Werner Haseleu (2 May 1935 – 29 June 2012) was a German operatic bass-baritone and academic voice teacher. He was a long-term member of the

Staatsoper Dresden The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

and the

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, al ...

, often with director

Harry Kupfer Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019) was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Fels ...

at both houses. He was known for leading roles in world premieres and contemporary opera.

Life and career

Haseleu was born in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...

and trained in Leipzig. He debuted in 1958 at the

Nationaltheater Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of ...

, and worked there until 1973. He appeared there as Leporello in Mozart's '' Don Giovanni'', Don Alfonso in '' Così fan tutte'', King Philipp in Verdi's ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Fried ...

'', the title role of ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' and as 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'' ...

'' by Richard Strauss, among others. In 1973 he moved to the

. On 21 April 1974, he took part in the world premiere of

Rainer Kunad Rainer Kunad (24 October 1936, Chemnitz – 17 July 1995, Reutlingen) was a German conductor and composer, especially of opera. Life Kunad studied choir and ensemble conducting at the Dresden Conservatoire from 1955 to 1956 and then, until 1959 ...

's ''Sabellicus'' at 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 ...

. In Dresden he also sang the title role in Bartók's ''

Bluebeard's Castle ''Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' ( hu, A kékszakállú herceg vára, link=no, or ''The Blue-Bearded Duke's Castle'') is a one-act expressionist opera by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The libretto was written by Béla Balázs, a poet and friend of t ...

'' and as Moses in Schoenberg's '' Moses and Aron'', directed by

. He sang leading roles in the world premieres of Udo Zimmermann's '' Der Schuhu und die fliegende Prinzessin'' on 30 December 1976 and Kunad's ''Vincent'' on 22 February 1979 in Dresden. In 1983, he performed the title role in Aribert Reimann's ''

Lear Lear or Leir may refer to: Acronyms * Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, a Mexican association of revolutionary artists and writers * Low Energy Ion Ring, an ion pre-accelerator of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN ** Low Energy Antipr ...

'' at the

. He moved to the opera house in 1984 together with Kupfer. Haseleu appeared as Holofernes in the world premiere of '' Judith'' by Siegfried Matthus on 28 September 1985 at Berlin State Opera. In 1988, he performed as Leporello in Alexander Dargomyzhsky's '' The Stone Guest'' at the Komische Oper. In 1998, he took part there in Henze's ''

König Hirsch ' (in English, ''The Stag King'') is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze to a German libretto by after ''Il re cervo'', a theatrical fable (1762) by Carlo Gozzi. He revised it as ''Il re cervo'', premiered in 1963 at the Staatstheater Kas ...

''. Haseleu was also a guest at the operas of Leningrad, Prague, at the

Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden The Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden (International May Festival, IMF) is a theater festival in Wiesbaden, Germany. Established in the late 19th century after the Bayreuth Festival, the festival is one of the most distinguished internationa ...

and in Lausanne. He was also active in the pedagogical sector: He taught from 1961 to 1973 at the Musikhochschule Weimar and from 1973 at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden. Haseleu died in Leipzig in June 2012 at the age of 77 years and was buried at the Dresden Heidefriedhof.

Recordings

Haseleu's voice is preserved on recordings of ''

Die schweigsame Frau ''Die schweigsame Frau'' (''The Silent Woman''), Op. 80, is a 1935 comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson's '' Epicoene, or the Silent Woman''. Composition history Since '' Elektra'' and ''Der ...

'' by Richard Strauss, ''Moses und Aron'', Udo Zimmermann's '' Levins Mühle'', scenes from ''Lear'' and ''Judith'', and ''Der Rosenkavalier''. ''Judith'' was recorded and broadcast by the

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...

References

External links

* *
Werner Haseleu (Bass-Baritone)
Bach Cantatas Website * Margaret Ross Griffel
Judith
in: Operas in German: A Dictionary {{DEFAULTSORT:Haseleu, Werner German bass-baritones East German musicians 1935 births 2012 deaths People from Wittenberg 20th-century German male opera singers