Johann Michael Weinkopf (15 September 1780 – 8 March 1862) was an Austrian operatic
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
and actor.
Life
Born in
Kirchberg am Walde,. Weinkopf first belonged to the ensemble of 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 ...
and impersonated the role of Minister Don Fernando at the premiere of Beethoven's ''
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, with ...
'' on 20 November 1805, as well as at the two performances of the second version of the opera on 29 March and 10 April 1806.
From 15 June 1807 to 1809 and from 1814 to 30 November 1821 he was a member of the Vienna Court Theatre.
In later years Weinkopf was choir master of the choir boys at the court opera house, singer at
St. Stephen's Cathedral and chapel master at the
St. Michael
Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...
court parish church.
Around 1835 he directed a "Musik- und Singlehranstalt" in the small
Michaelerhaus (today Michaelerplatz 6).
[Franz B. Fray: ''Allgemeiner Handlungs-Gremial-Almanach für den oesterreichischen Kaiserstaat'', Vienna 1835, ().]
Weinkopf died in Vienna at age 81.
Further reading
* ''Katalog der Portrait-Sammlung der k. u. k. General-Intendanz der k. k. Hoftheater. Zugleich ein biographisches Hilfsbuch auf dem Gebiet von Theater und Musik. Zweite Abtheilung. Gruppe IV. Wiener Hoftheater'', Vienna 1892,
*
Alexander Wheelock Thayer
Alexander Wheelock Thayer (October 22, 1817 – July 15, 1897) was an American librarian and journalist who became the author of the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, still after many updatings regarded as a standard work of refer ...
, ''Ludwig van Beethovens Leben'', edited by
Hermann Deiters, volume 3, Leipzig 1917
*
Willy Hess, ''Das Fidelio-Buch'', Winterthur 1986
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinkopf, Johann Michael
19th-century Austrian male opera singers
Operatic basses
1780 births
1862 deaths