Werner Haseleu (2 May 1935 – 29 June 2012) 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 three ...

and academic voice teacher. He was a long-term member of the

Staatsoper Dresden The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the Th ...

and the

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, near Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the Be ...

, often with director

Harry Kupfer Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019) was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Fe ...

at both houses. He was known for leading roles in world premieres and contemporary opera.

Life and career

Haseleu was born in

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

and trained in Leipzig. He debuted in 1958 at the

Nationaltheater Weimar The (DNT), or German National Theater and Weimar State Orchestra, is the most significant arts organization in Weimar. The institution unites the (German National Theater) with the (Weimar State Orchestra). It plays on a total of six stages ...

, and worked there until 1973. He appeared there as Leporello in Mozart's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'', Don Alfonso in ''

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...

'', King Philipp in Verdi's ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is an 1867 five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the 1787 play '' Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'', the title role of ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' and as Ochs in ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from Louvet de Couvrai's novel ''Les amours du cheva ...

'' by Richard Strauss, among others. In 1973 he moved to the

. On 21 April 1974, he took part in the world premiere of

Rainer Kunad Rainer Kunad (24 October 1936, Chemnitz – 17 July 1995, Reutlingen) was a German conductor and composer, especially of opera. Life Kunad studied choir and ensemble conducting at the Dresden Conservatoire from 1955 to 1956 and then, until 1959 ...

's ''Sabellicus'' 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 ...

. In Dresden he also sang the title role in Bartók's ''

Bluebeard's Castle ''Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' (, literally ''The Blue-Bearded Duke's Castle'') is a one-act Symbolism (movement), Symbolist opera by composer Béla Bartók to a Hungarian libretto by his friend and poet Béla Balázs. Based on the French folk legen ...

'' and as Moses in Schoenberg's ''

Moses und Aron ''Moses und Aron'' (English: ''Moses and Aaron'') is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the music to the third act unfinished. The German libretto is by the composer. It is based on selected incidents from the Book of Exodus (chapters 3 ...

'', directed by

. He sang leading roles in the world premieres of Udo Zimmermann's ''

Der Schuhu und die fliegende Prinzessin ''Der Schuhu und die fliegende Prinzessin'' (''The Bird-Man and the Flying Princess'') is a fairy-tale opera in three acts by Udo Zimmermann with a libretto which he wrote with Eberhard Schmidt based on the eponymous fairy tale by Peter Hacks. It ...

'' on 30 December 1976 and Kunad's ''Vincent'' on 22 February 1979 in Dresden. In 1983, he performed the title role in Aribert Reimann's ''

Lear Lear or Leir may refer to: Acronyms * Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, a Mexican association of revolutionary artists and writers * Low Energy Ion Ring, an ion pre-accelerator of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN ** Low Energy Antipr ...

'' at the

. He moved to the opera house in 1984 together with Kupfer. Haseleu appeared as Holofernes in the world premiere of ''

Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...

'' by Siegfried Matthus on 28 September 1985 at Berlin State Opera. In 1988, he performed as Leporello in Alexander Dargomyzhsky's '' The Stone Guest'' at the Komische Oper. In 1998, he took part there in Henze's ''

König Hirsch ' (in English, ''The Stag King'') is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze to a German libretto by after ''Il re cervo'', a theatrical fable (1762) by Carlo Gozzi. He revised it as ''Il re cervo'', premiered in 1963 at the Staatstheater K ...

''. Haseleu was also a guest at the operas of Leningrad, Prague, at the

Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden The Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden (International May Festival, IMF) is a theater festival in Wiesbaden, Germany. Established in the late 19th century after the Bayreuth Festival, the festival is one of the most distinguished internationa ...

and in Lausanne. He was also active in the pedagogical sector: He taught from 1961 to 1973 at the

Musikhochschule Weimar The University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (in German: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar) is an institution of music in Weimar, Germany. The Hochschule Franz Liszt, who spent a great deal of his life in Weimar, encouraged the founding of ...

and from 1973 at the

Hochschule für Musik Dresden ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

. Haseleu died June 2012 at the age of 77 years and was buried at the in Dresden.

Recordings

Haseleu's voice is preserved on recordings of ''

Die schweigsame Frau ''Die schweigsame Frau'' (''The Silent Woman''), Op. 80, is a 1935 comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson's 1609 comedy '' Epicœne, or The Silent Woman''. Composition history Since '' Elek ...

'' by Richard Strauss, ''Moses und Aron'',

Udo Zimmermann Udo Zimmermann (6 October 1943 – 22 October 2021) was a German composer, musicologist, opera director, and conductor. He worked as a professor of composition, founded a centre for contemporary music in Dresden, and was director of the Leipzig ...

's ', scenes from ''Lear'' and ''Judith'', and ''Der Rosenkavalier''. ''Judith'' was recorded and broadcast by the

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...

References

External links

*
"Werner Haseleu (Bass-Baritone)"
Bach Cantatas website *

Margaret Ross Griffel Margaret Ross Griffel (born 9 July 1943) is an American musicologist and author. Biography Griffel graduated from High School of Music & Art, in Manhattan, New York in 1961. She earned a B.A. from Barnard College in 1965, M.A. in European and Am ...

"''Judith''"
in: ''Operas in German: A Dictionary'' (2018) {{DEFAULTSORT:Haseleu, Werner German bass-baritones East German musicians 1935 births 2012 deaths People from Wittenberg 20th-century German male opera singers German voice teachers