Josef von Manowarda (3 July 1890 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

– 24 December 1942 in Berlin) was an Austrian operatic singer (

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

Heldenbaritone {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 A Heldenbaritone, also known as dramatic bass-baritone or hoher bass (high bass), is an opera singer, a German dramatic baritone. "Heldenbaritone" (Ger. "Heroic baritone) is a fach (operatic voice type) that is ...

Life

Manowarda was born in Kraków, the son of the Austrian general Eberhard Manowarda von Jana.Manowarda von Jana, Eberhard (1847-1915), Generalmajor
on OBL He first prepared himself for a diplomatic career in Vienna, but then studied philosophy in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. Early on he received violin lessons, in Graz and also speech and singing lessons. In 1911–15 he was engaged in the

Graz Opera The Graz Opera (German: Oper Graz) is an Austrian opera house and opera company based in Graz. The orchestra of the opera house also performs concerts as the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra (''Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester''). History Opera h ...

, in 1915–18 at the

Wiener Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

, and from 1919 to 1934 at the

Wiener Staatsoper The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

. According to the Salzburg Festival: history and repertoire, 1922-1926 he appeared at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

. He was professor at the

Vienna Music Academy The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

. Manowarda had joined the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

together with his wife before 1933 and remained politically active even after the party ban in 1933 by distributing

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

material to the staff of the Vienna State Opera and refusing to wear the badge of the

Vaterländische Front The Fatherland Front ( de-AT, Vaterländische Front, ''VF'') was the right-wing conservative, nationalist and corporatist ruling political organisation of the Federal State of Austria. It claimed to be a nonpartisan movement, and aimed to unite a ...

despite threats of severe punishment. According to his own statements, this caused him political difficulties, which is why he moved to 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 ...

under

Clemens Krauss Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner. Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, the ...

in 1935.Straßennamen Wiens seit 1860 als „Politische Erinnerungsorte“
(PDF; 4,4–MB), p. 51f, Forschungsprojektendbericht, Wien, Juli 2013 Already in 1931 he sang his way to great success at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...

as the Landgrave in ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and 1 ...

'' under

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

. After his move to Berlin, Manowarda was particularly popular with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels and used this attention to propose in 1936 to

Heinz Tietjen Heinz Tietjen (24 June 1881 – 30 November 1967) was a German conductor and music producer born in Tangier, Morocco. Biography Tietjen was born in Tangier, Morocco. At age twenty-three, he held the position of producer at the Opera House in ...

the unification of the Staatstheaters of Berlin and Kassel with the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

and the Vienna State Opera. However, the project was never realized due to internal power distribution struggles of the National Socialist leadership elite; further petitions to Hitler also remained unsuccessful. More appearances in Bayreuth followed until 1942, among them as Gurnemanz in the 1937 production of ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...

''. Manowarda was married to the opera singer Cornelia "Nelly" Pirchhoff-Manowarda. He is buried at the cemetery in Berlin

Bezirk Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ar ...

Awards

Manowarda was awarded the honorary title of

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 1929. After Manowarda's death, a funeral service was held at the

in January 1943, attended by Goebbels and Hermann Göring. In Göring's speech, Manowarda was described as a "faithful, uncompromising and victory-believing henchman of the Führer". The coffin of the singer stood on the stage of the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden on the orders of Hermann Göring at this funeral service.

References

External links

* *
Josef von Manowarda
on AllMusic
Josef von Manowarda singt Arien & Lieder
on JPc * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manowarda, Josef von 1890 births 1942 deaths Musicians from Graz Austrian basses Austrian operatic baritones 20th-century Austrian male opera singers Nazi Party members