Albert Weikenmeier

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Albert Weikenmeier (born July 17, 1908 in Ludwigshafen , † October 21, 1981 in Cologne ) was a German opera singer with a tenor voice .

Life

His siblings needed a violinist for their house music trio. The young Albert was talented as such. At the age of six he was already performing in front of an audience. At 16 he was a sought-after performing artist on the violin and at 17 he was concertmaster in a Palatinate orchestra. At 18 he studied singing and was trained as a baritone until he recognized the mistake and switched to tenor . In 1928, while still a student, he had his first paid singing assignments. After completing his training in 1930, he began his career with an engagement at the Bamberg City Theater in the 1930/31 season . There he gave Rudolf in a bohemian performance. He then sang from 1931 to 1932 at the Municipal Theater of Kaiserslautern , 1932-1933 at the Municipal Theater of Krefeld (with his ensemble in 1932 has performed in the Netherlands) from 1933 to 1934 at the State Theater Braunschweig , where he in 1934 in the premiere of Gian Francesco Malipiero La Favola del figlio cambiato appeared. From 1934 to 1936 he worked at the Breslauer Opernhaus , from 1936 to 1938 at the Duisburg City Theater and for twelve years, from 1939 to 1950, at the Opera House (State Theater) Hanover , where he played the title role in the 1950 German premiere of Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring participated.

From 1950 he was engaged at the Cologne Opera House , where he had great success right from the start as “Tamino” in the Magic Flute and as “Don Carlos” by Giuseppe Verdi . On February 15, 1965, he sang Captain Pirzel in the world premiere of the opera The Soldiers by Bernd Alois Zimmermann . His participation in the German premiere of the opera Ivan the Terrible by Georges Bizet in 1952 and in the German premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's Die Nase 1963 in Düsseldorf should also be mentioned. In 1969 he made a guest appearance with the ensemble of the Cologne Opera in London, where he took part in the English premiere of Henze's The Young Lord at Sadler's Wells Opera . With the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg he appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in 1972 with the English premiere of The Soldiers . Further guest performances took place at the State Operas of Vienna and Munich , at the Grand Opéra Paris , at the Opera of Zagreb, at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence) and at the Holland Festival (Amsterdam) and in 1973 at the National Opera in Warsaw . Towards the end of his career, he mainly sang roles in the character field such as the Doctor in Wozzeck by Alban Berg or the witch in Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck .

From the 1930s to the 1950s he was a regular guest performer in radio broadcasts and from the 1950s onwards he was an esteemed concert and oratorio singer for decades . In 1960 he lent the singing hiking group leader his voice in the television adaptation of the opera The Bartered Bride of Smetana . He also worked as an opera director and as a lecturer at the opera school in Cologne. Weikenmeier was married to the soprano Erna Fahrig (1910–1997).

Sound recordings (as a participant; selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Weikenmeier Albert. tenors. In: operissimo.com. Pia Parisi, accessed September 21, 2018 .
  2. ^ Elmar Buck : Cologne - The city and its theater. Opera, drama, dance. Kassel: Verlag M. Faste, Kassel 2007. ISBN 978-3-931691-52-3 , p. 296.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Weikenmeier, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigshafen
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1981
Place of death Cologne