Hermann Weil (singer)

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Hermann Weil

Hermann Wilhelm Weil ( September 25, 1876 in Mühlburg - July 6, 1949 in Blue Mountain Lake , New York ) was a German chamber singer with a baritone voice . For almost 30 years, with interruptions, he belonged to the ensemble of the Stuttgart Court Opera , was occasionally engaged in New York and Vienna , and as a hero baritone several times at the Bayreuth Festival . He was attacked because of his Jewish origins in the 1920s and dismissed after the Nazis came to power in 1933. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1939 .

life and work

Hermann Weil grew up as the son of Manuel Weil and Barbara Hörz in Karlsruhe and attended a grammar school here. Weil actually wanted to become a primary school teacher, but decided to study musicology , music theory and conducting at the Karlsruhe Conservatory . One of his teachers was the conductor Felix Mottl . He received pianistic training from Stephan Krehl . He also took singing lessons from Adolf Dippel in Frankfurt am Main . In 1900 he was hired as a répétiteur at the court theater in Karlsruhe . In 1901 he made his debut at the Stadttheater Freiburg as an opera singer, in the role of Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wagner's Tannhäuser and the Singers' War on Wartburg . In 1902 he married Charlotte Johanna, geb. Keßler (born February 28, 1879 in Frankfurt / Main), a fellow student in singing.

In 1904 he moved from Freiburg to Stuttgart and was engaged at the Stuttgart Court Opera , "at which he was able to achieve great success until 1933". He was loyal to this house for thirty years and remained a guest singer during his foreign engagements. He quickly became a pillar of the ensemble . His focus was on the German subject, he appeared in works by Mozart, Beethoven, Kreutzer, Lortzing, Wagner, R. Strauss and Pfitzner. He was involved in three important first performances in Stuttgart, as Jochanaan in the Salome by Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss , as Orest in the Elektra by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, and as Dietrich im Armen Heinrich von Hartmann von Aue and Hans Pfitzner . In March 1909 he sang a leading role in the world premiere of the opera Princess Brambilla by Walter Braunfels . But already in Stuttgart he made a name for himself with excellent performances in the Italian and French disciplines and was appointed royal chamber singer of the court opera due to his achievements.

Guest appearances took him to the Stadttheater Augsburg in 1907 and to Munich in 1909/1910 . His first foreign engagement took place in 1909: In Amsterdam he took on the role of Sebastiano in Eugen d'Albert's late romantic opera Tiefland . Later he sang Kurwenal in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde at this house .

With the artistic collaboration of Hofkapellmeister Erich Band , Hermann Weil joined forces in 1911 with his wife Olga Band-Agloda (soprano), Meta Diestel and Karl Erb to form the “New Stuttgart Vocal Quartet”. 1911 was the year of his international breakthrough. He was signed to the Metropolitan Opera ( Met ) in New York and the Bayreuth Festival . In New York he made his debut as Kurwenal and subsequently interpreted a total of 16 games in 115 performances over six seasons. From 1912 to 1914 he was also engaged at the Boston Opera. In 1912 he took part in a concert performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Met . At the US premiere of the Rosenkavalier on December 9, 1913 in the Met, he sang the Faninal. In 1916 he was heard in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride . Other important roles in New York were Wolfram, Telramund, Wotan and Wanderer from his Wagner repertoire.

He made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1911 as Amfortas and Gunther. Alternating with Walter Soomer ( bass baritone ) he sang the Sachs. In 1913 he was invited to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, where he gave Jochanaan in Salome . Further guest appearances have taken him to La Scala in Milan , Madrid, Berlin and Brussels.

Hermann Weil in New York, 1917 photographed by George Grantham Bain

After the United States entered the First World War , the singer was interned in 1917 as an " enemy alien ". He was also artistically active during his imprisonment: in 1919 an opera troupe composed of German singers made their debut at the Lexington Theater in Lexington (New York) . However, due to pressure from anti-German groups led by war veterans, the season ended before it began. He then returned to Europe and accepted a 3-year engagement as a member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera . In Vienna, too, it impressed with its universal applicability (in the French subject as Escamillo in Carmen and as Count Nevers in the Huguenots ; in the Italian subject as Count Luna in the troubadour and in the entire German subject from Mozart to the present day). In total, Weil embodied more than 100 different roles in his career. An extensive and lucrative American tour with the German Opera Company followed in 1923 and 1924 . He then took on the role of Hans Sachs in the Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Bayreuth , one of his star roles.

On November 27, 1926, Hermann Weil took on the title role in the Stuttgart production following the Dresden premiere of Busoni's Doctor Faust , with Fritz Windgassen as Mephistopheles. Parallel to his appearances in operas and concerts, Hermann Weil was always active in other areas of activity, as a music researcher, pianist, singing teacher and conductor.

As early as 1924 and 1925, when he repeatedly played Sachs for the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival, Hermann Weil was the target of violent anti-Semitic attacks of a verbal nature. At that time, the “ Green Hill ” had already become a “chauvinist greenhouse”, where Weil and his colleague Friedrich Schorr were attacked as Jews.

When Gauleiter Wilhelm Murr was elected President of Württemberg on March 15, 1933 , the professional fate of the singer was sealed, who had returned to the Stuttgart Opera in 1923 as a member of the ensemble and, like the singer Peter Müller, became one of the audience favorites, "whose charm surrounded the ladies ". One of the first official acts of the new Nazi culture minister Christian Mergenthaler was the dismissal of general manager Albert Kehm , the administrative director and senior stage manager of opera and drama at the Stuttgart State Theater . Kehm was fired on August 1, 1935; but already "on leave" from March 27th. He appointed the National Socialist Otto Krauss as the new director and within a month all Jews were dismissed. In addition to Hermann Weil u. a. the actors Max Marx , Heinz Rosenthal and Fritz Wisten , the singer Hermann Horner , the choir singer Elsa Reder, the dancer Suse Rosen and the director of the opera, the Swedish director Harry Stangenberg . Fritz Wisten and Herman Weil, counting among the "old men at the Landestheater", were dismissed in March 1933 because Mergenthaler now wanted people "who have a heroic trait in their hearts".

In cooperation with the state archive, the historian Hannes Heer u. a. In the documentary “Silent Voices” published in 2008, the expulsion of the Jews from the opera from 1933 to 1945 is presented in detail. The events surrounding Hermann Weil's dismissal are described as follows:

“Even before the law on the restoration of the civil service, which was passed on April 7 and ordered the dismissal of non-Aryan and politically unreliable officials, came into force, the prominent Jews - the actors Fritz Wisten and Max Marx and the singers Herman Weil and Hermann Horner - were fired at the end of March . […]
But Hermann Weil was half-Jewish. On March 31, 1933, when he entered the theater, he was told succinctly: 'You don't need to come any more.' He was barely allowed to apply for retirement due to 'occupational disability'. Only his colleague Fritz Windgassen protested against the violation of the law. The new minister of education Christian Mergenthaler responded to the suggestion to bid farewell to the long-standing ensemble member, as usual, with an honor: 'As a Jew, the chamber singer Hermann Weil cannot be made an honorary member of the State Theater.' "

Because Weil believed that the Nazi regime would not last long, he did not emigrate until 1939 with his wife Hanna and their two sons. Hermann and his wife were expatriated by the Nazi regime. Your last residential address in Germany was Danneckerstraße 17 in Stuttgart. First he moved to Switzerland , then in 1941 to the United States. The family settled in New York , where Weil founded a singing school and worked as a singing teacher until his death. After the fall of the Nazi regime, he did not return to Germany. In 1949 he suffered a stroke while fishing in Blue Mountain Lake in Hamilton County, New York , fell from the boat and drowned.

repertoire

His well-trained voice extended over three octaves and reached up to a 'g' in height, which enabled him to play numerous roles both as bass and baritone.

Opera (selection)

The role directory was created on the basis of the online archive of the Vienna State Opera, which is not complete until 1955, furthermore using the websites Emilio's Blog and Forgotten Opera Singers .

World premieres

repertoire

Hermann Weil as Hans Sachs in Bayreuth, photographed by Alfred Pieperhoff in 1912

d'Albert :

Beethoven :

  • Don Fernando and Don Pizarro in Fidelio

Bizet :

Busoni :

Gounod :

Humperdinck :

Kreutzer :

Lortzing :

Meyerbeer :

Mozart :

 

Pfitzner :

Richard Strauss :

Verdi :

Wagner :

concert

The singer was also engaged for numerous concerts. His repertoire ranged from Bach to Mahler. For example, on October 5, 1912, he was engaged as a vocal soloist in the elite concert of the Berlin Philharmonic under Rudolf Siegel . On October 7, 1920 he interpreted the songs of a traveling journeyman in Vienna .

The Baden composer Carl Kromer dedicated the song In my home I came back to him , his op. 127 based on a poem by Hermann Lingg . In addition to songs by Robert Radecke and Ludwig Wallbach, he also sang the famous song Zueignung by Richard Strauss or the song Neig ', sweet bud, which he set to music .

Audio documents

The voice of Hermann Weil is only documented in individual arias and opera excerpts, because at that time, due to technical limitations regarding the playing time of sound carriers, no complete recordings could be made.

Memorial plaque for Hermann Weil in Bayreuth

Commemoration

Hermann Weil was one of the world's best singers of his time and, as a hero-baritone, was for many years "the undisputed star of the Stuttgart Opera". He was successful all over Europe and in the United States and impressed with his versatility.

His work in Stuttgart was recognized as part of the exhibition Mute Voices , which was shown in the autumn of 2008 at the Stuttgart State Opera to expel Jewish artists from the opera from 1933 to 1945. On April 7, 2016, another memorial hour was held for the victims of National Socialism among the members of the Stuttgart State Theater. In this context, a blackboard “Mute Voices” for 23 artists, including Hermann Weil, was unveiled in the foyer of the State Theater.

In Bayreuth Richard Wagner Park near the Bayreuth Festspielhaus , a memorial plaque was with a text from the exhibition catalog for him Silenced Voices built.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hermann Weil (singer)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Weil, Hermann, baritone, in: KJ Kutsch; Leo Riemens: Immortal Voices - Singer Lexicon, Bern and Munich, 1975, p. 704; 2. revised Edition 1982, pp. 749f.
  2. ^ Hermann Weil in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
  3. ↑ a b c Weil, Hermann, in: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (ed.): Biographisches Handbuch der Deutschensprachigen Emigration nach 1933–1945, Munich, 1999 ( Google-Books-Schnipsel )
  4. ↑ Hermann Weil, in: Erich H. Müller (ed.): German Musicians Lexicon, Dresden, 1929, p. 1557
  5. ↑ a b c d e Hermann Weil, in: Jürgen Kesting: Die Grossen Sänger, Vol. 1, 2008, Hoffmann and Campe, pp. 206f .; (first edition in Claassen, 1986, vol. 2, pp. 854f.)
  6. ↑ a b Michael Hepp, Hans Georg Lehmann: The expatriation of German citizens 1933-45 according to the lists published in the Reichsanzeiger, 1985, p. 723
  7. ↑ Henry C. Lahee: The Grand Opera Singers of To-Day, Boston, 1922, pp 338 and 352 ( HathiTrust digital copy )
  8. ↑ Hannes Heer : Silent voices. The expulsion of the "Jews" from the opera 1933 to 1945. The fight for the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart. An exhibition. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86331-303-6 , p. 106.
  9. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Munich, May 4, 1907, p. 4
  10. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung, Munich, July 17, 1909, p. 675
  11. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung, Munich, March 5, 1910, p. 1
  12. ↑ Neue Musik-Zeitung, Vol. 32, 1911, p. 162
  13. ↑ Irving Kolodin: The Metropolitan Opera 1883–1939, New York 1940 ( HathiTrust digitized)
  14. ↑ RING CYCLE BEGINS AT METROPOLITAN; An Excellent Performance of "Das Rheingold" Is Conducted by Artur Bodanzky. HERMANN WEIL AS WOTAN Mme. Rappold Sings the Bartered Goddess Freia, and Henri Scott is Donner for First Time . In: New York Times, February 4, 1916 (from the print archive)
  15. ^ Hermann Weil, in: Horst Seeger: Opern Lexikon, Berlin, 1986, p. 679
  16. ↑ Michael Scott: The record of singing, Vol 2, 1914 to 1925, London 1979, p. 225
  17. ↑ Christoph Gaiser: On the Stuttgart premiere of Doktor Faust 1926 (accessed on April 13, 2019)
  18. ^ Carl Siegmund Benedict: Bayreuth Thoughts, in: Neue Musik-Zeitung, Issue 12, 1924, p. 302
  19. ↑ Bernd Mayer, Frank Piontek: Jüdisches Bayreuth , Bayreuth, 2010 ( Google snippet )
  20. ↑ a b Stuttgarts Theaterlieblinge, in: Otto Borst: Stuttgart - The history of the city, Stuttgart and Aalen, 1973, p. 333 and 409
  21. ↑ Alfred Kehm, in: Theaterlexikon der Schweiz online (accessed April 13, 2019)
  22. ^ Kurt Leipner: Chronicle of the City of Stuttgart , 1982, p. 10
  23. ^ Georg Günther: A place of "particularly loving care" - The Verdi tradition at the Stuttgart Opera from its beginnings to the present. In: Georg Günther, Reiner Nägele (Ed.): Musik in Baden-Württemberg, Yearbook 2001 , JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 978-3-476-01872-4 , p. 51. ( Google Books )
  24. ↑ Ingrid Bauz, Sigrid Brüggemann, Roland Maier: “You don't need to come any more!” The suppression of artists of Jewish faith and of Jewish descent from the Stuttgart theater and music scene by the National Socialists . Stuttgart 2008, 76 pp. (Brochure on the occasion of and in addition to the exhibition “Silent Voices” at the Stuttgart State Opera, 2008. Text excerpt online from Hagalil, November 6, 2008 )
  25. ↑ Hannes Heer: Silent voices: the expulsion of the "Jews" from the opera 1933 to 1945; The fight for the Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart: an exhibition, 2008, p. 84
  26. ^ Andreas Kolb: Subject: Employment of Jews. Exhibition "Silent Voices" in Stuttgart. In: Zeitschrift Oper & Tanz Issue 2008/6
  27. ↑ Hannes Heer: Silent voices. The expulsion of the "Jews" from the opera 1933 to 1945. The fight for the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart. An exhibition. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86331-303-6 , p. 84 and p. 106
  28. ↑ Emilio's Blog: Biography of Hermann Weil with photo gallery (accessed April 10, 2019)
  29. ↑ Associated Press : HW Weil, 73, Drowns. Former Opera Singer , New York Times , July 7, 1949, accessed March 19, 2019.
  30. ↑ Newspaper note on the death of Hermann Weil in Blue Mountain Lake, in: Billboard Publications, 1949 (accessed April 14, 2019)
  31. ^ Wiener Staatsoper : Search result: Performances with Hermann Weil , accessed on March 19, 2019.
  32. ^ IMSLP: Kromer Heimkehr , accessed on March 20, 2019.
  33. ^ Vox recording book , accessed March 26, 2019.
  34. ↑ Richard Arsenty, Robert Ignatius Letellier: Giacomo Meyerbeer: A Discography of Vintage Recordings 1889 - 1955 , Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2014 S. 322nd
  35. ↑ Internet Archive: Dir O Queen Hermann Weil. Accessed March 31, 2019 .
  36. ^ Alan Kelly: His Master's Voice. The German Catalog: a Complete Numerical Catalog of German Gramophone Recordings Made from 1898 to 1929 in Germany, Austria, and Elsewhere by the Gramophone Company Ltd. Greenwood Press, 1994, accessed March 30, 2019 (excerpt from Google Books).
  37. ↑ Odeon: Blick ich Umher , accessed on March 20, 2019.
  38. ↑ Internet Archive: Weil Fliedermonolog. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Internet Archive: Valentine's Prayer Hermann Weil. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Internet Archive: Because Bajazzo Prolog. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .
  41. ^ Library of Congress: Prologue [sound recording]: from Bajazzo. Accessed March 31, 2019 .
  42. ^ Library of Congress: Song to the Evening Star [sound recording]: from Tannhauser. Retrieved March 30, 2019 .
  43. ↑ Internet Archive: Die Two Grenadiers Columbia A 5864. Retrieved on March 31, 2019 (English).
  44. ↑ Internet Archive: Sailor's Song Columbia E 3403. Retrieved October 11, 2019 (English).
  45. ↑ Internet Archive: Hermann Weil. Accessed March 31, 2019 (English, overview of recordings).
  46. ↑ Discography of American Historical Recordings : Victor matrix [Trial 1924-03-12-04 . Im walde / Hermann Weil] , accessed on March 20, 2019.
  47. ↑ Hannes Heer, Jürgen Kesting, Peter Schmidt: Silent voices. The Bayreuth Festival and the "Jews" 1876 to 1945 , Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-98-7 , p. 106
  48. ↑ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg: Silent Voices - Exhibition in the State Opera Stuttgart and in the House of History
  49. ↑ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg: Memorial plaque for Nazi victims unveiled in the Stuttgart State Theater (April 7, 2016)
  50. ↑ Silent voices - Stuttgart Opera recalls ostracized artists (April 7, 2016) with audio recording of Hannes Heer's lecture on Hermann Weil u. a.
personal data
SURNAME Because, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weil, Hermann Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer with a baritone voice
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Muhlburg
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1949
Place of death Blue Mountain Lake , New York