Theo Adam

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Theo Adam, 1987

Theo Siegfried Adam (born August 1, 1926 in Dresden ; † January 10, 2019 there ) was a German opera singer ( bass baritone ) and director .

Life

Theo Adam, son of a decorative painter , was a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor from 1937 to 1944 and received his first musical training there. After graduating from high school, he became a soldier in the Wehrmacht and became a prisoner of war . From 1946 to 1949 he was a new teacher in Dresden, took private singing lessons with Rudolf Dittrich and in 1949 received an engagement at the Dresden State Opera . He made his debut with the hermit from Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz . In 1952 he sang for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival . Until 1980 he made regular guest appearances in Bayreuth and sang all Wagner roles in his field.

Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Kurt Masur (front) and the soloists Klaus König , Eva-Maria Bundschuh and Theo Adam (from left to right) standing next to him on the occasion of the opening of the " Richard Wagner Days of the GDR " in 1983 in the New Gewandhaus Leipzig

In 1953 Adam became an ensemble member of the Berlin State Opera . Since 1954 he has had permanent guest contracts at the Städtische Oper Frankfurt am Main , the Vienna State Opera and the London Covent Garden Opera , where he sang Wotan in Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen for the first time in 1967 . In 1955 he was appointed chamber singer . In 1963 he made his debut with the role of Hans Sachs in the Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Metropolitan Opera New York . In 1969 he sang Ochs auf Lerchenau for the first time in Richard Strauss ' Rosenkavalier . From 1981 to 1999 he worked at the Salzburg Festival . The bass-baritone achieved international renown above all with opera roles by Wagner and Strauss, as an interpreter of songs by Brahms , Schubert , Richard Strauss and Wolf and as an oratorio singer . Adam has worked out well over 100 games in the course of his career. In particular, his interpretation of Wotan in the Ring of the Nibelung , which he sang at the Bayreuth Festival from 1963 to 1975, among other things, set standards.

In addition to working on classical roles in his field, he was also committed to modernism: he sang a. a. Wozzeck in the opera of the same name by Alban Berg , Doktor Schön and Schigolch in Bergs Lulu , Cadmos in Hans Werner Henze's Bassariden and the title roles in Paul Dessau's Einstein and Ernst Krenek's Karl V. In 1981 he played the title role in the world premiere of Friedrich Cerhas Baal with the Vienna Philharmonic under Christoph von Dohnányi . In concert performances Theo Adam a. a. in Penthesilea by Othmar Schoeck (1982), Dantons Tod by Gottfried von Eine (1983) and in Die Gezeichen by Franz Schreker (1984).

Since 1972 Theo Adam has also appeared as an opera director. He has staged works by Wagner , Mozart , Tchaikovsky and Strauss at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden , at the State Opera in Munich and at the Dresden Semperoper . From 1977 Adam had his own program on television in the GDR : Theo Adam invites . On February 13, 1985, he took part in the opening performance of the rebuilt Dresden Semper Opera as a hermit in the Freischütz and in the following Rosenkavalier performance as Ochs.

Theo Adam received numerous awards and appreciations for his work. In 1976 he was honored with the Handel Prize of the Halle district . In 1977 he was awarded the Great Gold Medal of the Cercle Nationale Richard Wagner. From 1978 to 1991 he was a member of the Academy of the Arts of the German Democratic Republic (from 1990 Academy of the Arts in Berlin ). In 1979 he became honorary professor at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden .

Adam was a member of the GDR Music Council from 1982 and was also President of the Board of Trustees of the Dresden State Opera. For his work he was awarded the GDR National Prize (1969), the Johannes R. Becher Medal (1979) and the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold (1984). On the occasion of his 40th stage anniversary on October 7, 1989, he returned the Great Star of Friendship between Nations in December 1989 on the grounds that "the outrage over the now known machinations of a corrupt government" prompted him to take this step. In 1990 Adam became an honorary member of the German Music Council and in 1994 an honorary member of the Semperoper in Dresden. In 1995 he received the Federal Cross of Merit . In 2000, at the suggestion of Hans Pischner, he was appointed honorary member of the International Society for the Promotion of Young Stage Artists “BühnenReif” (ISSA) in Berlin, today's “European Cultural Workshop” (EKW).

On November 30, 2006 Theo Adam took leave of his singing career at the Semperoper with the role of the hermit in Weber's Freischütz - the same with whom he made his debut at this house in 1949.

For his 90th birthday in August 2016, a CD edition with recordings by Theo Adams was released. He interprets works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner on three CDs.

Theo Adam lived in Dresden-Loschwitz , was married and had three children (twins and one other son). He died after a long illness at the age of 92 in a nursing home in his hometown of Dresden.

Opera roles (selection)

Discography (selection)

Theo Adam Prize

Since Theo Adam's 70th birthday in 1996, the Foundation for the Promotion of the Semperoper in Dresden has been awarding the Theo Adam Prize to outstanding singers at irregular intervals . So far, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen (1996), Helga Thiede (1999) and Johann Tilli (2002) have received this award.

Fonts

  • See, here is ink, pen, paper. From a singer's workshop . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1980.
  • The hundredth roll or: I'm making a new Adam . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-362-00009-6 .
  • A singer's life in encounters and transformations . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89487-250-0 .
  • “Sayings in the Opera”. Experienced and collected over 50 years of singing around the world . Parthas Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932529-66-9 .
  • From Sachs to Ochs. My festival years . Parthas Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-932529-34-0 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Theo Adam  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b (jat / dpa): At the age of 92: Opera singer Theo Adam died. In: Spiegel Online . January 11, 2019, accessed January 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Hero baritone Theo Adam turns 90 . In: Ostsee-Zeitung of July 27, 2016, cultural page V.
  3. ↑ Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (ed.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990. Volume 1: Abendroth - Lyr. KG Saur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-598-11176-2 , p. 3.
  4. ↑ Theo Adam. Bayreuth Festival, accessed on August 6, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Manuel Brug: Theo Adam for the 80th In: Die Welt . August 1, 2006, accessed February 11, 2016 .
  6. ^ Friedrich Cerha - Baal. In: Universal Edition. Retrieved February 11, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Theo Adam. In: Classic Today. Retrieved February 12, 2016 .
  8. ^ ADN, Theo Adam returns medals, in: Neues Deutschland, Volume 44, December 5, 1989, No. 286, page 4.
  9. ↑ Simona Block: Music theater: Theo Adam achieved everything as a singer. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . July 31, 2011, accessed February 11, 2016 .
  10. ↑ MDR.de - For Theo Adam's ninetieth birthday - ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on September 3, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mdr.de
  11. ↑ dresden.de: Music and Dance Awards. ( Memento of November 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved February 20, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Adam, Theo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adam, Theo Siegfried (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (bass baritone) and director
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 2019
Place of death Dresden