Ferdinand Frantz (February 8, 1906 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

– May 26, 1959 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

), was a German operatic

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thre ...

. He was well known in his time for his performances in the operas of

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

. Fond of music as a boy, he joined a choral society in Kassel and at 16 was chosen to take a small solo part.Opera. June 1954, p339 Four years of vocal training ensued. Frantz's first role was in the Kassel Staatstheater in 1927, playing Hermann Ortel in a production of Wagner's '' Die Meistersinger''. He sang at the Halle Opera House from 1930 to 1932, then in Chemnitz from 1932 to 1937, and then in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

with the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Genera ...

from 1937 to 1943. In 1943, he began singing with the

Munich 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 Elec ...

, where he would sing until the year of his death. Frantz guested at the Vienna Staatsoper, Semper Oper in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, at La Scala, and

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

. He debuted at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in 1949, portraying Wotan in Wagner's ''

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 ...

''. This role caused some consternation among operagoers: Helen Traubel was to appear as Brünnhilde opposite Frantz's Wotan, and when Traubel could not perform, Frantz's wife, soprano Helena Braun, stepped into the role. This novelty of a married couple portraying a father and daughter was covered on the front page of New York newspapers. He began as a low bass and moved up to bass-baritone. He was best known as Wotan/Wanderer and Hans Sachs. Recordings are available with him in these roles from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, including two complete ''Meistersingers'' as Sachs, one of them (from 1956) magisterially sung by Frantz and conducted by

Rudolf Kempe Rudolf Kempe (14 June 1910 – 12 May 1976) was a German conductor. Biography Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and t ...

. "Opera" called his Sachs "one of the most impressive of our day". He also left records as

Amfortas ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...

, Gurnemanz, Friedrich von Telramund,

Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hat ...

(in German translation), Don Pizarro and Jokanaan, and as bass soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony. An anthology of operatic arias and monologues is also available.

References

External links

* Ferdinand Frantzat Allmusic.com
Singing the role of the Wanderer
in

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

's opera ''

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

'', audio only, YouTube
Singing the role of Escamillo
in

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

's opera ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

'', in German translation, audio only, YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Frantz, Ferdinand 1906 births 1959 deaths German operatic basses Musicians from Kassel People from Hesse-Nassau 20th-century German male opera singers