Reiner Goldberg (17 October 1939 in

Crostau Crostau ( Sorbian ''Chróstawa'') is a village and former municipality in Upper Lusatia in the Bautzen district of eastern Saxony in Germany. It became part of the municipality of Schirgiswalde-Kirschau on 1 January 2011. Geography Crostau is ...

Lusatia Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...

, Germany) is a German operatic heroic tenor. After his vocal studies at the conservatory of music "Carl Maria von Weber" in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, Goldberg made his debut 1967 in the Saxon Theatre (Sächsische Landesbühne) in

Radebeul Radebeul ( hsb, Radobyle) is a town (''große Kreisstadt'') in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May, and a narrow gaug ...

. A further station was the

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden The Staatskapelle Dresden (known formally as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden) is a German orchestra based in Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Founded in 1548 by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, it is one of the world's oldest and most highly re ...

in 1973. In 1981, the tenor became a member of 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 ...

ensemble. At the beginning of the 1980s, Goldberg sang the important tenor parts of operas by Richard Wagner in nearly all leading opera houses in Europe and worldwide however his Bayreuth career started ignominiously. In 1983 Goldberg was contracted to sing both Siegfried Roles in the new production of the Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival conducted by Sir Georg Solti and produced by Sir Peter Hall. This turned into a personal disaster for him as he could not learn the roles in time to the satisfaction of Solti and Hall and was replaced shortly before the first performances. He would, however be invited back to Bayreuth by Wolfgang Wagner in 1986 to sing Tannhäuser, Walther in Die Meistersinger in 1987 and in 1988 for Walther again and the Götterdämmerung Siegfried. In 1989 he would sing both Siegfried roles in the second Ring cycle of that summer's festival under Barenboim and would subsequently sing Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer there until 1994 under Sinopoli. Among his other successes were ''

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 ...

'' at the

and

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

Munich, Erik (''

Der fliegende Holländer ' (''The Flying Dutchman''), WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hoftheater Dresden in 1843. Wagner cla ...

'') at the

Salzburg Easter Festival The Salzburg Easter Festival (German: ''Osterfestspiele Salzburg'') is an annual festival of opera and classical music held in Salzburg, Austria during Easter week. For most of the festival's history, the resident orchestra of the Easter Festival ...

1982 and 1983 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 ...

, Florestan and Tannhäuser at 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 ...

, both Siegfried roles at Covent Garden in 1991, and as Max (''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...

'') in the Zurich Opera. At the age of 61 he took on the role of the Kaiser in the Strauss Opera "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" with great success. He continued to sing with the State Opera in Berlin taking significant comprimario roles in Elektra and Salome up until 2015. Also in 2015 Daniel Barenboim had the idea of casting great Wagner singers of previous years as the various Masters in "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" Goldberg sang Eisslinger and reprised the role in 2018. He sang the role of the first prisoner in Fidelio in a production in Graz in 2020 at age 80. In concert, he sang in Beethoven's '' Ninth Symphony'' (Lucerne and Edinburgh) under

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

. In 1995, Goldberg received the Special Music Award for the title role of Aron in a live recording of Schoenberg's ''

Moses und Aron ''Moses und Aron'' (English: ''Moses and Aaron'') is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The German-language, German libretto is by the composer after the Book of Exodus. Hungarian composer Zoltán Kocsis complet ...

'' with the Tokyo Symphony under Maestro

Kazuyoshi Akiyama is a Japanese conductor. Biography Born into a musical family, he studied piano at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, but was fascinated by the conducting activities of a fellow student, Seiji Ozawa. He decided to study conducting with Hideo S ...

at Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

Recordings

*L. van Beethoven: 9th Symphony/Brilliant Classic 1974/ Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur/ Soloists: R. Goldberg a.o. *A. Schönberg: Moses und Aron/ 1976/Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchestra Leipzig conducted by Herbert Kegel / Soloists: Werner Haseleu, Reiner Goldberg *R. Wagner: Parsifal / Erato 1982/ Monte Carlo Orchestra under Armin Jordan/ Soloists: R. Goldberg, W. Schöne, R. Lloyd, Y. Minton *R. Strauss: Daphne/ EMI 1983, 1988/ Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra under Bernard Haitink/ Soloists: Lucia Popp, Reiner Goldberg, Kurt Moll *R. Strauss: Guntram / Hungaroton 1985 /Hungarian State Orchestra under Eve Queller/ Soloists: Reiner Goldberg, Ilona Tokody, István Gáti *R. Wagner:Die Walküre/ EMI 1988/ Bayrischer Rundfunk Orchestra under Bernard Haitink/ Soloist: R. Goldberg, Eva Marton, Cheryl Studer, Waltraud Meier, James Morris *R. Wagner: Siegfried / Deutsche Grammophon 1991/ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine/ Soloists: Reiner Goldberg, James Morris, Hildegard Behrens *R. Wagner: Götterdämmerung/ Deutsche Grammophon 1991/ Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine/ Soloists: Reiner Goldberg, Hanna Schwarz, Hildegard Behrens/ This record received the Grammy Award 1992

Sources

*Forbes, Elizabeth, "Goldberg, Reiner", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy. Accessed 19 October 2009,
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*Fay, Stephen, "Anatomy of an Opera - The Ring" Secker and Warburg 1984 *Bayreuth Festival Archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Reiner 1939 births Living people People from Bautzen (district) Jewish opera singers German operatic tenors