Endrik Wottrich (13 October 1964 – 26 April 2017) was a German operatic
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 ...
.
Life
Born in
Celle, Wottrich studied singing with
Ingeborg Hallstein and violin in
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg ...
. With a scholarship from the
Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, he continued his vocal training at the
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
in New York City with
Daniel Ferro
Daniel Ferro (born Daniel Eisen, 10 April 1921 – 18 November 2015) was an American bass-baritone and voice teacher. He was known primarily as a teacher whose students have included many prominent opera singers,Blier, Steven (August 2003)"A singer ...
.
In September 1992, Wottrich made his stage debut in the role of Cassio in the opera ''
Otello'' at the
Staatstheater Wiesbaden. There, in the 1992/93 season, he also sang the male, youthfully heroic title role of Mathias Freudhofer in the opera ''
Der Evangelimann
''Der Evangelimann'' (''The Evangelist'') is an opera in two acts by the Austrian composer Wilhelm Kienzl. The libretto, by the composer, is based on short story "". It was adapted in 1924 as a silent film '' The Evangelist''.
Composition hi ...
'' as an alternative cast, whereby his "baritone-core tenor largely effortlessly overcame the heroic hurdles of the title role, but also possessed the necessary lyrical enamel" Furthermore, in the same season he took over the role of Cassio in the Verdi opera ''
Otello''. Subsequently he was engaged at the Berlin
Staatsoper Unter den Linden
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
from 1993 to 1999. An important role debut for Wottrich was the title role in the opera ''
Don Carlos
''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...
'' at the
Bonn Opera
Theater Bonn (also known as the Stadttheater Bonn) is the municipal theatre company of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is an organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts. It operates several performance venu ...
in the 2000/01 season. In a production of the Zurich Opera House (
Wiener Festwochen
__NOTOC__
The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June. The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Alli ...
1997), Wottrich was Alfonso in
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...
's
eponymous opera.
Wottrich made his debut in 1996 at the
Bayreuth Festival as the Young Sailor in Wagner's ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...
'' and then sang regularly in Bayreuth until 2009. In the summer of 2001, he sang Walther von Stolzing in ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival under the direction of
Christian Thielemann
Christian Thielemann (born 1 April 1959) is a German conductor. He is currently chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. He was artistic director of the Salzburg Easter Festival from 2013 to 2022, and a regular conductor at the Bayreuth Fe ...
.
Wottrich sang the title role in Wagner's ''
Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...
'' at
La Scala and Florestan (''
Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, wi ...
'') at the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
Covent Garden in London. He made his debut as Siegmund 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 ...
'' at 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 ...
, and sang ''
Parsifal
''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 ...
'' for the first time in Oslo. During the rehearsals for the Bayreuth Festival 2004, a heated discussion with ''Parsifal'' director
Christoph Schlingensief
Christoph Maria Schlingensief (24 October 1960 – 21 August 2010) was a German theatre director, performance artist, and filmmaker. Starting as an independent underground filmmaker, Schlingensief later staged productions for theatres and festivals ...
erupted. In the first performance of ''Tristan'' in the
Teatro San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent ...
in Naples under
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father was the fou ...
, he sang the title role in 2015, in the
Oper Leipzig
The Leipzig Opera (in German: ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany.
History
Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singsp ...
he was Arindal in Wagner's ''
Die Feen
''Die Feen'' (, ''The Fairies'') is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. The German libretto was written by the composer after Carlo Gozzi's '' La donna serpente''. ''Die Feen'' was Wagner's first completed opera, but remained unperformed in ...
''. Wottrich had one of his last stage appearances as Hagenbach in the production of Alfredo Catalani's ''
La Wally'' at the
Wiener 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 ...
.
Wottrich died in Berlin at the age of 52.
Mort du ténor Endrik Wottrich
(in fr) on ''Le Devoir
''Le Devoir'' (, "Duty") is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist and politician Henri Bourassa in 1910.
''Le Devoir'' is one of few independent large-c ...
''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wottrich, Endrik
German operatic tenors
Heldentenors
1964 births
2017 deaths
People from Celle
Hochschule für Musik Würzburg alumni
Juilliard School alumni
20th-century German male opera singers