Jerome Hines

Jerome Hines , born Jerome Albert Link Heinz (born November 8, 1921 in Hollywood , † February 4, 2003 in Manhattan ) was an American opera singer ( bass ), composer and mathematician.

Life

Hines studied mathematics, physics and chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and also took singing lessons from Gennaro Curci. He taught chemistry for a year at UCLA and then was a chemist for his oil company. In 1940 he had his stage debut (Bill bobstay in HMS Pinafore he had at the LA Civic Light Opera in Los Angeles) and in October 1941 his debut as an opera singer at the San Francisco Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto and sang in the season in Tannhauser next Lauritz Melchior . In order to escape anti-German sentiments in the USA during World War II, he changed his last name for his singing career to Hines on the advice of his manager. He sang with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Opera . In 1946 he won the Caruso Award. In 1947 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera (Met) in New York (in Boris Godunow , but only in a supporting role), in which he replaced Ezio Pinza . In contrast to his predecessor, he not only mastered the Italian and French repertoire, but also the German and Russian. Hines soon became part of the regular cast there, sang in South America (Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires) and Mexico and was called in by Arturo Toscanini for concerts and a recording of the Missa solemnis (1953). He was part of the Met's ensemble until 1987, where he sang 45 roles in 39 operas, including Sarastro in the Magic Flute , Mephistopheles in Faust , Ramfis in Aida , the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos , King Marke in Tristan and Isolde and the title role in Boris Godunow . In the early 1950s, however, he had competition from George London at the Met .

In Europe, he first sang at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1953 and at the Edinburgh Festival with the UK premiere of The Rake's Progress by Igor Stravinsky (in the role of Nick Shadow). In 1958 he sang for the first time at the Scala in Milan (the title role in Hercules by Georg Friedrich Händel ). From 1958 to 1963 he sang at the Bayreuth Festival (Gurnemanz in Parsifal , Wotan in the Ring of the Nibelung , King Marke in Tristan and Isolde ). In 1962 (on the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis) he sang the title role in Boris Godunov in the Moscow Bolshoi Theater (as the second American after George London in 1960). He later gave singing lessons and founded the Opera-Music Theater Institute in New Jersey in 1987 , but he also appeared regularly as an ensemble member of the Met after he left, most recently in 2001 as Grand Inquisitor in a concert performance at the Boston Bel Canto Opera (his last He appeared in an opera performance in 1998 as Sarastro in New Orleans).

His height (over 1.95 m), his acting skills and his voluminous bass contributed to his impressive stage presence.

Hines was deeply religious and a member of the Salvation Army . He composed an opera about Jesus I am the way and sang the leading role (Jesus) in it in many performances worldwide (first performed with him in 1969 in Philadelphia). His religiosity also meant that he canceled an appearance at the Met on one occasion because the choreography seemed too daring to him.

He published his autobiography in 1968 and a book on opera singing and opera singers (including many of his colleagues) in 1982.

Hines wrote several mathematical papers in Mathematics Magazine in the 1950s. Later he also dealt with mathematics, with the mathematician at the Bell Laboratories Henry Otto Pollak he dealt with the philosophy of mathematics. He rejected Georg Cantor's concept of infinite quantities and preferred to speak of unattainably large numbers .

He had been married to the soprano Lucia Evangelista since 1952 (she died of ALS in 2000 ) and had four sons with her. Hines lived mostly in South Orange, New Jersey .

Fonts

• This is My Story, This is My Song, 1969 (autobiography)
• The Four Voices of Man, 1997
• Great Singers on Great Singing, 1982, Hal Leonard 1990

Mathematical essays:

• On approximating the roots of an equation by iteration, Mathematics Magazine, Volume 24, 1951, pp. 123-127
• Foundations of Operator Theory, Mathematics Magazine, Volume 25, 1952, pp: 251-261
• Operator Theory, Part 2, 3, Mathematics Magazine, Volume 28, 1955, pp. 199-207, Volume 29, 1955, pp. 69-76
• A Generalization of the S-Stirling numbers, Mathematics Magazine, Volume 29, 1955, pp. 200-203

Web links

• Literature by and about Jerome Hines in the catalog of the German National Library
• Alan Blyth, Guardian Obituary, Feb. 14, 2003
• Discography
• All Music Guide by Joseph Stephenson
• Bruce Duffie: Conversation Piece, Bass Jerome Hines (Interview 1991)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Interview with Barrymore Laurence Scherer, Opera News, Vol. 56, No. 7, 1991, pp. 30-32