Felix Decken (12 February 1864 – 10 February 1928)Paul S. Ulrich, ''Biographisches Verzeichnis für Theater, Tanz und Musik.'' Fundstellennachweis aus deutschsprachigen Nachschlagewerken und Jahrbüchern, 2 Bde., Berlin 1997, vol. 1, p. 360) was a German operatic buffo tenor, actor and stage director.

Career

Born in

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

, Decken began his stage career in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

in 1892. He was a member of the opera in Elberfeld (now

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

) from 1893 to 1896, then moved Hofbühne in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

er , where he made his debut as Beppo in Auber's ''

Fra Diavolo Fra Diavolo (lit. Brother Devil; 7 April 1771–11 November 1806), is the popular name given to Michele Pezza, a guerrilla leader who resisted the French occupation of Naples, proving an "inspirational practitioner of popular insurrection". P ...

''. He was known for buffo parts, both for his singing as for acting with humour. His parts included Gomez in Kreutzer's ''

Das Nachtlager in Granada ''Das Nachtlager in Granada'' (''The Night Camp in Granada'') is a romantic opera in two acts by Conradin Kreutzer. The libretto is by based on Johann Friedrich Kind's 1818 drama of the same name. Performance history The premiere of a first vers ...

'', Georg in Lortzing's ''

Der Waffenschmied ''Der Waffenschmied'' (The Armourer) is an opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal t ...

'' and other parts in Lortzing operas, David in Wagner's ''

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...

'', Mime in his ''

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 . The compo ...

'', and Eisenstein in ''

Fledermaus ' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ' ...

'' by Johann Strauss. In 1907 he was awarded the title of a royal

Kammersänger Kammersänger (male; ) or Kammersängerin (female; ), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German Title of honor, honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was besto ...

. In 1912 he received the Gold Medal for Art and Science. He remained in Stuttgart, working after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

also as ''Spielleiter'' (

stage 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 ...

) until his death.

Literature

* Ludwig Eisenberg
Felix Decken
in ''Großes biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrhundert''.

Paul List Pawel M. List (, ; Odesa, 9 September 1887 – London? 1954) was a Russian Jewish chess player, who emigrated to Britain in 1937 but never took British citizenship. He was born in Odesa, Ukraine (then Russian Empire). He had a separate chess ...

, Leipzig 1903, p. 179 *

Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnen-Angehöriger The Guild of the German Stage (''Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnen-Angehöriger'', or GDBA) is the guild for people who work on the legitimate stage. Its members come from both the areas of stagecraft and artistic workers in theaters from all over Ge ...

(ed.), ''Deutsches Bühnen-Jahrbuch 1929'', Berlin, 1929, p 99

References

External links

Felix Decken
(in German) Operissimo {{DEFAULTSORT:Decken, Felix German operatic tenors German musical theatre directors 1864 births 1928 deaths People from Wesel