Carl Josef Nicanor Herou (6 October 1884 – 10 March 1960) was a Swedish operatic

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 ...

Biography

Herau was a blacksmith from the very beginning. His voice was noticed during his military service by the officers, who arranged money for his training. He studied at the Conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1905 to 1909 with Oskar Lejdström and Nils Personne and further at the Opera School from 1905 to 1909, and in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in 1914. He made his debut as Escamillo in ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' in 1909 at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

, where he was permanently engaged until 1934. In 1912, Herou guest starred 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 ...

. He appeared in roles such as Beckmesser in ''

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...

'', Alberich in '' Das Rheingold'', Jago in ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

'', Telramund in '' Lohengrin'', Amonasro in '' Aida'', and the title role in '' Der fliegende Holländer''. He also sang Swedish roles in operas such as Ture Rangström's ''Medeltida'' and modern operas such as

Schreker Schrecker or Schreker is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Schrecker * Al Schrecker (1917–2000), American basketball player *Ellen Schrecker Ellen Wolf Schrecker (born August 4, 1938) is an American professor emerita of Amer ...

's ''

Der ferne Klang ''Der ferne Klang'' (''The Distant Sound'') is an opera by Franz Schreker, set to his own libretto. Begun in 1903, it was first performed by the Oper Frankfurt on 18 August 1912. It was the composer's breakthrough to fame, and was frequently pe ...

''. In total, he performed about 60 roles. His voice captured the audience, and the qualities of his voice and performance were praised. Herou left the opera stage in 1934 and then worked as a singing teacher in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sources

*''Sohlmans musiklexikon: nordiskt och allmänt uppslagsverk för tonkonst, musikliv och dans''. Stockholm: Sohlman. 1948–1952. p. 1061
''Joseph Herou''
''Leopolds antikvariat''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herou, Josef 1884 births 1960 deaths Swedish operatic baritones People from Gävle Swedish people of Walloon descent Josef