Otakar Mařák
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Otakar Mařák (5 January 1872
Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...
– 2 July 1939
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
) 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 *Czech (surnam ...
opera singer (a tenor), and a nephew of Julius Mařák, 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 folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' on 1 February 1899 in
Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...
, 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 sit ...
and Berlin's
Komische Oper The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, near Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the ...
. Following
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, 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'' (, ''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 development of Czech music. It ...
'', '' Dalibor'', Ladislav Podhajský in ''
The Two Widows ''The Two Widows'' () is a two-act Czech opera by Bedřich Smetana based on the libretto of . The libretto is based on Jean Pierre Felicien Mallefille's one-act play ''Les deux veuves''. The opera was composed between June 1873 and January 1874, ...
'', Lucas in '' The Kiss'' as well as in traditional world
repertory A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...
which saw Mařák play Don Ottavio in ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full 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 Spanish legen ...
'', 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''. 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 novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
''. 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).


Legacy

Together with
Emmy Destinn Emmy Destinn ( (); 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic dramatic soprano. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera. She was one of the greatest opera singers of the 19th and 20th centuries. ...
and
Karel Burian Karel Burian (also Carl Burrian) (12 January 1870 – 25 September 1924) was a Czech operatic tenor who had an active international career spanning the 1890s to the 1920s. A Heldentenor, Burian earned acclaim in Europe and America for his powerful ...
, 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 Singers from Austria-Hungary {{opera-singer-stub