Karl-Josef Hering (14 February 1929 – 20 May 1998) was a German opera singer ( tenor). In the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the most sought-after hero tenors worldwide.

Biography

Born in Westönnen,

Werl Werl (; Westphalian: ''Wiärl'') is a town located in the district of Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Werl is easily accessible because it is located between the Sauerland, Münsterland, and the Ruhr Area. The Hellweg road ...

, Westphalia, as the son of a furniture manufacturer, Hering had his first musical appearances during his high school days at the Mariengymnasium in Werl. He studied economics to join his parents' business. After the commercial diploma exam in Cologne in 1955, he studied singing with Frederick Husler,

Franz Völker Franz Völker (31 March 1899, Neu-Isenburg, Grand Duchy of Hesse – 4 December 1965, Darmstadt, Hesse) was a dramatic tenor who enjoyed a major European career. He excelled specifically as a performer of the operas of Richard Wagner. He was disc ...

and Max Lorenz. He made his debut in 1958 in Hanover, where he progressed from the First Prisoner in '' Fidelio'' to Florestan, the hero of Beethoven's opera. In 1964, he moved to Krefeld and in 1966 to Berlin, where one of his earlier roles was Max in '' Der Freischütz''. Hering had been a permanent member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1966 to 1979 and was named Berliner Kammersänger in 1975 for his long-standing international achievements. As a Wagner singer, he appeared as

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

, Siegmund, Parsifal, Tristan, Stolzing, Erik but also as Max, Canio, Florestan, Bacchus, and others in addition to German theatres such as Hamburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Berlin State Opera worldwide in London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Toronto, etc., with conductors such as Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

, Eugen Jochum,

Karl Böhm Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. Life and career Education Karl Böhm was born in Graz. T ...

, Zubin Mehta,

Horst Stein Horst Walter Stein (born 2 May 1928 in Elberfeld, Germany; died 27 July 2008 in Vandœuvres, Switzerland) was a German conductor. Biography Stein's father was a mechanic. At school in Frankfurt, he studied piano, oboe, and singing. Later, h ...

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

, Erich Leinsdorf, Joseph Keilberth, and

Silvio Varviso Silvio Varviso (26 February 1924 – 1 November 2006) was a Swiss conductor who spent most of his career devoted to conducting opera. He began his conducting career working in minor opera houses in Switzerland in the mid-1940s. He became the p ...

. He appeared in a speaking role in the 1984 film ', an adaptation of the fairy tale "

Snow-White and Rose-Red "Snow-White and Rose-Red" (german: Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot) is a German fairy tale. The best-known version is the one collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 161). An older, somewhat shorter version, "The Ungrateful Dwarf", was written by Caroli ...

". In the late 1970s, a hip joint disease forced the singer to give up his active stage career. Since then he worked as a hotelier with businesses on the island of

Fehmarn Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...

, in the Hochsauerland and most recently in Berlin. Karl-Josef Hering was buried in the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf in Berlin

Nikolassee Nikolassee () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, named after the small Nikolassee lake. Located in the affluent Southwest of the city, the area comprises parts of the Schlachtensee neighbou ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hering, Karl-Josef German operatic tenors 1929 births 1998 deaths Burials at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf