Alfredo Kraus

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Statue of Alfredo Kraus in Almeria

Alfredo Kraus (born November 24, 1927 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , † September 10, 1999 in Madrid ) was a Spanish opera singer (tenor) and singing teacher. He was considered an important representative of the lyric tenor subject .

Life

Alfredo Kraus was the son of a Spanish mother and an Austrian father. He started taking piano lessons at the age of four and sang in the school choir when he was eight. After leaving school, he began to study engineering, but then decided to pursue a career as a singer and began training as a singer. He completed this with the singer and vocal teacher Mercedes Llopart in Milan .

In 1956 Kraus made his stage debut in Cairo as Duke in Rigoletto , which became one of his signature roles. In 1958 he sang Alfredo in La traviata in Lisbon alongside Maria Callas , a live recording of which was later released. Kraus had his first appearance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1959 with the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor as partner of Joan Sutherland . He made his debut at La Scala in Milan - also in 1959 - in the role of Elvino in La sonnambula and in Fenice in Venice with Renata Scotto . He made his US debut at the Chicago Lyric Opera (1962). Soon after, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Duke in Rigoletto (1966).

Kraus became an outstanding representative of the lyric tenor subject with roles such as Werther, Romeo, Faust, Arturo, Elvino, Nemorino and Tonio. He also became known for performing lighter music, especially zarzuelas , a Spanish form of operetta.

He later taught singing at a private music school and held several master classes in Italy. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s he took part in a number of Spanish films, such as in 1959 in Gayarre , a film about the life of the Spanish tenor Julián Gayarre . Kraus remained on stage in full possession of his vocal resources until his early seventies.

Properties as tenor, meaning

Many opera connoisseurs and singing experts consider Alfredo Kraus to be one of the best tenors of the twentieth century. His slightly nasal-obscured timbre predestined him especially for the roles of the French repertoire. Kraus was one of the few tenors who achieved the high D in the well-known duet Vieni fra queste braccia from Bellini's opera I puritani and was therefore able to sing the work in the original key. As a tenor di grazia , he is unmatched alongside Tito Schipa .

Record recordings

For a long time, the big record companies offered him little opportunity to present his voice to a wider audience. Presumably for this reason, no other opera tenor has made so many live recordings on the “gray” record market in recent decades. He himself founded his own record company ("Carillon") in Spain in the early 1960s. This enabled him to record some recitals.

Voice experts and critics such as Jürgen Kesting and John Steane value recordings by Alfredo Kraus as belonging to the most beautiful and best that has been recorded in the course of the recording history of great vocal art.

Honors

Auditorio Alfredo Kraus in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Discography (selection)

Recitals

  • Alfredo Kraus in Gayarre
  • Aria Antiche (Scarlatti, Handel, Gluck and others)
  • Alfredo Kraus - song recital (Donizetti, Mascagni, Verdi and others)
  • Non t'amo più (Tosti songs)
  • Cantares (Spanish art songs)
  • Rêve d'Amour (French songs)
  • Granada (Spanish songs)
  • The Incomparable Alfredo Kraus (aria recital, recorded at the age of 67)

Total recordings

Web links

Commons : Alfredo Kraus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kraus, Alfredo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish opera singer (tenor) and singing teacher
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1999
Place of death Madrid