Horst Günter

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Horst Günter (born May 23, 1913 in Leipzig ; † January 7, 2013 in Hamburg ) was a German opera singer ( baritone ) and singing teacher.

Life

Career as an opera singer

Günter joined the Leipzig St. Thomas Choir at the age of 9 and sang there as a boy soprano . His first singing teacher was the then Thomaskantor Karl Straube . This put him to the music professor Fritz Polster in Leipzig. Günter received his vocal training at the Leipzig Conservatory , where he graduated in 1938. He completed further vocal studies in Innsbruck , Bologna and finally in Berlin with the well-known contralto Emmi Leisner . Günter also studied musicology for four years .

Family grave at the Südfriedhof in Leipzig

Günter initially worked as a concert singer . In 1937 he made his debut in Eisenach as Christ in Bach's St. Matthew Passion . In 1938 he sang at the Leipzig Thomas Church also the Christ in the St. Matthew Passion. In 1938 he made a guest appearance with the Berlin Philharmonic Choir in Paris with Bach's Christmas Oratorio . In 1939/1940 Günter was drafted briefly for military service in the Wehrmacht . This was followed by concert engagements in Florence (1940), Romania (1940) and Venice (1942).

In 1941 he made his debut as an opera singer at the Schwerin State Theater ; his debut role was Count Almaviva in Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro . Günter was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Schwerin State Theater from 1941 to 1944 (until all theaters were closed due to the war) . There he sang Guglielmo in Così fan tutte , Figaro in The Barber of Seville , Count Luna in The Troubadour , the title role in Rigoletto and Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser .

In 1944 Günter was drafted into the Wehrmacht again; until 1948 he was a Soviet prisoner of war after the end of the war, where he learned Russian and performed at concerts. After the Second World War , he resumed his stage career at the Göttingen City Theater (season 1949/1950). He had another engagement at the Wiesbaden State Theater (1950). From 1950 to 1961 Günter was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Hamburg State Opera ; He performed there as a guest until 1968. In 1954 he took part in the concert premiere of the opera Moses und Aron at the Hamburger Rundfunk . He also had permanent guest contracts with the Bavarian State Opera (1958–1963) and the Stuttgart State Opera (1959–1965).

Günter made guest appearances at the Berlin State Opera (1944), the Komische Oper Berlin (1951), the Frankfurt Opera (1952), the Vienna State Opera (April 1953; as Figaro in The Barber of Seville and as Papageno in The Magic Flute ) and at the Edinburgh Festival (1952 as Papageno; 1956). As a concert singer he performed regularly at the Ansbach Bach Week from 1951 to 1958 .

Working as a singing teacher

In addition to his work as an opera singer, Günter worked as a singing teacher, singing teacher and voice coach. He held several teaching positions at universities in Germany and abroad. From 1959 to 1965 he was a professor at the Northwest German Music Academy in Detmold . From 1965 to 1978 he was a professor at the Freiburg University of Music . From 1978 to 1980 he taught at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles . He has lectured at various universities in the United States , Tokyo , France , Great Britain , Sweden and Finland . He also gave master classes on a regular basis . The American baritone Thomas Hampson is one of his students .

Günter was a co-founder of the " European Voice Teachers Association (EVTA) ". Günter continued his work as a singing teacher into old age. In 2004 he was still teaching at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House .

repertoire

Günter sang mainly the role of the lyrical baritons on stage, whereby he also took on roles from the area of ​​the play baritone and the cavalier baritone. His most important stage roles included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (which he sang almost 350 times), Guglielmo, Figaro, Tsar Peter I in Tsar and Zimmermann , Giorgio Germont in La Traviata and Marcel in La Bohème . Günter seldom sang dramatic roles, recognizing the natural limits of his voice. The only one of his few more dramatic roles was Mandryka in the opera Arabella .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Until Günter's death, 1917 was also given as the year of birth in some reference works.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Promoters of Individuality - The singer and teacher Horst Günter in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of February 13, 2004
  3. ↑ List of roles by Horst Günter in: Chronik der Wiener Staatsoper 1945-2005 , p. 444. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-85409-449-3
personal data
SURNAME Günter, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (baritone) and singing teacher
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 2013
Place of death Hamburg