Karl Perron, born Karl Pergamenter and also known as Carl Perron, (3 June 1858 – 15 July 1928) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

bass-baritone. 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 ...

of the Dresden State Opera, he created leading roles in three operas by Richard Strauss – Jochanaan in '' Salome'', Orest in '' Elektra'', and Baron Ochs in ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...

''.

Biography

Karl Perron was born in

Frankenthal Frankenthal (Pfalz) ( pfl, Frongedahl) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, af ...

to one of the city's prominent families. His father was an art collector and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

. Another of his relatives, Phillip Perron (1840–1907), was the court sculptor to

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...

. After studies with Julius Hey in Berlin, Joseph Hasselbeck in Munich, and

Julius Stockhausen The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the c ...

in Frankfurt, Perron made his debut in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

in 1884 as Wolfram 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 ...

''. He sang in Leipzig until 1891 when he became a member of the Dresden State Opera. Perron remained with the Dresden company until his retirement in 1924, and sang there in three world premieres of operas by Richard Strauss – Jochanaan (

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

) in '' Salome'' (1905), Orest (

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness an ...

) in '' Elektra'' (1909), and Baron Ochs in ''

'' (1911). Perron was a distinguished Wagnerian singer and appeared at Bayreuth from 1889 to 1904 where his roles included

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelun ...

, Amfortas, and King Marke. Charles Webber, who had been a voice coach at the Dresden State Opera from 1908 to 1911 recalled that Perron was past the peak of his career by then but still an impressive singer, especially in the title role of ''

The Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dut ...

'' and as Wotan. According to Webber, although Perron's top notes were occasionally forced and his intonation sometimes faulty, he retained an intense and mesmerizing stage presence which obscured the flaws. Outside the Wagner and Strauss repertoire, Perron's other notable roles were Don Giovanni and

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

. Perron taught singing after his retirement. His house in Dresden was filled with his own art collection, and the salons there were one of the centers of the city's musical life. He never married and lived with his sister, Käthe, who ran his household.City of Frankenthal
Carl Perron, der Sänger
Accessed 28 July 2009 (in German). Karl Perron died in Dresden on 15 July 1928 at the age of 70.

References

Notes Sources *Kuhn, Laura (ed.), "Perron, Karl", ''Baker's Dictionary of Opera'', Schirmer Books, 2000, p. 602. *Warrack, John Hamilton and West, Ewan, (eds.), "Perron, Karl", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press, 1992. . Accessed

via subscription 28 July 2008. *Webber, Carl
"Dresden Memories"
''Music and Letters'', XXXIII (4), 1952, pp. 296–302 {{DEFAULTSORT:Perron, Karl Operatic bass-baritones 19th-century German male opera singers 1858 births 1928 deaths People from Frankenthal People from the Palatinate (region)