Ferdinand Jäger (singer, 1839)

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Ferdinand Jäger ( December 25, 1839 in Hanau - June 13, 1902 in Vienna ) was a German opera singer ( tenor ) and singing teacher .

Life

He received his training from court chamber musician Carl Thiele in singing and from court actor Ferdinand Heine in performing arts. He dared his first stage attempt on April 30, 1865 in Dresden, was also engaged there and was then effective as a hero tenor at the first city theaters, such as Cologne and Hamburg, and court theaters such as Berlin, Stuttgart and Kassel.

Richard Wagner became aware of the artist as early as 1876 and invited him to Bayreuth, where the master carefully studied all tenor roles in his dramas with him and determined him for " Siegfried ", for which role the singer was not only through his voice, but also through recommended the youthfulness of his appearance, his extremely expressive playing and the clearness of his pronunciation. He achieved great success at the first Bayreuth Festival and was long considered the only German singer who was able to sing and portray Siegfried.

Wagner also recommended the artist to the Vienna Court Opera, where from 1878 to 1879 he probably helped the Nibelung drama to its brilliant success with his “Siegfriede”.

On the occasion of the first performance of “Siegfried” on November 9, 1878, Eduard Hanslick wrote : “Of the singing parts, Siegfried is the most important and at the same time the most strenuous tenor part that has ever been written. Mr. Jäger performed it very happily in song and play. Thanks to its tall, slim shape, it is perfect for this, and it also knows how to act freely and naturally. His voice has little charm and is already a little damaged, probably as a result of all the Siegfried singing. The more praiseworthy Mr. Jäger works through the energy of the presentation and the clarity of the pronunciation.

Indeed, at that time, Jäger was considered to be the first representative of the new dramatic style of singing. After leaving Vienna, he repeatedly returned to the court opera as a guest in 1880, 1881, 1882, 1888, 1890 and finally in 1891.

The consequence of these artistic feats was the invitation of King Ludwig II of Bavaria to the separate performances of these works in Munich, whereby Jäger was once again able to showcase his masterly school and his splendid vocal instruments.

Soon afterwards he gave up the stage work entirely in order to occupy himself almost exclusively with the training of young, talented singers. At the beginning of the 1890s he made it his artistic duty of honor to help the then still unknown composer Hugo Wolf to the recognition he deserved. He succeeded in doing this to the desired extent, despite the most diverse hostility.

Jäger had settled in Vienna for years, where he devoted himself to singing lessons with great success. Just as his own outstanding singing achievements were widely recognized in the past, it was later on numerous students in first artistic positions who gave testimony to Jäger's significant ability and his exemplary method. The artist died on June 13, 1902 after a brief illness.

He was married to Aurelie Wilczek , whose daughter Elsa Jäger was also an actress, as was his son of the same name, Ferdinand Jäger .

Student (selection)

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Year of birth according to Eisenberg and BMLO, the ÖBL states 1838 as the year of birth.

This article is based on a public domain text from Ludwig Eisenberg's Large Biographical Lexicon of the German Stage in the 19th Century , 1903 edition.

Please only remove this note if you have revised the article to such an extent that the text reflects the current state of knowledge on this topic, this has been proven and it meets today's linguistic requirements.
personal data
SURNAME Hunter, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (tenor) and singing teacher
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanau
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1902
Place of death Vienna