Alexander Girardi (pronounced ) (5 December 1850 – 20 April 1918) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

singer in operettas.

Career

Girardi was born in Graz; his father was the locksmith Andreas Girardi who had migrated to Graz from Cortina d'Ampezzo. Following the early death of his father, Alexander Girardi was raised by his stepfather who put him into a locksmith

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

. Against his stepfather's wishes, he joined the amateur theatre ''Die Tonhalle'', where his acting talent was discovered; this led to an engagement at the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Strampfer-Theater. In 1874 Girardi moved to the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prima ...

, where he continued to work for 22 years. In 1896/97 he worked at the

Carltheater The Carltheater was a theatre in Vienna. It was in the suburbs in Leopoldstadt at Praterstraße 31 (at that time called Jägerzeile). It was the successor to the Leopoldstädter Theater. After a series of financial difficulties, that theater had ...

and then two years at the Volkstheater in Vienna. He also had guest appearances at other important theatres in Vienna and toured Germany (Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden). Girardi z03

One of his most renowned roles was Valentin in

Ferdinand Raimund Ferdinand Raimund (born Ferdinand Jakob Raimann; 1 June 1790 – 5 September 1836, Pottenstein, Lower Austria) was an Austrian actor and dramatist. Life and work He was born in Vienna as a son of Bohemian woodturning master craftsman Jako ...

's '' Der Verschwender'', particularly his rendition of the " Hobellied", the most famous number of the stage music by

Conradin Kreutzer Conradin Kreutzer or Kreuzer (22 November 1780 – 14 December 1849) was a German composer and conductor. His works include the operas ''Das Nachtlager in Granada'' and incidental music to ''Der Verschwender'', both produced in 1834 in Vienna. ...

. At the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Girardi retired from the stage and returned to Graz. Two months before his death in 1918, he was called to the Burgtheater in Vienna to play the role of Fortunatus Wurzel in Ferdinand Raimunds's '' Der Bauer als Millionär''. Girardi was unhappily married to Helene Odilon. Odilon had many affairs and had Girardi committed to a mental asylum (based on a certificate by Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who had not seen Girardi). However, Girardi escaped and received help so that he would not be locked up. Odilon and Girardi divorced in 1896. The actress

Katharina Schratt Katharina Schratt (11 September 1853 – 17 April 1940) was an Austrian actress who became "the uncrowned Empress of Austria" as a ''confidante'' of Emperor Franz Joseph. Life Katharina Schratt was born in Baden bei Wien, the only daughter of st ...

persuaded

Emperor Franz Joseph Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

to release Girardi. Aged 67, Girardi died on 20 April 1918 in Vienna. He is buried at the Vienna

Zentralfriedhof The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...

, grave 33E-9-16. Girardi's staple stage role was the comic. He worked in the tradition of

and

Johann Nestroy Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy (; 7 December 1801 – 25 May 1862) was a singer, actor and playwright in the popular Austrian tradition of the Biedermeier period and its immediate aftermath. He participated in the 1848 revolutions and ...

, and he made a significant contribution to the popular Vienna operetta. Girardi created the roles of Blasoni in

Johann Strauss Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...

's '' Cagliostro in Wien'' (1875), Andredl in

Karl Millöcker Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

's '' Das verwunschene Schloss'' (1878), Jan Janicki in Millöcker's ''

Der Bettelstudent ''Der Bettelstudent'' (''The Beggar Student'') is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker with a German libretto by Camillo Walzel (under the pseudonym of F. Zell) and Richard Genée, based on ''Les noces de Fernande'' by Victorien Sardou a ...

'' (1882), Benozzo in Millöcker's ''

Gasparone ''Gasparone'' is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker to a German libretto by Friedrich Zell and Richard Genée. The libretto was later revised by and . An amusing feature of the work is that the title character never appears and acts ...

'' (1884), Kálmán Zsupán in Strauss's ''

The Gypsy Baron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jokai ...

'' (1885), Adam in

Carl Zeller Carl Adam Johann Nepomuk Zeller (19 June 1842 – 17 August 1898) was an Austrian composer of operettas. Zeller was born in Sankt Peter in der Au, the only child of physician Johann Zeller and Maria Anna Elizabeth. Zeller's father died before hi ...

's '' Der Vogelhändler'' (1891), the title role in

Edmund Eysler Edmund Samuel Eysler (12 March 1874 – 4 October 1949), was an Austrian composer. Biography Edmund Eysler was born in Vienna to a merchant family. He was supposed to enter the engineering profession, but his acquaintance with Leo Fall led ...

's '' Bruder Straubinger'' (1903), and Pali Rácz in

Emmerich Kálmán Emmerich Kálmán ( hu, Kálmán Imre; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are ''Die Csárd� ...

’s ''

Der Zigeunerprimas ''Der Zigeunerprimas'' (''The Gypsy Band Leader'', known as ''Sari'' and ''The Gypsy Virtuoso'' in English speaking countries) is a three-act operetta, which was composed by Emmerich Kálmán. The libretto was written by and Fritz Grünbaum. It ...

'' (1912). He contributed greatly to the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

of Vienna operetta.

Honours

Giradi's life was the subject of the 1954 film '. The dish '' Girardirostbraten'' (Girardi

roast beef Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of a meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...

) is named after him – a beef dish heavily covered with bacon and button mushrooms. His favourite hat style, a straw hat with flat crown and brim (a

boater __NOTOC__ A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, The English Panama, cady, katie, canotier, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat, suruken) is a semi-formal summer hat for men, which was popularised in the late 19th century and e ...

), became popular as the Giradi Hat. The city of Graz and the Vienna

Mariahilf Mariahilf (; Central Bavarian: ''Mariahüf'') is the 6th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 6. Bezirk). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850. Mariahilf is a heavily populated urban area with many res ...

district have a ''Giradigasse'' (Girardi Lane) and there is a Girardipark in the district Innere Stadt. The Alexander Girardi International Singing Competition in

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

is named after him.Internationaler Gesangswettbewerb "Alexander Girardi"

Gallery

Alexander Girardi in Des Teufels Weib.jpg, Alexander Girardi in ''Des Teufels Weib'' Girardi Alexander als Adam.png, Alexander Girardi as Adam in Carl Zeller's ''Der Vogelhändler''

References

Alexander Girardi
in ''

Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 The ''Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950'' (''ÖBL''), ''Austrian Biographical Lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's ...

'', vol. 1, p. 446
Alexander Girardi
in Aeiou Encyclopedia

External links

*, by Gustav Pick, sung by Alexander Girardi
Alexander Girardi
(Wikipedia Person Search) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girardi, Alexander 1850 births 1918 deaths Musicians from Graz Musicians from Vienna Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Austrian male stage actors Austrian tenors 19th-century Austrian male opera singers Actors from Graz