Alfred Piccaver

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Alfred Piccaver (1920)
Photo: Ludwig Gutmann

Alfred Piccaver , actually Peckover (born February 24, 1884 in Long Sutton near Spalding, County Lincolnshire , England , † September 23, 1958 in Vienna ) was a British-American opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Alfred Piccaver's parents, some of whom had Spanish ancestors, emigrated with him to the USA in 1885 and lived in Albany . His father, Frederic Hermann Piccaver, worked as a chemist. He first studied electronics in New York and worked temporarily in the laboratories of Thomas Alva Edison . Due to his great musical talent, he received a scholarship from the Metropolitan Opera in 1905 . Heinrich Conried , director of the "Met", recognized his talent and in 1907 sent him to Angelo Neumann at the Prague National Theater . There he continued his training with Ludmilla Prohaska-Neumann and later in Milan , but also took on stage roles. His inaugural performance on September 9, 1907 was the Fenton in Nicolais The Merry Wives of Windsor . During the next three years, operas by Flotow , Gounod , Mozart , Puccini , Verdi and Wagner formed the focus of his repertoires.

At an invitation from Mattia Battistini , on whom Piccaver had made a great impression, he appeared for the first time in 1910 at the kk Hof Opera Theater in Vienna. But only after his contract in Prague had expired, Piccaver was able to move to Vienna, where he was a member of the ensemble from 1912–31 and 1933–37 and became the darling of the Viennese public. On the other hand, he enjoyed his time in Vienna so much that he turned down a contract offer from the Met. He appeared as a guest at the Chicago Opera between 1923 and 1925 and at the Covent Garden Opera in London in 1925 . In 1931 there was no contract extension with the Vienna Opera Theater due to differences of opinion (which had already broken out in 1927) about the amount of his fee . In between he only appeared as a guest in Austria, his tours took him to the Salzburg Festival (for example, in 1927 he gave Don Ottavio in Don Juan), to Munich , Dresden , Budapest , Berlin, Stockholm and Paris . From January 1, 1933, Piccaver was again a member of the Vienna Opera Theater , and remained so until September 1, 1937.

The political situation in Austria and Germany led him to emigrate to Great Britain in 1937. In addition to appearances in the concert hall and radio studio, he was now also active as a teacher. In 1955 he returned to Vienna and took part in the reopening of the Vienna State Opera as a guest of honor on November 5th of that year .

Urn niche by Alfred Piccaver

The audience loved Piccaver because of his beautiful tenor voice and his large range. Piccaver excelled above all as Rodolfo , (Puccini called him "my ideal Rodolfo") Cavaradossi , Canio , Radames , Florestan , Lensky and Walther . Sound documents of his singing art have survived to this day, after he also made recordings for vinyl from 1912, first for Odeon , later for Vox, Polydor , Deutsche Grammophon , Vocalion and Decca .

He was buried in an honorary grave in an urn niche in the arcades of the Simmering fire hall (ALI department, number 27).

Movie

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Alfred Piccaver  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information according to registration form of the Vienna City and State Archives ; according to other information, the date of birth is also February 15, 1884, February 5, 1883 or 1884 or 1887, February 23, 1885.
  2. ^ A conflict between Piccaver and the State Opera. The reduction of the performance fees. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 22632/1927, September 19, 1927, p. 4 f. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
personal data
SURNAME Piccaver, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peckover, Alfred (birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Long Sutton near Spalding, Lincolnshire
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1958
Place of death Vienna