Karl Hammes (25 March 1896 – 6 September 1939) was a German 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 ...

, also a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

in the First and Second World Wars. He worked 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 ...

, in Berlin, Cologne, Salzburg and Vienna, among others.

Life and career

Hammes was born in

Zell Zell may refer to: Places Austria * Zell am See, in Salzburg state * Zell am Ziller, in Tyrol * Zell, Carinthia, in Carinthia * in Upper Austria: ** Bad Zell ** Zell am Moos ** Zell an der Pram ** Zell am Pettenfirst Germany * Zell im Fichtelgebi ...

. After graduating from high school in 1916, Hammes began training as a fighter pilot in the

Jagdstaffel 11 Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 11 ("No 11 Fighter Squadron"; commonly abbreviated to Jasta 11) was founded on 28 September 1916 from elements of 4 Armee's “Kampfeinsitzer” or KEKs) 1, 2 and 3 and mobilized on 11 October as part of the Germ ...

. He ended the First World War in the rank of major. Afterwards he studied voice at the

Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln The Cologne University of Music ( is a music college in Cologne, Germany. Founded in 1850, it is Europe's largest academy of music. History The academy was founded by Ferdinand Hiller in 1850 as ''Conservatorium der Musik in Coeln''. In 1895 Ger ...

. He made his stage debut at the

Cologne Opera The Cologne Opera (German: Oper der Stadt Köln or Oper Köln) refers both to the main opera house in Cologne, Germany and to its resident opera company. History of the company From the mid 18th century, opera was performed in the city's court th ...

in 1925. From 1927, he was a member of the

Kroll Opera House The Kroll Opera House (german: Krolloper, Kroll-Oper) in Berlin, Germany, was in the Tiergarten district on the western edge of the '' Königsplatz'' square (today ''Platz der Republik''), facing the Reichstag building. It was built in 1844 as ...

in Berlin, where

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...

conducted. Also in 1927, Hammes appeared at the

as Amfortas in ''

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'' ...

'' and as Gunther in the ''

Götterdämmerung ' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as p ...

''. From 1929 to 1935, he was a member of the

Vienna State Opera 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 ...

, with appearances 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 ...

, where he performed the title role in Mozart's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' from 1929 to 1931. From 1935, Hammes was a regular guest 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 ...

from 1935. He was appointed a

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 ...

. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Hammes was again drafted, as commander. He was involved in the bombing of Warsaw, and was shot down. Hammes made only few recordings. He appears as Harlekino in a complete recording of ''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work' ...

'' by Richard Strauss, recorded for on 11 June 1935, and as Don Giovanni in a recording of the Reichsrundfunk of 27 March 1936. (as Don Giovanni). Hammes also took part in two films including '' Königswalzer''. Hammes died in Warsaw on 6 September 1939, at age 43.

References

Sources

Uwe Harten Uwe Harten (born 16 August 1944) is a German musicologist, who works in Austria. Life Born in , Harten grew up in Hamburg, where he was a boy soprano at the Staatsoper. He took over the roles of a child. In Hamburg he also began his studies of ...

Hammes, Karl
in

Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon The ''Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon'Oesterreichisch'' with ''Oe'' is the spelling of the print and online output. is a five-volume music encyclopedia founded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences' Commission for Music Research. It was officiall ...

. Inline-edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ; Druckausgabe: volume 2, Austrian Academy of Sciences printing house, Vienna 2003, . * Alfons Friderichs (Autor): Hammes, Karl, in ''Persönlichkeiten des Kreises Cochem-Zell''. Kliomedia, Trier 2004, , .

External links

Karl Hammes
on Ludwig Maximilian Universität Munich *
Karl Hammes
on FilmPortal.de
Karl Hammes
on Rheinland-Pfälzische Personendatenbank * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammes, Karl 1896 births 1939 deaths German male film actors German male silent film actors German operatic baritones Luftstreitkräfte personnel People from Zell (Mosel) 20th-century German male actors Luftwaffe personnel killed in World War II Luftwaffe pilots German World War I pilots 20th-century German male opera singers Actors from Rhineland-Palatinate Military personnel from Rhineland-Palatinate

Life and career

See also

References

Sources

External links