Anton Dermota (singer)

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Grave site in the cemetery in Hietzing

Anton Dermota (born June 4, 1910 in Kropa , Austria-Hungary , † June 22, 1989 in Vienna ) was an Austrian- Yugoslav opera singer ( lyric tenor ) with his main residence in Vienna.

Life

Anton Dermota first studied composition and organ in Ljubljana (Laibach) and then received a singing scholarship in Vienna. In 1934 he made his debut in Cluj (Klausenburg). In 1936 the conductor Bruno Walter heard him and engaged him at the Vienna State Opera , where he made his debut as first armor in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute . He soon got his first leading roles (first Alfredo in La traviata , 1937) and developed into a Viennese audience favorite.

During this time, he witnessed the State Opera’s greatest disaster, when it went up in flames during an Allied air raid on March 13, 1945, and helped to save sheet music and furnishings from the flames. He remained loyal to the State Opera in its provisional quarters in the Theater an der Wien and was appointed Wiener Kammersänger on March 4, 1946 . Along with singers such as Maria Cebotari , Elisabeth Schwarzkopf , Wilma Lipp , Irmgard Seefried , Sena Jurinac , Erich Kunz and Paul Schöffler, Dermota was part of the famous Viennese Mozart ensemble of the 1950s.

It was therefore almost a given that Dermota also took part in the reopening premiere of the rebuilt State Opera on November 5, 1955 - as Florestan in Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio . On October 26, 1977 Dermota celebrated his 40th anniversary on stage at the State Opera in the title role of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina .

On his seventieth birthday, the Kammersänger, who has long since become a living legend, sang Tamino again at the invitation of the State Opera - with an almost unchanged fresh voice.

Dermota's second artistic home was the Salzburg Festival , where he appeared almost continuously from 1937 (Balthasar Zorn in the Meistersingers under Arturo Toscanini ) until the end of the 1950s, especially in his major Mozart roles.

He also gave acclaimed guest performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London , the Paris Opera , the Opera House in Rome , the Teatro San Carlo in Naples , the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and made concert tours through Australia , Czechoslovakia and Hungary .

Since 1966 Dermota has held a singing professorship at the Vienna University of Music .

He died in his adopted home Vienna a few days after his 79th birthday. His honorary grave is in the Hietzinger Friedhof (group 58, number 371). In 1992 the Dermotagasse in Vienna- Hietzing was named after him.

repertoire

In the post-war period and until the early 1970s, Dermota was one of the internationally most sought-after Mozart and Bach interpreters of his generation, most famous as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Ferrando ( Così fan tutte ), but later also sang more dramatic roles such as Florestan and the lyrical roles by Richard Strauss , Richard Wagner (David in the Meistersinger von Nürnberg ) and Giuseppe Verdi , especially in earlier years Giacomo Puccini and Jules Massenet .

One of his most recognized interpretations was that of Johannes from Franz Schmidt's huge oratorio The Book with Seven Seals (with Walter Berry as bass, recording conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos ). His design of the title role of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina , his Evangelimann ( Wilhelm Kienzl ) and his Lenski in Peter Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin were also important . In total, his repertoire comprised more than 80 roles.

He also set standards as an interpreter of songs, especially by Schubert and Schumann, where he was always accompanied on the piano by his wife Hilda (née Berger von Weyerwald, born June 17, 1912 - March 5, 2013). His interpretation of Winterreise , also available on CD, is a textbook example of expression, style and vocal culture.

As a singer, Dermota was regarded as one of the greatest in his field and many of his younger colleagues - Fritz Wunderlich , Nicolai Gedda , Ernst Haefliger , Peter Schreier - were measured against him. Dermota's technical mastery was impressive, and his voice possessed both melting and expressiveness into old age - in 1981 he sang in Carlos Kleiber's recording of Tristan und Isolde the Shepherd.

Awards

Sound documents (selection)

literature

Web links

Commons : Anton Dermota  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Inscription Deutschordenshof, Singerstraße: Anton Dermota 1955 (accessed on June 11, 2014)
  2. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Dermota, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Yugoslav opera singer (lyric tenor) with main residence in Vienna
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Kropa , Austria-Hungary , today Slovenia
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1989
Place of death Vienna