Hans Duhan

Hans Duhan as Count Almaviva

Hans Duhan ( January 27, 1890 in Vienna - March 6, 1971 ibid) was an Austrian opera singer ( baritone ). He was a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble for 26 years and was the first Count Almaviva and the first Papageno of the Salzburg Festival .

Life

Duhan was a “real Viennese”, was born here, grew up here and also completed his high school and musical studies here. In addition to singing with Heinrich Gottinger and Emil Steger , he studied piano, organ and music theory with Ferdinand Rebay and completed the conducting course with Franz Schalk and Felix Weingartner . With the exception of Salzburg, he rarely worked outside the city limits of Vienna. Of course, as was customary in the provinces at the time, he made his debut in 1910 at the Troppau City Theater .

On April 27, 1914 Duhan made his debut as Amonasro in Verdi's Aida at the Vienna Court Opera . He remained a member of the institute until 1940, not only as a valued baritone , but later also as a director and occasionally as a conductor . In the Haus am Ring Duhan sang Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at least 16 times and Bassa Selim in Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio 17 times , Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca 24 times , Don Fernando 29 times in Beethoven's Fidelio and 62 times the prison director Frank in der Fledermaus by Johann Strauss .

Duhan took part in three important world premieres : in 1916 he played music teacher and Harlequin in the new version of Ariadne auf Naxos by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss . He was supposed to represent the music teacher 60 times and the Harlequin 76 times. From 1927 he sang and played the violin virtuoso Daniello 21 times in Ernst Krenek's highly controversial jazz opera Jonny plays . In 1934 he took over the Duke in the world premiere of Franz Lehárs Giuditta , whom he was to portray a total of 19 times. However, he also took on the role of Manuele Biffi 7 times. From the end of the 1920s, Duhan was increasingly employed as a director and director, he was responsible for the smooth running of several hundred evenings at the State Opera.

Hans Duhan also accompanied the Vienna State Opera on numerous tours to London, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rome, Budapest, etc. In 1924 he sang the title role in Don Giovanni as well as Count Almaviva in one of these guest performances at the Parisian Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Le nozze di Figaro .

Salzburg Festival

Duhan made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as early as 1922: He sang the title role in Mozart's Don Giovanni three times in the festival's very first opera production - as a substitute for Alfred Jerger - which was then called Don Juan . Richard Strauss conducted it . His last appearance took place in 1937, at the last festival before the annexation of Austria , in a recital together with the soprano Helen Gahagan , who was dedicated to “Austria's Present in Song”. Works by Josef Matthias Hauer , Hans Ewald Heller , Rudolf Réti , Joseph Marx , Alban Berg , Wilhelm Kienzl and Joseph Rinaldini were sung . Joseph Marx and Fritz accompanied Kuba on the piano. Two of the composers had to emigrate a little later, a third (Hauer) was defamed by the National Socialists in the traveling exhibition “ Degenerate Music ”.

In the 1920s and 1930s Duhan was an important pillar of the festival - in 1922 as the first Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro , in 1926 as the first occupation of Don Juan , as prison director Frank in the bat and as a music teacher in Ariadne on Naxos , in 1927 again as Almaviva and Don Juan, in 1928 as the first Papageno of the Festival, in 1933 as Melot in Tristan und Isolde and as a soloist in the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms , from 1934 to 1936 again as Melot. As early as 1926 he was supposed to play a recital, but this had to be canceled due to indisposition.

Recitals and oratorios

Duhan gave a series of recitals , mainly sang works by Franz Schubert , Franz Liszt , Carl Loewe and Richard Strauss . Numerous audio documents of his song interpretations are available, also on the Internet. He was the first singer to record all three Franz Schubert song cycles - namely Die Schöne Müllerin , Winterreise and the Schwanengesang - on record. This happened in 1928 for His Master's Voice . He also endeavored to find works by contemporary composers, in addition to the composers mentioned in the Salzburg recital, he also performed works by Erich Zeisl, who was later forced to emigrate .

As an oratorio singer , his Christ in Bach's St. Matthew Passion was remembered above all .

Singing teacher

From the academic year 1931/32 to 1955 Duhan worked as a teacher of opera drama at the Vienna Music Academy . He shaped numerous baritones, bass baritones and basses of the following generation, including Hans Braun , Ernst Gutstein , Erich Kunz , Peter Lagger , Hermann Uhde and Otto Wiener , as well as the tenor Waldemar Kmentt .

Composer and conductor

• Mozart . A Singspiel in two acts and a sequel. Libretto by Julius Wilhelm and Paul Frank . Gabor Steiner Verlag, Vienna / Leipzig 1923. First performance on June 2, 1923, Volksoper Vienna .

Occasionally, he was also at the podium of the State Opera Orchestra : He conducted the Flying Dutchman and Lohengrin once, Verdi's Rigoletto twice and Puccini's Tosca five times .

Others

From 1934 to 1938 Duhan was a member of the Federal Cultural Council as a representative of the Art Group , designed programs for “patriotic events” and was closely related to Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg and the Heimwehr .

Wilhelm Kienzl dedicated his Op. 96. From the people's Wunderhorn. A collection of fifteen folk poems, set to music for a medium voice with piano accompaniment by Wilhelm Kienzl. Dedicated to Hans Duhan with the highest artistic esteem .

Duhan was with Erilda (Eri), geb. Strell (March 7, 1894 - July 14, 1962) married. Both graves are in the Hietzinger Friedhof (Gr. 35 No. 17A).

Awards

• 1926: Appointment as chamber singer (July 3)
• 1955: Honorary member of the Vienna State Opera
• 1960: Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital Vienna (February 26)

literature

• Hermann Ullrich: Hans Duhan. A great artist from a great time . In: Mozart Community Vienna 1913–1963. Researchers and performers. Edited by Wilhelm Rohm. Mozart community. Lafite, Vienna 1964, p. 156 ff.
• Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . (Electronic Resource). Directmedia Publishing (license Saur, Munich), Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89853-133-3 .
• Barbara Boisits: Duhan, Hans. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .
• Hans Duhan in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
• He was more than a good singer: Hans Duhan died . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 10, 1971, p. 8 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).

Web links

Commons : Hans Duhan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hans Duhan at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
• Sound documents by Hans Duhan : Schubert's "Am Meer"
• Sound documents by Hans Duhan : Schubert's "An die Leier"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aida .. In:  playbill (Opera and the Burgtheater in Vienna) , April 27, 1914 p.1 (Online at ANNO ).
2. ↑ Latest theater news .. In:  Der Morgen , April 6, 1914, p. 7 (online at ANNO ). In May the baritone Hans Duhan joins the Association of the Court Opera.
   
3. ↑ Since the performances of the Vienna State Opera are not fully recorded in the archives until 1955, there is a very good chance that the number of parts and performances sung by Duhan could increase. This also applies to his conducting.
4. ^ The reform of the music academy. Abandonment of the Beer and Markowsky classes. In:  Neues Wiener Abendblatt , June 2, 1931, p. 4 (online at ANNO ). Albert Heine at the Music Academy .. In:  Neues Wiener Abendblatt , June 3, 1931, p. 3 (online at ANNO ). The changes in the teaching staff and in the structure of the Academy for Music and Performing Arts, which are currently being led by Inspector General Dr. Vienna, as reported, resulted in the termination of contracts with a number of outstanding teachers. At the same time as the measures for this dismantling campaign, negotiations are ongoing with numerous artists, such as the Kammersängerinnen Wildbrunn and Kiurina, in order to win them over to lead the newly designed master classes. These negotiations have already led to a conclusion with some artists, for example with Paul Hartmann , Dr. Lothar Wallerstein and Hans Duhan.
   
   
5. ↑ (Hans Duhan's Singspiel “Mozart”.). In:  Illustrierte Kronen-Zeitung , June 1, 1923, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).
6. ↑ Volksoper. “Mozart”, Singspiel by Julius Wilhelm and Paul Frank, music by Hans Duhan. First performance for the benefit of “Concordia” .. In:  Neue Freie Presse , June 3, 1923, p. 13 (online at ANNO ).
7. ^ Ernst Décsey :  Theater, Art and Literature. “Mozart”, Singspiel by Julius Wilhelm and Paul Frank, music by Hans Duhan. Volksoper on June 2nd. In:  Neues Wiener Tagblatt , June 3rd, 1923, p. 12 (online at ANNO ). The Dreimäderlhaus has moved to Salzburg and has been rented out. A Singspiel doesn't have to be a biography, and whether a few incidents are postponed or mixed up will only bother a professor of music history, not the audience. If only the human is true and unshifted. In the book by Wilhelm and Frank alone there is a jolly, flat companion under the name of Mozart, who only has a few similarities to the "enormously wet" original through the profile of Duhan, his actor. We do not make a thing out of the fact that this Mozart is seduced by the sight of the Salzburg landscape, which is seductive, to a kind of tour guide waltz: “Salzburg, Salzburg, you are the jewel, the pearl of Austria”. What worries us more is that Mozart only marries his Stanzi in Prague after the performance of “Don Juan” and cheats on her with her sister Aloysia on the wedding day. And most of all that Count Walsegg's mysterious messenger appears there in Prague, orders the requiem and, when Mozart declares that he is not in the mood, gets him in the mood with a hundred ducats. Mozart wrote pieces for music boxes and organ rolls for money, not his own death music. Mozart, who, as is well known, placed special emphasis on the “action” in a textbook, that is the plot, will later see his mistake, because Wilhelm and Frank's book is a book almost without “action”. Little happens, unemployed people stand around on the stage, and yet the audience likes it. This causes the self-acting in their distortion folk-like figure Wolfgang Amades who stepped in life, unknown where buried and after his death verklärr [sic] or was exploited. Hans Duhan composed this book, and it is probably the first time that a singer has written an operetta to sing the lead role. A sensational smell from which the older, honest Mozart singing games (by Lortzing , by Riotte ) were free. Duhan spreads out pretty salon music, cheerful melodies that oscillate between Toselli and Richard Strauss , between Reissiger and Eisler , a rhythm that is sure of victory, an instrumentation that is madly in love with the celesta . He is a good, gifted musician, rarely uses Mozart ( Das Veilchen , das Requiem ), does everything on his own, and everything would be fine if it weren't for Wolfgang Amadé Mozart who has to sing Duhan. ... The audience likes it - but it's nicer the other way round: when Duhan Mozart sings ... The audience, however, had no doubts and gave "Mozart" the great stormy reception. It said: Mozart, and meant Duhan. First and foremost, the success is probably also a personal success of the singer and composer, and without him the piece seems hardly conceivable. Charming in the first, it is moving in the last, in the act of death. Mr. Duhan has every reason to be on the same page with the main character's actor, probably also with the conductor Leo Krauss and the other actors, as you can see from his beaming expression. Ms. Wagschal as Aloysia and Ms. Friedl Böhm as Konstanze are very amiable, who had a special success with the duet “If it was only later” and an inserted Italian aria from “ Ré pastore ”. Mr. Kurth is an excellent, flickering Josef Lange ("a bag of wind"), Doctor Krögler an elegiac, jealous Sussmeyer , Mr. Lazer a heavily laden Schachtner and Mr. Puntschart a cozy, round host of yours. Not to mention the unfortunately-utilized too little Niese komik woman Griebl as Veronica. The picturesque view of Hohensalzburg, the magnificent apartment of the Duschk couple in Prague and the beautiful, brightly colored Rococo costumes also played successfully. But Hans Duhan was Hans Dampf in every gas, he will soon play a more role, will step down from the stage to the pulpit and conduct his work himself. Some things affected us strangely; we doubt whether Duhan had to “bring us closer” to Mozart in this way; but Mozart certainly brought Hans Duhan closer to everyone.
   
   
   
8. ↑ Theater, Art and Music. "Mozart". Singspiel in two acts and a sequel by Julius Wilhelm and Paul Frank. Music by Hans Duhan. (First performance in the Volksoper on June 2, 1923.) .. In:  Reichspost , June 3, 1923, p. 11 (online at ANNO ).
9. ^ Erwin Schaeffer:  Theater and Art. Volksoper .. In:  Wiener Zeitung , June 4, 1923, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).
10. ↑ Theater and Art. Volksoper .. In:  Der Humorist (1880-1926) , June 8, 1923, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
11. ↑ theater. "Ormer Voter, how have you changed!" .. In:  Die Bombe , June 15, 1923, p. 3 (online at ANNO ). and p. 6
12. ^ Holdings of the Austrian National Library
13. ^ Official part. In:  Wiener Zeitung , July 9, 1926, p. 1 (online at ANNO ). The Federal President has on July 3rd d. J. awarded the title of chamber singer to the solo singer Hans Duhan at the Vienna State Opera.