Heinz Hoppe (26 January 1924 – 7 April 1993) was a German

lyric 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 widel ...

in opera, lied and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

, who performed internationally. A long-time member of 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 ...

, he appeared in world premieres. A regular guest also on radio and television, he was one of the most popular tenors of his time.

Early life and education

Born in

Saerbeck Saerbeck is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 30 km west of Osnabrück and 25 km north of Münster. Twin city * Rietavas, Lithuania * Ferrières-en-Gâtinais ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

, Hoppe grew up in rural Middendorf in the Münsterland. During the Second World War he fought on the Eastern Front and did not return from Soviet captivity to his home country until 1948. He studied voice at the Detmold Conservatory on a scholarship, where Gerd Husler converted him from

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

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 ...

Career

Hoppe made his stage debut in 1953 in the title role of Handel's '' Xerxes'' at the

Theater Münster Theater Münster (formerly: Städtische Bühnen Münster) is a municipal theatre in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, for plays and music theatre (opera, operetta, musical, ballet). When it opened in 1956 it was regarded as the first ne ...

. From 1955, he was a member of the

Theater Bremen Theater Bremen (Bremen Theatre) is a state theatre in Bremen, Germany, with four divisions for opera, straight theater, dance, and student programs. Its venues are located in a city block, connected in architecture and seating up to 1,426 spectato ...

. From 1956 to 1970, he was First Lyrical Tenor at the

. He took part in world premieres, in 1960 of Henze's '' Der Prinz von Homburg'', and in 1964 of

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...

's '' Der goldene Bock''. In 1961, he was Lysander in the German premiere of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

''. Hoppe gave regular guest performances in the

Frankfurt Opera The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

and the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

in Munich. He sang in Paris, in New York, at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in Milan, in Madrid and in Lisbon, among others. He also appeared in operetta and

lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er recitals, especially with pianist

Sebastian Peschko Sebastian Peschko (30 October 1909 – 29 September 1987) was a German classical pianist, specialised in the art form of lieder. He was accompanist to some of the foremost lyrical singers of the 20th century. Life and career Peschko was born in Be ...

.Heinz Hoppe (die Stimme mit Herz)
AllMusic Hoppe participated in numerous opera and operetta recordings as well as over 200 radio recordings. His operetta recordings were mainly made at the NDR in Hamburg and Hanover; later Hoppe also worked with the conductor

Franz Marszalek Franz Marszalek (born 2 August 1900 in Breslau, Schlesien, Germany (now Wrocław, Silesia, Poland); died 28 October 1975 in Cologne, Germany) was a German conductor and composer, who was a leading figure in operetta. He began his studies in Wro ...

, who coupled him with the soprano

Ingeborg Hallstein Ingeborg Hallstein (born 23 May 1936) is a German coloratura soprano, known for the purity and range of her voice. She had an international career as a guest singer on the opera houses of Europe and was a member of the Bavarian State Opera from ...

for

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. He appeared as a regular guest on

Heinz Schenk Heinz Schenk (11 December 1924 – 1 May 2014) was a German television moderator and actor. He was born in Mainz. Life Since 1951 Schenk worked for Hessischer Rundfunk as television moderator. In Germany he became famous for his television ...

's television show '. Hoppe was awarded the title

Kammersänger Kammersänger (male) or Kammersängerin (female), abbreviated Ks. or KS, is a German honorific title for distinguished singers of opera and classical music. It literally means "chamber singer". Historically, the title was bestowed by princes or ...

in Hamburg. He was a professor of voice at the Musikhochschule Heidelberg-Mannheim from 1977 to 1989.

Death

On 7 April 1993, he died at age 69 in a clinic in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

following surgery.

References

External links

Heinz Hoppe

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

* *
Heinz Hoppe – Du bist die Welt für mich (1979)
meinsammelsuriumblog.wordpress.com

(biography, in German) steffi-line.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoppe, Heinz 1924 births 1993 deaths German operatic tenors People from Steinfurt (district) 20th-century German male opera singers