Otakar Mařák (5 January 1872

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Danu ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

– 2 July 1939

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

opera singer (a tenor), and a nephew of

Julius Mařák Julius Eduard Mařák (29 March 1832, Litomyšl – 8 October 1899, Prague) was a Czech landscape painter and graphic designer. Life His father was an auditor and land registrar. His first painting lessons came while he was still in the Gymnasi ...

, who perfected his vocal skills at Prague's School of Applied Arts as well as at the Czech Academy of Arts. At the same time he studied singing privately.

Biography

He was born on 5 January 1872 in Esztergom, Hungary. Mařák made his debut in the title role of

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's opera ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

'' on 1 February 1899 in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

, Czech Republic. In the same year he was engaged by the National Theatre in Prague. From 1901, he performed abroad. He was a regular member of the National Theatre between 1899–1901 and again in 1903–1907. Thereafter he sang on this first Czech stage as a permanent guest. In 1907 he left for Paris, where he continued to school his voice then in 1908–1918 performed at London's

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

and Berlin's

Komische Oper The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal tra ...

. Following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Mařák became an American citizen and went on to teach in the country between 1934–1937. A brain seizure in 1937 forced his to return to Prague where he died two years later. He especially excelled in Smetana parts such as Jeník in ''

The Bartered Bride ''The Bartered Bride'' ( cz, Prodaná nevěsta, links=no, ''The Sold Bride'') is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the ...

'', '' Dalibor'', Ladislav Podhajský in ''

The Two Widows ''The Two Widows'' ( cz, Dvĕ vdovy) is a two-act Czech opera by Bedřich Smetana based on the libretto of Emanuel Züngel. The libretto is based on Jean Pierre Felicien Mallefille's one-act play ''Les deux veuves''. The opera was composed betwe ...

'', Lucas in '' The Kiss'' as well as in traditional world

repertory A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...

which saw Mařák play Don Ottavio in ''

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 ...

'', Massenet's ''

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel ''The S ...

'', Cavaradossi in ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' and Alfred Germont in ''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

''. He often took on the role of Don José in Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

''. He died on 2 July 1939 in Prague. Otakar Mařák left a lot of records. The first were issued by Apollo-Walzen (Berlin 1901), Columbia Cylinders (Prague 1902-03) and Edison Cylinders (Prague 1904), then followed discs for G&T (1903-07), Columbia (Prague 1905), Gramophone (Prague and Berlin 1908-12), Odeon (Berlin 1908-09, here a.o. Canio in complete "Pagliacci"), Pathé (Berlin 1913), Columbia (New York 1919-20), Artiphon (Prague 1923), Columbia (New York 1926 and Vienna 1929), Parlophon (Prague 1929) and Ultraphon (Prague 1933). Marák, Otakar

Legacy

Together with

Emmy Destinn Emmy Destinn ( (); 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Biography Destinn was born Emíl ...

and

Karel Burian Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

, Mařák completed the trio of well-known early 20th century Czech singers.

References

''This article is based on a translation of the article Otakar Mařák in the Czech Wikipedia'' * Rainer E. Lotz, Axel Weggen, Oliver Wurl und Christian Zwarg: Otakar Mařák in "Discographie der deutschen Gesangsaufnahmen" Band 4, Birgit Lotz Verlag, Bonn 2005 Czech operatic tenors 1872 births 1939 deaths People from Esztergom {{opera-singer-stub