Emil Scaria

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Emil Scaria, portrayed by August Weger

Emil Scaria ( September 18, 1840 in Graz - July 22, 1886 in Blasewitz near Dresden ) was an Austrian opera singer with a bass voice . He sang on numerous stages all over Germany and from 1873 was a member of the ensemble of the Vienna kuk Hofoper . In the 1880s he made guest appearances in London, Paris, Rome, St. Petersburg and the United States.

Scaria was the first “ Escamillo ” outside France, the first “ Wotan ” in Vienna, Berlin and London. In 1882 he sang “Gurnemanz” in the world premiere of Richard Wagner's Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival . Scaria died in a daze .

life and work

Scaria was the son of a doctor in Graz. Even in his parents' house he was engaged in singing studies. He went to Vienna to study law and took regular singing lessons with Giovanni Gentiluomo . Further teachers were Josef Netzer in Graz and Richard Lewy in Vienna. On April 14, 1860, he made his debut in Pest as Count of Saint-Bris in Meyerbeer's Huguenots . The debut was not good and he was fired. It was similar for him in Brno , Magdeburg and Frankfurt a. M. , where he made guest appearances as Sarastro, Cardinal, Hermit and Justinian. He was advised to give up his theater career. Scaria was not discouraged and in 1862 went to London for further studies. There he became a student of the baritone Manuel García jr. , made rapid progress and sang a concert at the Crystal Palace . In the audience was the composer and conductor Franz Abt , who then recommended him to Dessau.

Dessau, Leipzig and Dresden

In Meyerbeer's Huguenots , 1860

The engagement at the court theater in Dessau became the starting point for a great career. He "soon gained solid ground and became the darling of the local audience". In 1863 he was hired by director Rudolf Wirsing at the Leipzig City Theater , without prior rehearsal roles, which was unusual at the time. In 1865 he followed - after appearing as Bertram in Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil - a call as first bassist at the Royal Court Theater Dresden , where he remained engaged until 1872. Scaria was particularly successful in Dresden in the comic field, as Falstaff (in Nicolai's Lustigen Weibern von Windsor ), as Dulcamara (in Donizetti's love potion ) and in Lortzing roles such as Peter the First in Zar and Zimmermann . With his strong, dark voice, which allowed him to take on baritone roles due to the enormous range of notes , he became one of the city's public favorites.

"During this time his fame had already spread beyond Germany and guest requests came from all sides." According to Ludwig Eisenberg , "his most notable successes outside Dresden" at that time included a guest performance in London and his participation in the Munich model performances of Richard Wagner's operas in 1867 , where he took over the Landgrave im Tannhäuser and King Heinrich im Lohengrin , both productions were directed by Wagner himself, and "the satisfaction of the master, who later called him the most brilliant bassist of his time, earned a high degree." The following were less successful Year first guest performances as Sarastro and Marcel at the kuk Hofoper in Vienna, which at that time was still based in the Kärntnertortheater .

During his Dresden years, Scaria developed a broad repertoire of roles, ranging from Mozart , Beethoven and Schubert to operas and romance to difficult Wagner roles in the Austrian and German and from bel canto to Verdi in the Italian subject . In the French subject, Scaria sang all the works from Gluck to the contemporary composers Meyerbeer , Halévy , Thomas and Bizet . In Dresden in 1868 he took part in the world premiere of a quickly forgotten opera by Franz von Holstein ; during his time in Dresden he also made guest appearances at the court operas in Munich, Berlin and Stuttgart, at the opera houses in Cologne and Leipzig, and at the stages in Bremen and Mannheim , Prague, Brno and Basel. In 1869 Scaria, who was also a popular concert singer, took part in the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Düsseldorf, and in 1870 in the Weimar model performances.

Kuk Hofoper in Vienna

From May 1, 1873 until his death, Scaria was a member of the Vienna Court Opera. Although he was committed to Vienna as an outstanding Wagner singer and his engagement began with König Heinrich im Lohengrin , he won the sympathy of the Viennese public, especially in the comic field and in a large number of operas in the French repertoire, including at least five roles in works by Richard Wagner's opponent Meyerbeer , as Mephisto in Gounod's Faust and Cardinal Brogni in Halévy's Jüdin , but also in operas by largely forgotten composers such as Auber , Boieldieu , Massé or Méhul, which are largely unknown today . He became a crowd favorite in Vienna, especially in cheerful and comical operas, for example as Sir John Falstaff in Nicolai's Lustige Wives of Windsor , a role he played at least 44 times in Vienna. In the first performance of Carmen by Georges Bizet outside France, he sang Escamillo. His partners in the Vienna premiere on October 23, 1875 were Bertha Ehnn (in the title role), Georg Müller (as Don José) and Mila Kupfer-Berger (as Micaëla).

As a stage appearance, in playing and singing technique, especially in terms of clarity of words and effortless addressing of the voice in all registers and degrees of strength, he corresponded to the contemporary ideal of the Wagner interpreter. On March 2, 1876, he sang King Heinrich in the Lohengrin in a Viennese performance conducted by the composer. He already knew and appreciated the singer from Munich. Scaria had also taken part in the first rehearsals in Bayreuth in 1875 for the premiere of Götterdämmerung , in which, according to Wagner's request, he should sing Hagen. In the summer of 1876, however, there was a rift in Bayreuth: “Unfortunately, Scaria's participation ended in an unpleasant way with the departure of the singer, who was too demanding in his demands, before the performance; only in one rehearsal could he show what a huge figure he would have created from the demonic son of the Nibelungs. "

Despite his numerous foreign engagements, Scaria remained loyal to the Viennese court opera until the end of his career, where he also sang smaller parts such as the high priest of Brahma in the African woman , who only appears in the fourth of five acts, or the first gravedigger in Hamlet . In 1877 and 1878 he took over Wotan and Wanderer in the Vienna premiere of the Ring des Nibelungen . From June 20 to December 31, 1880 he directed the court opera as part of a directors' group - together with Karl Mayerhofer and Gustav Walter .

Wandering Wagner theater

When the singer and impresario Angelo Neumann began to set up his Wandering Wagner Theater and prepared the Berlin premiere of the Ring des Nibelungen , he heard Scaria as Wotan and Wanderer in Vienna. He engaged him immediately, but when Wagner found out about the cast he was outraged and wanted to leave immediately. Neumann was only able to keep the composer from doing this with difficulty. The performance of the role by Scaria enthused Wagner, he “forgot all grudges and asked S. to take part in the Parsifal in Bayreuth for the next year .” The ring was given in May 1881 in Berlin's Victoria Theater . On June 2, Scaria sang King Heinrich in Lohengrin in the Royal Opera House and "lifted this otherwise not so important role to an unimaginable level with his powerful and majestic art."

First performance of Parsifal in Bayreuth in 1882 with Amalie Materna , Emil Scaria and Hermann Winkelmann

On January 4, 1882, the year Parsifal was completed and premiered , Richard Wagner dreamed of the singer. Cosima Wagner noted in her husband's dream diary: “R. dreams of a performance of Lohengrin in which the singers, especially Scaria, would have forgotten their roles. "

After the reconciliation between composer and singer, Wagner no longer had any objections to Scaria's engagement for the London premiere of the Ring des Nibelungen in 1882 or for other Neumann guest performances. In London, a tragic incident occurred as part of the first Valkyrie performance, which “already cast the gloomy shadows of the later end,” said Angelo Neumann. As Wotan, Scaria had brought the story of the second act “to a splendid effect”, but in the third act, in the Valkyrie scene, he entered the stage from the wrong side, “fearful and shy, like someone who is being pursued, bent over Shoulders and lowered spear ”. Neumann and Heinrich Vogl , who was free of play that evening, watched the scene from their box: "For heaven's sake, Scaria has gone mad!" Vogl exclaimed. They watched with horror as the singer marked the entire third act, “sang the high notes in the lower octave and the lower notes in the higher octave” and meanwhile “looked shyly into the scenery.” The next day he complained of violent ones Headache but apparently unaware of its condition. He asked for two piano rehearsals for Siegfried , which took place the next day , which were just as unsettling: “Complete ignorance of the text and the notes, the part appeared to Scaria to be brand new! Poor Scaria! "

He then sang the Wanderer in Siegfried , but "he lost whole stretches of the role that he had played before". Emil Scaria was released from his other obligations in London, but was able to recover in the coming months to such an extent that he could take up the engagement in Bayreuth.

First performance of Parsifal

The late debut at the Bayreuth Festival , instead of Hagen in the Götterdämmerung , took place at the end of July 1882. Emil Scaria played Gurnemanz in the world premiere of Parsifal and thus made a significant contribution to the success of the ambitious project.

A separate prompter had to be engaged for the singer for the Bayreuth premiere, but his condition improved during and after the festival to such an extent that during the tour of the Wandering Wagner Theater in the 1882/83 season he again performed Wotan and the Wanderer " Admirable to be heard ”: in Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels and other places. In 1883 he was König Marke in the Vienna premiere of Tristan und Isolde and sang this role in Berlin that same year. Also at the Bayreuth Festival in 1883, the first after Wagner's death, and again in 1884 he again took over Gurnemanz. In 1883 he was also entrusted with the management of the game, succeeding Wagner.

Scaria also sang Gurnemanz in a concert performance outside of Bayreuth, on November 10, 1884 in London's Royal Albert Hall . Whether he also took part in the separate performances for King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Munich has not yet been researched, but it is unlikely.

North America

Hermann Winkelmann
Amalie Materna

From the beginning of April to June 28, 1884, he and the soprano Amalie Materna and the heroic tenor Hermann Winkelmann performed a Wagner concert tour through the United States and Canada, organized by Charles E. Locke and conducted by Theodore Thomas . For the New York concert, the orchestra was increased to 150 and a 600-strong choir was put together. Christine Nilsson also took part in the concerts , as did a number of other American singers. At least excerpts from Tannhäuser , Lohengrin , Meistersinger von Nürnberg , Walküre and Götterdämmerung as well as Parsifal were presented . A total of seventy concerts took place, including San Francisco , Chicago , Cincinnati and Montreal .

In 1885 he made a guest appearance in Prague on the occasion of Neumann's assumption of management.

Collapse and death

On January 24th, 1886 he sang Landgrave in Tannhäuser and the Singers' War on Wartburg in the Vienna Court Opera . During this performance "the latent disease broke out in a terrible way," said Angelo Neumann. The singer had to ask the actress who played Elisabeth during the second act which opera was being performed today. The performance ended with the singer's complete nervous breakdown. He then retired to Blasewitz , where he probably had two villas built on the street that was later named after him, and lived in house number 11. He died on July 22, 1886 in Blasewitz. He was buried in Frankfurt am Main, where he had often sung as a guest at the opera house.

Scariastraße 11

There is a wide range of speculations as to what could have led to Scaria's collapse, from overwork in general and overexertion through Wagner games in particular to stock market fever as a result of his speculative investments to progressive memory loss, which had already been announced in the years before Richard Sternfeld.

Characteristic of the voice

There is no other singer in opera history who could sing Osmin, the deepest bass part, as well as Wotan, Figaro, Falstaff and the hero baritone Escamillo. His vocal range ranged from basso profondo to lyrical and dramatic bass-baritone roles to the classic cavalier baritone , everywhere, according to Richard Sternfeld in the Neue Deutsche Biographie , "he stood out beneficially through his eagerness to learn, security and subtle processing of the roles."

Emil Scaria's voice is portrayed as large, powerful and full of dark notes, his diction as crystal clear and exemplary. The Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick wrote that the carefully muffled high notes formed a great contrast to the force in the low and middle registers. The Berlin critic Paul Lindau , who was quite critical of Wagner and Bayreuth, praised him as "a singer with a powerful, full and clear voice, who is excellently trained, with impeccably sharp pronunciation, understanding declaration and excellent play".

Roles (selection)

World premieres

repertoire

Auber :

Beethoven :

Bizet :

Boieldieu :

Roar :

  • Bombardon in The Golden Cross
  • The one in Der Landfriede
  • Fanfaron in Bianca

Cherubini :

  • Micheli in The Water Carrier

Donizetti :

Flotow :

Luck :

Goetz :

Gounod :

Halévy :

Lortzing :

Marschner :

Massé :

  • Lord of St. Croix in Paul and Virginie
 

Mehul :

  • Jacob in Joseph and his brothers

Meyerbeer :

Mozart :

Nicolai :

Rossini :

Schubert :

Schumann :

Thomas :

  • Claudius and First Gravedigger in Hamlet

Verdi :

Wagner :

Weber :

The German-language titles of the opera were used, since in the 19th century it was usually sung in German translations. Sources for the role directory:

Private

Emil Scaria was one of the famous personalities of Freemasonry of his time. He was u. a. Member of the Dresden lodge “To the golden apple” and master of the chair of the Viennese lodge “Zukunft”, which, however, worked as a so-called “border lodge” in the neighboring, then Hungarian Pressburg , due to the ban on lodges in Austria .

He is said to have been a very sociable person, often in the mood for jokes. He was married.

Commemoration

In Vienna, the Scariaweg in Ottakring bears his name. In Dresden there is a Scariastraße .

literature

Web links

Commons : Emil Scaria  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d Ludwig Eisenberg : Emil Scaria . In: Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century. Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p. 650 ( daten.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  2. ↑ The cast of Lohengrin on May 1, 1873 in the Vienna Court Opera was exceptional: In addition to Scaria (Heinrich der Vogler), Labatt (title role), Löwe (Elsa), Friedrich-Materna (Ortrud), Degele (Telramund) and Krauss (Heerrufer ) sang ). He had already sung Heinrich on November 18, 1872 and February 15, 1873 in the new house on the Ring. Furthermore, between January and March 1873 he had presented himself to the Viennese public in a number of roles (Osmin, Holländer, Falstaff, Pietro and Armourer).
  3. ↑ a b Emil Scaria's appearances at the Vienna State Opera , accessed on December 11, 2016. Since the State Opera's electronic archive has only been fully recorded from 1955, other roles can be added.
  4. ↑ a b c New marker: Birthdays in September 2013: Emil Scaria ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2015 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 December 11, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / der-neue-merker.eu
  5. ↑ Quoted here. based on Jens Krammenschneider-Huntscher: Staging and Effects: The Magic of Scenography , edited by Ralf Bohn, Heiner Wilharm, 113
  6. ^ Angelo Neumann : Memories of Richard Wagner , reprint of the original from 1907, Books on Demand 2016, p. 230, books.google.at
  7. ↑ a b c Angelo Neumann : Memories of Richard Wagner . 1907, p. 231 f., Textarchiv - Internet Archive
  8. ^ Richard Wagner and His World edited by Thomas S. Gray, 470
  9. ↑ All his life Wagner was the Louis II urgently desired. Through sustainable resistance Parsifal delay -Separatvorstellungen in the Munich Court Opera. The eight separate performances of Parsifal then took place on May 3rd, 5th and 7th, 1884, on November 5th and 7th, 1884 and on April 26th, 27th and 29th, 1885. The dates were the following online source Taken from: ludwig2-aufstieginslicht.de (PDF) accessed on October 25, 2016.
  10. ^ Kurt Hommel: The separate presentations before King Ludwig II of Bavaria , Munich: Laokoon Verlag 1963, p. 194f.
  11. ^ Theodore Thomas : A Musical Autobiography . Vol. 1: Life Work . Chicago 1905, pp. 93 f., Textarchiv - Internet Archive
  12. ↑ “For several years now, the singer had had difficulties keeping the text; he needed the prompter more than anyone else. This poor memory increased gradually until it sadly led to catastrophe; the once so sure and infallible artist had forgotten his familiar role during the performance! ”Furthermore:“ It was already noticeable earlier that the huge man was already completely gray so young. ”
  13. ^ Richard Sternfeld: Scaria, Emil . New German Biography, accessed on December 17, 2016
  14. ^ Emil Scaria on the Elbhang courier
  15. ^ Die Bauhütte, Organ for the General Interests of Freemasonry , Volume 17 (1871), p. 163.
  16. ^ Dietrich Buschbeck: Emil Scaria . Elbhang-Kurier , August 1, 2011; accessed on December 17, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Scaria, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer with a bass voice
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1886
Place of death Blasewitz near Dresden