Martial Singher
Martial Singher (born August 14, 1904 in Oloron-Sainte-Marie , † March 9, 1990 in Santa Barbara , California ) was a French opera singer (baritone) and vocal teacher.
Life
Singher began studying as a teacher at the University of Toulouse and only pursued singing as a hobby. With the help of a scholarship, he was able to begin studying at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1927 .
After graduating in 1930 he made his debut in Amsterdam as Oreste in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride . He made his debut at the Opéra de Paris in the same year as Athanaël in Jules Massenet's Thaïs . Singher stayed in Paris for eleven seasons and had numerous guest appearances on opera stages in Europe and South America. In 1931 he represented the singer Vanni Marcoux as Iago in Verdi's Othello alongside Lauritz Melchior . In addition to his engagement at the Paris Opera, Singher also appeared in Buenos Aires and London in the 1930s. Singher had been married to Margareta Busch (* 1916), the daughter of the Fritz Busch conductor, since 1940 . Busch had left Germany for political reasons. In 1940 Fritz Busch emigrated to the USA, and Singher followed with his wife in 1941. In New York he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1943 as Dappertutto in Jacques Offenbach's opera Hoffmanns Erzählungen . He was on stage around 100 times at the MET . He was engaged there until he had to retire from the stage for health reasons in 1959, but remained connected to the opera house until his death.
His repertoire included both French and German opera literature, and in particular he made a name for himself as a Wagner singer (including Wolfram in Tannhäuser and Amfortas in Parsifal ).
After the end of his career as a singer, Singher taught at the Mannes College of Music in Manhattan, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and finally at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, succeeding Lotte Lehmann . His students included u. a. Jeannine Altmeyer , Judith Blegen , Rod Gilfry , Thomas Hampson , Ben Heppner , James King , Louis Quilico , Sondra Radvanovsky , John Reardon and Benita Valente .
Fonts
- An Interpretative Guide in Operatic Arias: A Handbook for Singers, Coaches, Teachers and Students , University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-271-02354-6
Web links
- Martial Singher at Operissimo on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
- Martial Singher at Allmusic (English)
- New York Times, March 12, 1990, Obituaries: Martial Singher, French Baritone And a Noted Teacher, Dies at 85
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1990. Retrieved October 17, 2016
- ^ Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1990. Retrieved October 17, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Singher, Martial |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French opera singer (baritone) and singing teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 14, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oloron-Sainte-Marie |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 1990 |
| Place of death | Santa Barbara , California |