Gunnar Graarud (1 June 1886 - 6 December 1960) was a Norwegian

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, 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 lo ...

. After making his debut in 1919, he was a leading artist at the

Berlin State Opera 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 1924-1926 and at the Vienna State Opera from 1929-1937. In 1927 he created the role of The blind judge in the world premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's '' Das Wunder der Heliane'' at the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

. In 1928 he sang the role of Tristan for the first recording of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's '' Tristan und Isolde''. After retiring from the stage he was a member of the voice faculty at the

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

. One of his notable pupils was bass

Otto Edelmann Otto Edelmann (5 February 1917 – 14 May 2003) was an Austrian operatic bass. Life Edelmann was born in Vienna and studied singing with Gunnar Graarud. His debut was at Gera as Figaro in Mozart's '' The Marriage of Figaro''. He later sang ...

Sources

*''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also support ...

''
"Graarud, Gunnar"
Vol. 26, 1961, p. 150,

Literature

* Klaus Ulrich Spiegel: "Repräsentant eines Ideals - Der stilbewusste Tenor Gunnar Graarud" - Edition HAfG Acoustics Hamburg 2013 1886 births 1960 deaths Norwegian operatic tenors 20th-century Norwegian male opera singers {{Norway-opera-singer-stub