Josef Wurda

Josef Wurda ( June 11, 1807 in Raab , Austrian Empire - April 25, 1875 in Hamburg , German Empire ) was an Austrian opera singer ( tenor ) and theater director .

Life

Wurda had a beautiful, sonorous tenor voice which he had trained. He often took part in concerts given by artists who had traveled to his hometown. They noticed his beautiful voice and caused the court opera director, Count Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg , to take care of him.

He was first taught by Conradin Kreutzer , under whose direction he studied “Licinius” in the Vestal Virgin , and was particularly popular when he first appeared in this extraordinarily difficult heroic tenor role .

Then he took lessons from Giuseppe Ciccimarra (1790–1836) and, after completing his training, found a job in Neustrelitz (1829–1835). From there he came to Friedrich Ludwig Schmidt in Hamburg, where he worked with distinction from 1835 to 184, and it is thanks to him that two Bellini operas, Der Pirat and Norma , which had previously failed, were honored again. He was distinguished by the pleasant sound and by a soulful and soulful presentation. Although he had been offered a lifelong engagement by the Grand Duke in Neustrelitz, he stayed in Hamburg and even took over the management of the city theater with Chéri Maurice in 1847 . However, the revolutionary year of 1848 was not favorable for theater companies.

"Josef Wurda", collective grave of the city ​​theater , Ohlsdorf cemetery

Wurda also had to struggle with losses afterwards and in 1854 felt compelled to resign from this position and to cede to the committee of the shareholders of the city theater. Since then, he has withdrawn from the public eye without ceasing to be interested and enthusiastic about art. He died of cardiac paralysis on April 25, 1875 in Hamburg.

His outstanding performances, especially in lyrical roles such as in Freischütz , Josef in Egypt , as "Belmonte", as "Eleazar" in the Jewess , or as "Guido" in Guido and Ginevra (by Jacques Fromental Halévy ) are part of Hamburg's theater history .

In the Ohlsdorf cemetery , in the area of ​​the Althamburg Memorial Cemetery near the main entrance to the cemetery, the municipal theater collective grave commemorates Josef Wurda , among others .

literature

• Ludwig Eisenberg : Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century . Verlag von Paul List , Leipzig 1903, p. 1153 f., ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

Web links

• Josef Wurda picture in the New York Public Library

This article is based on a public domain text from Ludwig Eisenberg's Large Biographical Lexicon of the German Stage in the 19th Century , 1903 edition.

Please only remove this note if you have revised the article to such an extent that the text reflects the current state of knowledge on this topic, this has been proven and it meets today's linguistic requirements.