Karl-Josef Kutsch, also known as K. J. Kutsch, (born 11 May 1924) is a German physician and co-author with

Leo Riemens Leonardus Antony Marinus Riemens (3 December 1910 – 3 April 1985) was a Dutch musicologist and cultural journalist. He wrote a book about Maria Callas, and together with Karl-Josef Kutsch began a reference book about opera singers in 1962, which ...

of the ''

Großes Sängerlexikon ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' (''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', literally: Large singers' lexicon) is a single-field dictionary of singers in classical music, edited by Karl-Josef Kutsch and Leo Riemens and first published in 1987. The first ...

'', the standard reference for opera singers.

Life and work

Born in

Gangelt Gangelt is a municipality in the district of Heinsberg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the border with the Netherlands and about 10 km east of Sittard and 10 km south-west of Heinsberg. Its most well-known resident was c ...

, Kutsch studied medicine, was drafted and participated as a soldier in the Russia campaign of the Second World War. He then completed his studies at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

in 1948. He practised as a physician from 1952 to 1989 in his hometown, together with his wife. From the 1950s, Kutsch built a collection of records and singers' biographies. Together with the Dutch musicologist

, he published a small biographical dictionary of singers in 1962 under the title ''Unvergängliche Stimmen'' (''Immortal Voices'').Jan David Schmitz
Sängerlexikon CD-ROM
hsozkult.de In 1975 the work was revised as ''Unvergängliche Stimmen / Sängerlexikon'', which was again revised in 1985 with his and Riemens' cooperation and became the standard work. Under the title ''

'' (Great Singers' Lexicon), it was substantially expanded with the collaboration of Hansjörg Rost and in the current edition comprises seven volumes with detailed biographies of 18,760 singers from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

to the present day. The biographies mention the subject's name, a possible stage name, the dates and place of birth and death as well as the voice category and give an overview of the career – according to places of activity and works that were sung and played. In addition, the biographies contain brief mentions of important milestones, a description of the voice, as well as bibliographical references and major recordings made if any. The fourth edition of the ''Biographical Dictionary of Singers'', in seven volumes, was reissued in 2012 as an anniversary edition (''Jubiläumsausgabe''), with now 18,760 entries. It is regarded as the standard reference in the field. The information is regarded as valuable not only for opera but also for general historic and sociological studies.

Publications

* ''Der Gesundheitszustand der Schulkinder im Kreise Geilenkirchen-Heinsberg im Schuljahr 1946–1947'', University thesis 1948 * with

: ''

''. Since 1962 this work has known several and revised editions: ** 4th, extended and updated edition. 7 volumes (Aarden-Castles; Castori-Frampoli; Franc-Kaidanoff; Kainz-Menkes; Menni-Rappold; Rasa-Sutton; Suvanny-Zysset). Printed edition with e-book. Saur, Munich 2003, (taken over later by

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, Berlin, ), LIX,

References

External links

* *
Dr. Kutsch-Straße
strassenkatalog.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Kutsch, Karl-Josef 1924 births Living people Physicians from North Rhine-Westphalia German music journalists 20th-century German musicologists People from Heinsberg (district)