Herbert Janssen
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Herbert Janssen (22 September 1892 in
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
– 3 June 1965 in New York) was a leading German operatic
baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
of the 20th century who had a career in Europe and the United States.


Biography

The son of a wealthy
coal merchant A coal merchant is the term used in the UK and other countries for a trader who sells coal and often delivers it to households. Coal merchants were once a major class of local business, but have declined in importance in many parts of the developed ...
of Swedish origin, he claimed to be related to the painter Victor Emil Janssen and the writer Werner Hasenclever. After serving as an officer in the German army between 1914 and 1918, Janssen initially took up studying law in Berlin. He then took vocal instruction from Oscar Daniel and made his debut at the
Berlin State Opera The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of P ...
on 5 May 1922 in Schreker's ''Schatzgräber'', and became a member of the regular opera company there. Initially focusing on Italian roles in Berlin, he began expanding into Wagnerian roles during the 1923–1924 season in Berlin, singing Wolfram in
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 ...
's '' Tannhäuser''. In 1925 he made a career breakthrough, again singing Wolfram, this time at the Waldoper in Zoppot (now Sopot, Poland). Between 1925 and 1937, Janssen centered his career on Berlin, Zoppot, the
Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
, and the annual grand opera season at the
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...
in
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 ...
, London, adding to these regular appearances a number of guest performances at the
Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ...
, the Opera Garnier in Paris (1931–1934), La Monnaie in Brussels (1934, 1935), and Dresden, Munich, The Hague (1929), and Barcelona (1928, 1929). Janssen reportedly disliked the Nazi regime that took power in Germany in 1933. In 1937 he fell foul of the regime, and was warned he should leave the country immediately. Initially travelling with his wife Erna to Britain, where he was found temporary accommodation by Walter Legge and Legge's sister, the Janssens then settled temporarily in Vienna where Janssen sang with the State Opera in the 1937 and 1938 seasons. Despite successes - "the audience idolises me and the newspapers are full of the highest praise" - Janssen recognised he had no long-term future in Austria, and began reaching out to connections in the United States. Narrowly escaping Austria in March 1938 ahead of the
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
, he temporarily settled in France, from where he visited South America to give some performances in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, before eventually emigrating to the United States. Once in the United States, Janssen became a member of the
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
company, first appearing with them at the beginning of 1939 on their tour of Philadelphia; he would sing with the company until 1952. At this point he also began to change his repertory. Up to this time Janssen had been known for his brilliant high range more than for his abilities as a heroic baritone, and had focused his attention on the more lyrical Wagnerian roles such as Wolfram. In Buenos Aires in 1938, as an experiment he sang his first a heavier and more demanding bass-baritone role, that of the Wanderer in
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' ...
. Now in Philadelphia, he performed this role again, the first of many performances of heavy bass-baritone roles he would sing with the company. Though he continued to sing his old roles, as well as occasional roles such as Don Fernando in Beethoven's
Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...
, Jochanaan in Strauss's
Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...
and The Speaker in Mozart's
Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...
, a shortage of suitable singers also pressured him into singing those heavier bass-baritone Wagner parts to which his voice was less well suited: for example Hans Sachs in
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 ...
and Wotan/the Wanderer in
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 ...
. It was difficult for him to handle the low tessitura of these roles, forcing him to use resources of power that strained his voice. In 1943 he succeeded Friedrich Schorr at the Met as the first heroic bass-baritone of the house; this meant the majority of Janssen's Metropolitan performances would now be of these heavy roles, to the greater detriment of his voice. By the end of the 1940s he was becoming more conspicuous for being indisposed or having to cancel appearances than he was for his formerly brilliant virtuosity. Around 1950 he abandoned the heavy heroic roles, returning to his former showpiece roles of Telramund, Holländer and Amfortas. Janssen made his final appearance with the Metropolitan Opera as Kothner on 25 April 1952, during the company's spring tour in Boston. From 1940 onwards Janssen also sang regularly at Buenos Aires and with the San Francisco Opera between 1945 and 1951. His final guest appearances in Europe as Amonasro, Jochanaan, Kurwenal and Orest were made at the Vienna Staatsoper in June 1950. He began teaching a small number of singing pupils in New York City from 1939 onwards, including (from 1941) an acquaintance from his time at Bayreuth, Friedelind Wagner (granddaughter of Richard Wagner), who like Janssen had fled the Nazi regime. Janssen and his wife Erna had acquired US citizenship in 1946/1947, and following his retirement from the Metropolitan Opera they remained in New York City, where Janssen continued to work as a singing teacher.


Repertory

Originally, Janssen sang an extensive repertory. He appeared in
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
roles such as the Count in ''
Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...
'' and as Lortzing's Zar Peter in '' Zar und Zimmermann''. He also sang major baritone roles of
Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...
, including Conte di Luna in '' Il trovatore'' as well as Renato in '' Un ballo in maschera'' and Iago in ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
''. He also performed Escamillo in Bizet's ''
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 O ...
''. At the Metropolitan Opera, Janssen was cast overwhelmingly in Wagnerian roles. He was known for his interpretations of Kurwenal in ''
Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...
'', Amfortas (in ''
Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...
'') and Wolfram in '' Tannhäuser''. Of his singing, his colleague
Astrid Varnay Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay (25 April 1918 – 4 September 2006) was a Swedish-born American dramatic soprano of Hungarian descent. She spent most of her career in the United States and Germany. She was one of the leading Wagnerian heroic soprano ...
would say, "whenever he was allowed to sing one of the truly lyrical baritone roles in the Wagner repertoire, there was nobody better. His meltingly lovely song to the evening star in the third act of Tannhauser could steal the show almost completely from any tenor but auritz Melchior." Janssen made commercial gramophone records of some of his roles. There is a recording derived from the 1930
Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
with him performing Wolfram's music, while he sang the role of Don Pisarro in a 1944 radio broadcast of
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
's ''
Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...
'' with
Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
conducting. These recordings have all been re-issued on CD.


References

Prieberg published the analysis of his private archives under the title Handbook 1933-1945 German musicians in the electronic self-publishing as a resource on a CD-ROM as a pdf file. * Kesting, Jürgen: Die großen Sänger des 20. Jahrhunderts, 1993, ECON Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf, * Rosenthal, Harold and Warrack, John: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, second edition, Oxford University Press, London, 1980. {{DEFAULTSORT:Janssen, Herbert German operatic baritones 1892 births 1965 deaths 20th-century German male opera singers Musicians from Cologne Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States