Otto Edelmann (5 February 1917 – 14 May 2003) was an Austrian operatic
bass.
Life
Edelmann was born in Vienna and studied singing with
Gunnar Graarud.
His debut was at
Gera
Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...
as Figaro in Mozart's ''
The Marriage of Figaro''.
He later sang 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 ...
,
the
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...
and the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
.
He sang at the
Bayreuth Festival immediately after its reopening in 1951 after World War II, performing the role of
Hans Sachs
Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poet, playwright, and shoemaker.
Biography
Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that was held in the churc ...
in Wagner's ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. (He also recorded as Veit Pogner the goldsmith in the same work in one of
Hans Knappertsbusch
Hans Knappertsbusch (12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss.
Knappertsbusch followed the traditional route for an aspiring conductor in Ger ...
's early recorded performances.) He also sang Ochs in Richard Strauss's ''
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'' ...
''
at the first performances in the new
Salzburg Festspielhaus in 1960. In 1957, he recorded the role of
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 ...
opposite
Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 – 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer, who was the outstanding Wagnerian soprano of her era. Her triumphant debut in New York on 2 February 1935 is one of the legends of opera. Giulio Gatti-Casa ...
in
Georg Solti's recording of Act III of Wagner's ''
Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...
'' (an album made prior to the later famous complete set of ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''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 '' Nibe ...
''). In 1982, he received a professorship for vocal pedagogy at the
Vienna Music Academy
The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817.
With a student body of over three thousa ...
.
He died in Vienna at the age of 86.
Personal life
He is the father of the Austrian baritones
Peter Edelmann and
Paul Armin Edelmann.
Voice
His powerful, dark voice has proven itself in Wagner roles as well as in tasks from the
Buffo
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
subject.
Recordings
CDs
Edelmann sang Ochs in
Paul Czinner's classic recording of ''Der Rosenkavalier'' conducted by
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and
Christa Ludwig.
Videos
Videos are available of him as Baron Ochs (with
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...
) and Leporello (with
Cesare Siepi).
Awards
* 1960
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 ...
* 1971 Max Reinhardt Medal
* Honorary member of the
Wiener Staatsoper
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 Si ...
* 1994 Lieber Augustin
* Golden
Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...
References
External links
Otto Edelmann SocietyLeporello (YouTube)
Operatic bass-baritones
Musicians from Vienna
1917 births
2003 deaths
20th-century Austrian male opera singers
Österreichischer Kammersänger
{{Austria-opera-singer-stub