''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a

single-field dictionary A single-field dictionary is a specialized dictionary that has been designed and compiled to cover the terms of one particular subject field. Single-field dictionaries should be contrasted with multi-field dictionaries and sub-field dictionaries ...

of singers in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, edited by

Karl-Josef Kutsch Karl-Josef Kutsch, also known as K. J. Kutsch, (born 11 May 1924) is a German physician and co-author with Leo Riemens of the ''Großes Sängerlexikon'', the standard reference for opera singers. Life and work Born in Gangelt, Kutsch studied me ...

and

Leo Riemens Leonardus Antony Marinus Riemens (3 December 1910 – 3 April 1985) was a Dutch musicologist and cultural journalist. He wrote a book about Maria Callas, and together with Karl-Josef Kutsch began a reference book about opera singers in 1962, which ...

and first published in 1987. The first edition was in two volumes and contained the biographies of nearly 7000 singers from the 1590s through the 1980s. It grew out of ''Unvergängliche Stimmen. Kleines Sängerlexikon'' (Immortal voices. Small singers' lexicon), published in 1962, which covered only singers who had made recordings. A 1992 review in ''

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 'Die'' (; en, " heNew Journal of Music") is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appeared on 3 April 1834. His ...

'' described the ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' as "indispensable in the search for concise background information about those persons who are undoubtedly the most important to the performance of opera."Arndt, Michael (1992)
"Reviewed Work: ''Großes Sängerlexikon Ergänzungsband'' by Karl-Josef Kutsch, Leo Riemens"
''

'', Vol. 153, No. 9, p. 50. Retrieved via

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

26 March 2019 . The fourth edition, published in 2003, contains around 20,000 biographies of singers from the 16th century to the modern era.

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

''Großes Sängerlexikon''
Retrieved 26 March 2019 The articles usually list names, voice part, dates and locations of birth and death, family, education, performing locations and development of repertory. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
Großes Sängerlexikon / Karl J. Kutsch ; Leo Riemens (CD-ROM)
Retrieved 26 March 2019 . The third edition also appeared as a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

. The fourth edition comes with an e-book.

Editions

''Unvergängliche Stimmen. Kleines Sängerlexikon'' * 1st edition. Francke, Bern and Munich 1962, 429 p. * 2nd edition, revised and expanded. Francke, Bern and Munich 1966, 555 p. ''Unvergängliche Stimmen. Sängerlexikon'' * 1st edition: ** Main volume (''Hauptband''). Francke, Bern and Munich 1975, , 731 p. ** Supplementing volume (''Ergänzungs-Band''). Francke, and Munich 1979, , 263 p * 2nd edition, revised and expanded. Francke, Bern and Munich 1982, , 782 p. ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' * 1st edition: ** 2 main volumes, (A–L; M–Z). Saur, Bern 1987, , 3452 p. ** Supplementing volume 1. Saur, Bern 1991, , 2002 p. ** Supplementing volume 2. Saur, Bern 1994, , 1598 p. * 2nd edition, unchanged ** ''Kartonierte Ausgabe''. Saur, Bern 1993, * 3rd edition, expanded: ** 5 main volumes (Aarden–Davis; Davislim–Hiolski; Hirata–Möves; Moffo–Seidel; Seidemann–Zysset). Saur, Bern and Munich 1997, (geb.) bzw. (kartoniert, 1999), 3980 p. ** Volume 6, supplements. Saur, München 2000, , 679 p. ** CD-ROM of volumes 1–6 (= ''Digitale Bibliothek'' vol. 33). Directmedia, Berlin 2000, . Also: Directmedia, Berlin 2004, ** Volume 7. supplements 2. Saur, Munich 2002, , 634 p. * 4th edition, expanded and updated ** 7 volumes (Aarden–Castles; Castori–Frampoli; Franc–Kaidanoff; Kainz–Menkes; Menni–Rappold; Rasa–Sutton; Suvanny–Zysset). Print and E-Book. Saur, Munich 2003, (also De Gruyter, Berlin, ), LIX, 5371 p.

Notes

References

External links

Kutsch, Karl-Josef / Riemens, Leo / Großes Sängerlexikon / (Biographical Dictionary of Singers)

De Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

Operissimo
– contains articles from the third edition, but without locations of birth and death * Limited preview of *Reviews **Jutta Lambrecht
Karl-Josef Kutsch und Leo Riemens: Großes Sängerlexikon
in: ''Forum Musikbibliothek'', 1999 **Jan David Schmitz
Rezension zur CD-ROM-Ausgabe der 3. Auflage
in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 17 April 2003 **Klaus Schreiber
Großes Sängerlexikon
in: ''Informationsmittel für Bibliotheken (IFB)'', 8 (2000) 1/4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Grosses Sangerlexikon Biographical dictionaries by topic German biographical dictionaries Encyclopedias of music