Gustav Zeitzschel

Gustav Adolf Zeitzschel (born February 1, 1868 in Sorau , Niederlausitz ; † January 8, 1951 in Helmstadt near Würzburg ) was a German opera singer (lyric tenor ) and vocal and piano teacher.

Life

Zeitzschel received his singing training from the opera singer and singing teacher Lilli Lehmann . On August 12, 1897, he married Maria Clara Ehrhardt. At the turn of the century he achieved his artistic breakthrough as an opera singer with an engagement at the Stadttheater Frankfurt am Main (1900) and then until 1902 at the Stadttheater von Aachen .

Between 1902 and 1904 he received an engagement at the court opera in Weimar . There he was awarded the title of "Grand Ducal Saxon Court Opera Singer". The next season (1904/05) he was a member of the ensemble of the National Theater in Berlin ; then he was a guest at the New City Theater in Nuremberg until 1906 . Between 1906 and 1909 he worked at the Freiburg City Theater and then in Chemnitz until 1912 .

There were also numerous opera guest performances on well-known opera stages as well as solo performances of concerts, oratorios and solo quartets.

In 1913 Zeitzschel was ousted as a soloist by Richard Tauber, who was still young , as he agreed to significantly lower fees and his father, Richard Tauber senior, as director of the Chemnitz City Theater, was vehemently committed to his son's career.

In 1915 the Delog Filmgesellschaft engaged Zeitzschel as an opera singer for their innovative singing films based on the Beck patent . Most of these were silent films with live music (singers with piano accompaniment). As a singing star and becoming director of the German-Austrian artists' association, Zeitzschel organized singing and film tours in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and sang in numerous film operas. Zeitzschel was later officially entrusted with the management of the artist society.

His operatic repertoire included: Cavalleria rusticana ( Pietro Mascagni ), Der Freischütz ( Carl Maria von Weber ), The merry women of Windsor ( Otto Nicolai ), Martha ( Friedrich von Flotow ), The armorer ( Albert Lortzing ).

Zeitzschel married Anna Theresia Dunst on February 7, 1918.

The folk films in which Zeitzschel took part include: "Das Herz am Rhein" (1925, directed by Heinrich Lisson ), "Du Mädel vom Rhein" (1922, directed by Hans Felsing ), "I had a comrade" (1914), "Happiness only lives in the mountains" (1922, directed by Hans Felsing).

Since the sound film and the steadily improving sound quality soon put an end to this type of performance, Zeitzschel worked almost exclusively as a vocal and piano teacher after 1931. Until his death he could only be won over for very few appearances.

At the age of 70, after more than 3,600 appearances, he finally ended his career as an opera singer. He gave his farewell performance on April 15, 1938 in the St. Johanniskirche in Würzburg; where he sang the "Petrus / Pilatus" in the St. John Passion by Heinrich Schütz .

Web links

• Gustav Zeitzschel website with numerous photos