Karl Helm (singer)

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Karl Helm (born October 3, 1938 in Passau ; † August 7, 2012 ) was a German opera singer ( bass ).

Life

Helm was the younger brother of the singer Hans Helm . Like his brother, he received his vocal training from Else Zeidler in Dresden and from Franz Reuter-Wolf in Munich. He got his first engagement at the Städtebundtheater Passau . In 1968 he made his stage debut at the Stadttheater Bern in the role of Don Alfonso in Mozart's opera Così fan tutte , where he stayed with the ensemble for three years. In 1969 he sang the role of Rocco in Fidelio in a performance with Wolfgang Windgassen (Florestan) and Ludmila Dvořáková (Leonore).

In 1970 he made his first guest appearance at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich , also as Rocco . He was then engaged as a permanent member of the ensemble at the Bavarian State Opera. Helm was a member of the ensemble there for almost 35 years. As a house bass, he was one of the most important ensemble singers in this house, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1985 he was appointed Bavarian Chamber Singer .

At the Bavarian State Opera he sang the following leading roles: Fasolt in Das Rheingold ( inter alia in the 1982/83 season), Daland in The Flying Dutchman , King Heinrich in Lohengrin , Ferrando in Il trovatore , Count Monterone in Rigoletto (inter alia in the season 1981/82), King Philipp and the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos (including the 1980/81 season, the 1981/82 season and the 1984/85 season), Ramphis in Aida (including the 1981/82 season and 1983/84 season), as well as various Buffo -Roles such as Kezal in The Bartered Bride (Munich 1972), Falstaff in The funny women of Windsor and Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore .

In 1971 he sang Publio in a new production of the Mozart opera La clemenza di Tito (director: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ) at the Munich Opera Festival ; In the following years he sang this role every year for over a decade at the summer opera festival and later in January 1989 when he took over the production in the repertoire of the Bavarian State Opera. In 1973 he played King Arkel in the premiere of the now legendary production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle in the opera Pelléas et Mélisande . He later took on this role at the Munich Opera Festival in the summer of 1979 and when this production was resumed in the 1979/80 season. In the 1978/79 season he took on the role of 2nd armored man in a new production of Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte (premiere: October 1978, director: August Everding ). At the Munich Opera Festival in 1979 he sang the role of the baker and guild master Fritz Kothner in a new production of the Wagner opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (premiere: July 1979, director: August Everding); he later took on this role, u. a. in the 1983/84 season, also repeatedly in numerous Meistersinger repertoire performances.

In the 1980/81 season he took over the role of Alidoro in the premiere of Rossini's opera La Cenerentola (premiere: December 1980, director: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ); he “brought an Alidoro with profound tones that could also be seen and heard south of the Alps ”. He later sang this role a. a. in July 1982 at the Munich Opera Festival and again in the Cenerentola resumption in the 1993/94 season with Cecilia Bartoli .

In the 1983/84 season he sang the role of Herr Reich in a new production of the opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (director: Peter Beauvais , premiere: October 1983); In the same season, in November 1983, Lieutenant Zuniga followed in a Carmen premiere (director: Jean-Claude Auvray ), which he sang again and again in later years. During the Munich Opera Festival in July 1986, he sang the role of City Councilor Lindorf in a new production of Hoffmann's stories (director: Otto Schenk ); He then sang this role in the Hoffmann Repertoire Performances in the 1986/87 season. In the 1989/90 season he took on the role of the hermit in a new production of the opera Der Freischütz , directed by Niels-Peter Rudolph .

As an ensemble singer, Helm often took on many small and medium-sized roles, in which he drew striking character portraits. These included roles such as Cardinal Orvieto in Rienzi (as part of the Munich Opera Festival 1983 and 1984), the leader of the Prévoté in Cardillac (Munich 1985), the Kommerzienrat in Intermezzo (including in the 1988/89 season when the Munich company took over the production Opera festival in the Cuvilliéstheater ), the lawyer Swallow in Peter Grimes (new production in the 1991/92 season, in the role debut of René Kollo in the title role ; "profiled" also in July 1992 at the Munich Opera Festival), the Marchese di Calatrava in La forza del destino and Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata (among others in July 1993 in a new production of the opera by Günter Krämer as part of the Munich Opera Festival; last in this production in July 2003 as part of the Munich Opera Festival alongside Anna Netrebko as Violetta).

Since the early 1980s he has appeared repeatedly as Geronte de Ravoir in Manon Lescaut (premiere: October 1981). He took on this role again in the 2001/02 season, as in the last Manon Lescaut production 20 years ago, in a new production by Andreas Homoki , where he “acted very impressively again”, but “no longer quite vocally powerful "was. In this role he was continuously on stage at the Bavarian State Opera until November 2003. Later in his career he regularly sang the night watchman in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (most recently in July 2003 as part of the Munich Opera Festival) and the caretaker of Orestes in Elektra (production: Herbert Wernicke , premiere: October 1997, last in September 2003). In April 2004 he sang the role of old Titurel in Parsifal again in four performances in Munich , which he had sung repeatedly in Munich for decades. With this role he also had his stage farewell in Munich.

Helm also took part in two world premieres of contemporary operas at the Bavarian State Opera. In July 1978 as King of France in Lear and in May 1998 as Antonio in the opera Was ihr wollt by Manfred Trojahn . The King of France in Lear he sang again at the end of the Munich Opera Festival in the last performance of this opera at the Bavarian State Opera in August 1982. A live recording of the opera Lear was organized by the Deutsche Grammophon to record now also and on CD released . In December 1992 he was the "very passive" death in the Munich premiere of the opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis in the Cuvilliés Theater .

Helm has appeared as a guest at the Basel Theater , the Grand Théâtre de Genève , the Stuttgart State Opera , the Hamburg State Opera (including in the 1984/85 season as Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos ), the Deutsche Oper am Rhein , and the State Opera Berlin (1987 in La Cenerentola ), at the Karlsruhe State Theater and in Paris, Rome and Venice.

Helm died at the age of 73 after a brief serious illness.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
  2. ↑ Manfred Strauss: LA CENERENTOLA . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue March 3, 1981. Page 205/206.
  3. ↑ Bernd Hoppe: "CARMEN" -POSSE AND SERIOUS . Performance reviews. In: Orpheus . Edition 12/13. December 1992. Pages 43-46. To K. Helm on page 46 above.
  4. ↑ G. Knopf: MUNICH: Manon Lescaut . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Issue March 3, 2002. Page 10/11.
  5. ↑ Jeffrey Alexander: THE MARSTALL IN THE CUVILLIES THEATER . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue March 3, 1993. Page 59.
personal data
SURNAME Helm, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Passau
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 2012