Michael Davidson (singer, 1935)

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Michael Davidson (born May 2, 1935 in Long Beach , California ; † January 26, 2019 in Mannheim , Baden-Württemberg ) was an American opera singer ( baritone ), who was best known for his interpretation of Verdi's baritone roles. From 1966 to 1999 he was an ensemble member of the Mannheim National Theater and has made guest appearances at almost all German opera houses and numerous stages in Europe and North America.

Life

Education and early years

Michael Davidson was born on May 2, 1935 in Long Beach California. His mother Catherine Davidson (nee Quist) was a nurse, his father Clarence Edward Davidson a professional soldier in the US Navy. He received his vocal training in his hometown of Los Angeles from Vladimir Dubinsky, a Russian baritone of the Bolshoi who was then a student of the famous baritone and singing teacher Antonio Cotognis in Rome. He developed his repertoire with his coach Herbert Weiskopf, an emigrated German artist of the Jewish faith. In 1955 he won 1st place in the California State Dennis Award for Promoting Young Opera Singers. From 1958 to 1960 he served in the US Army and was a. a. stationed in Augsburg and Ansbach. During his military service, Davidson sang regularly in the military officers' club at the request of the commanding generals. After his military service he returned to Los Angeles, but soon decided, also on the advice of his singing teacher, to travel to Europe to audition at opera houses.

The young baritone made his European debut at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with a Verdi Arien Recital. He later returned there in the title roles of Leoncavallos Edipo Re and Dallapiccolas Il Prigioniero. Michael Davidson received his first permanent engagement in 1962 at the Stadttheater Koblenz . Artistic director Hans Wolfgang Wolff protected the young baritone and supported his development with the right amount of challenging tasks. In Koblenz, he initially sang mainly lyrical roles such as Wolfram ( Tannhäuser ), Valentin ( Faust ) and Marcello ( La Bohème ), but also Renato ( Un Ballo in Maschera ), Iago ( Otello ), Carlo Gerard ( Andrea Chenier ), Conte di Luna ( Il Trovatore ) and the four demons in Hoffman's stories .

National Theater Mannheim

Four years later, Horst Stein signed him to the Mannheim National Theater , which was to become his artistic home from 1966 to 1999. Giuseppe Verdi's great baritone roles in particular shaped his artistic work from then on. He expanded his repertoire to include the great baritone roles in La Forza del Destino , I Masnadieri , Luisa Miller , La Traviata , Aida , Attila and Don Carlo , as well as the title roles in Rigoletto , Macbeth , Falstaff , Simon Boccanegra and Nabucco . Guest performances have taken him to almost all German theaters, from Hamburg to Munich, from Düsseldorf to Berlin. Davidson has also made regular guest appearances internationally, for example in Vancouver, Portland , Barcelona , Vienna and the royal opera houses in Antwerp and Stockholm .

Also of great importance in Davidson's repertoire were numerous other roles in the Italian subject, such as Scarpia ( Tosca ), Michele ( Il Tabarro ), Rance ( La Fanciulla del West ), Tonio ( I Pagliacci ) and the title roles in Gianni Schicchi and Guglielmo Tell . In the German subject, the Kothner ( Meistersinger ), Faninal ( Rosenkavalier ), Sebastiano ( Tiefland ) and the Cardillac should also be mentioned. The baritone received the title of chamber singer in 1980 for his artistic achievements . Michael Davidson left the National Theater stage in 1999 as Scarpia in Tosca , one of his most impressive characterizations.

repertoire

Giuseppe Verdi
Giacomo Puccini
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Pietro Mascagni
Umberto Giordano
Amilcare Ponchielli
Gaetano Donizetti
Gioacchino Rossini
Jacques Offenbach
Charles Gounod
Georges Bizet
Richard Wagner
Richard Strauss
Hans Pfitzner
Paul Hindemith
Carl Orff
Eugen d'Albert
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Modest Mussorgsky

Recordings

  • Edipo Re (Leoncavallo), Hilversum Choir and Orchestra under Kees Bakels , broadcast live on November 5, 1977 from the Concertgebouw Amsterdam
  • Gala concert of the Mannheim Opera: 200 Years of the Mannheim National Theater, NTM choir and orchestra under Hans Wallat , live recording from September 15, 1979, EMI Electrola GmbH
  • Web link to private live recordings

literature

  • Karl-Josef Kutsch, Leo Riemens: Large singer lexicon . Fourth expanded and updated edition. KG Saur, Munich 2003, Volume 2, ISBN 3-598-11598-9 , p. 1026.
  • Maria F. Rich: Who's who in Opera . Arno Press, a New York Times Company, New York 1976, ISBN 0-405-06652-X , p. 124
  • Peter Mertz: The National Theater Mannheim 1779-1970 . The Society of Friends of the National Theater eV, Johannes May KG, Mannheim 1970
  • Herbert Meyer: The National Theater Mannheim 1929-1979 . Bibliographisches Institut - Wissenschaftsverlag, Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-411-01563-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Waltraud Brunst: "As passionate as true singer". In: www.morgenweb.de. Newspaper: Mannheimer Morgen, January 29, 2019, accessed on April 22, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ http://www.ochcom.org/pdf/Weiskopf.pdf
  3. ↑ Editor Online Merker: Michael DAVIDSON turns 80. In: Online Merker - The international culture platform. Online Merker, May 7, 2015, accessed on April 20, 2019 (German).
  4. ^ Maria F. Rich: Who's who in Opera . Arno Press, a New York Times Company, New York 1976, ISBN 0-405-06652-X , pp. 124 .
  5. ^ Herbert Meyer: The Nationaltheater Mannheim 1929-1979 . Bibliographisches Institut - Wissenschaftsverlag, Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-411-01563-2 , p. 256 f .
  6. ↑ Waltraud Brunst: "As passionate as true singer". In: www.morgenweb.de. Newspaper: Mannheimer Morgen, January 29, 2019, accessed on April 20, 2019 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Davidson, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Long Beach (California)
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 2019
Place of death Mannheim