Eduard Bachmann (22 September 1831 – 18 April 1880) was a German

oboist An oboist (formerly hautboist) is a musician who plays the oboe or any oboe family instrument, including the oboe d'amore, cor anglais or English horn, bass oboe and piccolo oboe or oboe musette. The following is a list of notable past and pres ...

, operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Life and career

Born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Bachmann attended the

Prague Conservatory The Prague Conservatory () is a public music school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1808. Currently, the school offers four- or six-year courses, which can be compared to the level of a high school diploma in other countries. Graduates c ...

, where he studied oboe playing under the direction of Professor Bauer. As a trained oboist he undertook a concert tour through Germany with the music director Joseph Labitzky in 1849, was engaged in the theatre orchestra of

Preßburg Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the capital and largest city of the Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all cities on the river Danube. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, so ...

in 1850/51, then went to Dresden, where he was engaged in the military band of the Saxon Life Guards. In 1853 he became a member of the orchestra of

Johann Strauss I Johann Baptist Strauss I (; ; 14 March 1804 – 25 September 1849), also known as Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder or the Father (), was an Austrian composer of the Romantic music, Romantic Period. He was famous for his light music, namely waltzes, ...

. One year later he was engaged for the orchestra of the Hungarian National Theatre in Pest. There he began to train as a singer. On 14 February 1855 he made his debut at the Hungarian National Theatre as "Carlo" in the opera ''

Ernani ''Ernani'' is an operatic ''dramma lirico'' in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the 1830 play ''Hernani (drama), Hernani'' by Victor Hugo. Verdi was commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice in Ve ...

''. He sang several times in the Hungarian and German theaters and worked from December 1855 to March 1856 at the Darmstadt court theater. After that he went to Agram and worked as a

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, whic ...

in Amsterdam from October 1856 to June 1857. On 31 July 1857 he made his debut in Prague with director

Franz Thomé Franz Thomé (21 November 1807 – 22 May 1872) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian theatre director and actor. Life Born in Vienna, Thomé was the son of an official of the Russian Empire, Russian Ambassador in Vienna, Prince Andrey Razumovsky. ...

, where he stayed until October 1864. In the same year he accepted a lifelong engagement at the Hoftheater in Kassel, which was dissolved after the death of the elector in 1867. From 1867 to 1868 he worked at the Hoftheater Dresden, from 1868 to 1871 at the Hoftheater Munich, after interventions from even the king and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

to get the artist released from his Dresden contract. It was also Wagner's idea to use him as Siegfried in his ''

Ring cycle (''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 . The compos ...

'', but he rejected these plans. He fell ill with diphtheria twice, and his voice deteriorated. He retired from the stage in 1870 at the age of only 39. He moved to

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; , formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is located at the confluence of the Ohře and Teplá (river), Teplá ri ...

where in 1873 he took over the direction of the theatre for two years. Bachmann died by suicide on 18 April 1880 in Karlsbad at age 48.

External links

Bachmann, Eduard
on University of Munich
Bachmann Eduard
on Operissimo {{DEFAULTSORT:Bachmann, Eduard 1831 births 1880 deaths Singers from Prague Prague Conservatory alumni German oboists German operatic tenors Heldentenors German theatre directors 19th-century German male opera singers 1880s suicides Suicides in Germany Male singers from the Austrian Empire Immigrants to the Kingdom of Saxony

Life and career

Further reading

External links