, due to reasons such as voice misidentification, singers may begin their careers as baritones before later transitioning. The term ''heldentenor'' may be used to refer to both a singer and their voice. The treble counterpart of the heldentenor is the Wagnerian soprano. Roles The following roles are in the standard heldentenor repertoire: Richard Wagner * Lohengrin, ''Lohengrin'' * Parsifal, ''Parsifal'' * Rienzi, ''Rienzi'' * Sie ...
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Bavarian State Opera
The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Electress consort Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, when Giovanni Battista Maccioni's ''L'arpa festante'' was performed in the court theatre. In 1753, the Residence Theatre (Cuvilliés Theatre) was opened as a major stage. While opera performances were also held in the Prinzregententheater (completed in 1901), the company's home base is the Nationaltheater München on Max-Joseph-Platz. In 1875, the Munich Opera Festival took place for the first time. Sir Peter Jonas became the general manager in 1993, the first British general manager of any major German-speaking opera house. In 2008, Nikolaus Bachler became Intendant (general manager) of the opera company, and Kirill Petrenko became Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) in 2013. In 2014, the ...
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Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, (October 29, 1926 – July 10, 2015), known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1957 Vickers joined London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden company. In 1960 he joined the Metropolitan Opera. He became world-famous for a wide range of German, French, and Italian roles. Vickers' huge, powerful voice and solid technique met the demands of many French, German, and Italian roles. He was also highly regarded for his powerful stage presence and thoughtful characterizations. (Conversely, he was sometimes criticized for "scooping"—beginning a note below pitch and then sliding up to the correct pitch—and for "crooning".) In 1968 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. Vickers received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for L ...
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Ramón Vinay
Ramón Vinay (August 31, 1911 – January 4, 1996) was a famous Chilean operatic tenor with a powerful, dramatic voice. He is probably best remembered for his appearances in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic opera ''Otello''. Biography He started his operatic career as a baritone in Mexico in 1938. He later switched to tenor, making a second debut in 1943 and forging a successful international career after World War II. Vinay eventually returned to the baritone fold in 1962 and retired from the stage in 1969. Even as a tenor, however, his vocal timbre retained its dark, baritonal colouration. He was the son of Jean Vinay Robert and Rosa Sepúlveda. Born in Chillán, Chile, Vinay earned particular renown throughout the operatic world for his interpretation of the role of Otello. For a time, he made the part his own. Perhaps his most significant appearance as Otello occurred in 1947, in a radio broadcast of the opera under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. His colleagues on t ...
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Max Lorenz (tenor)
Max Lorenz (born Max Sülzenfuß; 10 May 1901 – 11 January 1975) was a German heldentenor famous for Wagnerian roles. Career Lorenz was born in Düsseldorf, and studied with Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin in the 1920s. He later was a pupil of Estelle Liebling in New York City. He made his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1927, becoming a principal tenor. From 1929 to 1944 he was a member of the ensemble at the Berlin State Opera, appearing also at the New York Metropolitan Opera (1931–1934), the Bayreuth Festspielhaus (1933–1939, 1952, 1954) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1934 and 1937). He sang, too, at the Vienna State Opera (1929–1933, 1936–1944, 1954). Audiences at the Salzburg Festival also heard him, and he created roles in such post-World War II works as Gottfried von Einem’s '' Der Prozess'' (Josef K, 1953), Rolf Liebermann’s ''Penelope'' (1954) and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny’s ''Das Bergwerk zu Falun'' (1961). Lorenz's operatic and recital car ...
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Lauritz Melchior
Lauritz Melchior (20 March 1890 – 18 March 1973) was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Richard Wagner, Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and has come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Melchior appeared in Musical film, movie musicals and on radio and television. He also made numerous recordings. Biography Early years Born Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel Melchior in Copenhagen, Denmark, the young Melchior was a Treble voice, treble and amateur singer before starting his first operatic vocal studies under Paul Bang at the Royal Opera School in Copenhagen at the age of 18 in 1908. His sister, Agnes Melchior (1883–1945), was a blind Danish Esperantist. In 1913, Melchior made his debut in the baritone role of Silvio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's ''Pagliacci'' at the Det Kongelige Teater, Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater) in Copenhagen. He sang mostly secondary baritone and bass roles for the Royal Danish Opera and pr ...
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Der Ring Des Nibelungen
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibelungenlied''. The composer termed the cycle a "Bühnenfestspiel" (stage festival play), structured in three days preceded by a ("preliminary evening"). It is often referred to as the ''Ring'' cycle, Wagner's ''Ring'', or simply ''The Ring''. Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four parts that constitute the ''Ring'' cycle are, in sequence: * ''Das Rheingold'' (''The Rhinegold'') * '' Die Walküre'' (''The Valkyrie'') * '' Siegfried'' * '' Götterdämmerung'' (''Twilight of the Gods'') Individual works of the sequence are often performed separately, and indeed the operas contain dialogues that mention events in the previous operas, so that a viewer could watch any of them wi ...
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Tristan Und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. Wagner referred to the work not as an opera, but called it "" (literally ''a drama'', ''a plot'', or ''an action''). Wagner's composition of ''Tristan und Isolde'' was inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer (particularly ''The World as Will and Representation''), as well as by Wagner's affair with Mathilde Wesendonck. Widely acknowledged as a pinnacle of the operatic repertoire, ''Tristan'' was notable for Wagner's unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour, and harmonic suspension. The opera was enormously influential among Western classical c ...
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Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major influence for many later conductors, and his name is often mentioned when discussing their interpretative styles. Furtwängler was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic between 1922 and 1945, and from 1952 until 1954. He was also principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1922–26), and was a guest conductor of other major orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic. Although not an adherent of Nazism, he was the leading conductor to remain in Germany during the Nazi regime. Despite his open opposition to antisemitism and the ubiquity of Nazi symbolism, the regime did not seek to suppress him, at Joseph Goebbels' insistence, for propaganda reasons. This situation caused lasting controversy, and the extent to which his pr ...
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Hermann Abendroth
Hermann Paul Maximilian Abendroth (19 January 1883 – 29 May 1956) was a German conductor. Early life Abendroth was born on 19 January 1883, at Frankfurt, the son of a bookseller. Several other members of the family were artists in diverse disciplines. After finishing his school studies at the '' Frankfort Gymnasium'', Abendroth traveled to Munich and at the wish of his father undertook the first year of an apprenticeship as a book dealer, but he then switched to studying music at the conservatory of Munich, the ''Münchner Konservatorium'', from 1900 to 1903, studying theory and composition with Ludwig Thuille, piano with Anna Hirtzel-Langenham, and developing his conducting skills working with Felix Mottl. Hermann Abendroth at AllMusic Initial career Still an undergraduate, Hermann Abendroth's first stable assignment of conducting was from 1903 to 1904, for the ''Orchestral Society of Munich''. From 1905 to 1911, he moved to Lübeck, highlighting as the ''Kapellmeister'' o ...
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Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876. As the ''Ring'' cycle was conceived by Wagner in reverse order of performance, ''Die Walküre'' was the third of the four texts to be written, although Wagner composed the music in performance sequence. The text was completed by July 1852, and the music by March 1856. Wagner largely followed the principles related to the form of musical drama, which he had set out in his 1851 essay '' Opera and Drama'' under which the music would interpret the text emotionally, reflecting the feelings and moods behind the work, using a system of recurring leitmotifs to represent people, ideas, and situations rather than the con ...
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Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 22 September 1869, and received its first performance as part of the ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, on 13 August 1876. Wagner wrote the ''Ring'' librettos in reverse order, so that ''Das Rheingold'' was the last of the texts to be written; it was, however, the first to be set to music. The score was completed in 1854, but Wagner was unwilling to sanction its performance until the whole cycle was complete; he worked intermittently on this music until 1874. The 1869 Munich premiere of ''Das Rheingold'' was staged, much against Wagner's wishes, on the orders of his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Following its 1876 Bayreuth premiere, the ''Ring'' cycle was introduced into the worldwide repertory, with per ...
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