Johannes Gustav "Hans" Winckelmann (14 September 1881 – 9 October 1943) was a German 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 opera director.

Life

Born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, the son of Wagner singer

Hermann Winkelmann Hermann Winkelmann (or Winckelmann) (8 March 1849 – 18 January 1912) was a German Heldentenor, notable for creating the title role in Richard Wagner's ''Parsifal'' in 1882. Biography Hermann Winkelmann was born in Braunschweig in 1849. His ...

, whose grandfather was Christian Ludewig Theodor Winkelmann, founder of the Braunschweig piano factory . Other ancestors included

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann ( ; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...

, Hans was trained by his father to play Wagnerian tenor and studied in Vienna, where he obtained a doctorate in philosophy. He began his career as a singer at the

Vienna Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

and then became first tenor at the Prague Opera, later in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

. In his Schwerin period he made three films in Berlin in 1921 and 1922 and finally in Hanover, where he also directed about six operas a year with

Rudolf Krasselt Rudolf Krasselt (1 January 1879 – 12 April 1954) was a German violoncellist, conductor and director of the Staatsoper Hannover during the Weimar Republic and the period of National Socialism. Life Born in Baden-Baden, Krasselt grew up as so ...

. Until his death in 1943 or only until his removal from office by the Nazis he was head conductor at the opera house in Hannover. He also wrote a book with the title ''Der Opernspieler''. (Leipzig: Beck 1940). He made a first marriage in Vienna and a second during his time in Prague. Winckelmann's love affair with Lala Pringsheim (Klara Koszler) allegedly produced a son, . On 8 June 1927, he married dancer Almut Upmeyer, with whom he had two children: Helga (1939–1967) and Axel Winckelmann (1942–1965). In 1943 he married his last wife Hilde, after a 17 years lasting affair. During the air raids on Hanover he sent his advanced pregnant wife to

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, where his daughter Maria was born. He himself stayed behind in Hanover and died of heart failure during the English bombing at the age of 62.

Filmography

* 1921: ''Das Souper um Mitternacht. Abenteuer des Detektivs Harry Wills''. * 1921: ''Die Schatzkammer im See''. * 1921/1922: ''Matrosenliebste''.

Literature

* Klaus Pringsheim jr., Victor Boesen: ''Wer zum Teufel sind Sie? Ein Leben mit der Familie Mann''.''Wer zum Teufel sind Sie? Ein Leben mit der Familie Mann''
/ref> 2nd edition. Berlin 2002, , .

In ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

References

External links

Hans Winkelmann on Filmportal.de

Hans Winkelmann
on LMU
Winkelsmann Hans on Operissimo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winckelmann, Hans 1881 births 1943 deaths Singers from Hamburg German operatic tenors German opera directors Heldentenors German male silent film actors 20th-century German male actors 20th-century German male opera singers German civilians killed in World War II Deaths by British airstrikes during World War II Male actors from Hamburg