Franz Xaver Gerl

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Franz Xaver Gerl (born November 30, 1764 in Andorf ; † March 9, 1827 in Mannheim ) was an Austrian opera singer ( bass ) and composer.

Life

Franz Xaver Gerl was born the son of a village schoolmaster and organist. From 1777 he was contralto with the Salzburg Boys' Choir, where he must have been a student of Leopold Mozart , and from 1778 he attended the University High School in Salzburg . Finally he studied physics and logic at the University of Salzburg , but broke off this course and in 1785 joined Ludwig Schmidt's theater troupe in Erlangen as bass. After their dissolution, he joined the troupe of Gustav Friedrich Großmann and Christian Wilhelm Klos . From 1787 he belonged to the ensemble of Emanuel Schikaneder in Regensburg , with whom he went to Vienna in 1789 . On September 2, 1789, he married Barbara Reisinger, who also belonged to Schikaneder's troupe as a soprano.

From 1789 Gerl also appeared as a composer of everyday music for performances by the theater troupe, whereby the Singspiele were mostly created as joint productions with his ensemble colleagues Benedikt Schack and Johann Baptist Henneberg on libretti by Schikaneder. His star role is said to have been Osmin in the Abduction from the Seraglio , which he sang for the first time in 1786. His participation in the world premiere of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute , in which he created the role of Sarastro, was significant . Mozart composed the aria Per questa bella mano KV 612 for him , which was probably intended as an insert in a buffa opera. He was also one of the singers with whom Mozart rehearsed parts of his Requiem the day before his death .

From 1794 to 1801 Gerl and his wife Barbara were engaged at the National Theater in Brno . In 1802 Gerl moved to the Nationaltheater Mannheim , where he was retired in 1826 as a grand ducal court actor of Baden. In the last years of his work he shifted his focus increasingly to speaking roles, u. a. in plays by Friedrich Schiller .

His younger brother Judas Thaddäus Gerl (1774-1844) also worked as an opera singer (bass), which in older biographical literature occasionally led to confusion between the two. Of another brother, Johann Nepomuk Gerl (1769–1826), we only know that he was a choirboy in Salzburg and later worked as a schoolmaster and organist in Andorf.

Works

Insert numbers for Singspiele created in collaboration:

Spiritual works:

  • In tanta solemnitate , aria for bass and orchestra
  • Dulcissime domine deus , Offertory in F major

Instrumental works:

  • 12 Germans for orchestra
  • 60 Germans , arranged for piano

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Per questa bella mano (KV 612) : Score and critical report in the New Mozart Edition
  2. ^ Obituary for Benedikt Schak in the Allgemeine musical newspaper , 1827. Quoted from: Christoph Wolff: Mozart's Requiem. History - music - documents. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1991, ISBN 3-7618-1242-6 , p. 126 f.
personal data
SURNAME Gerl, Franz Xaver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH Andorf
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1827
Place of death Mannheim