Paul Wolfrum

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Paul Hermann Wolfrum (born November 7, 1943 in Kitzbühel , Tyrol , † February 16, 1990 in Vienna ) was an Austrian opera singer ( baritone ).

life and career

Training and engagement in Linz

Wolfrum attended secondary school in Steyr , which he graduated from in 1961 with the Matura . He began studying technology at the Vienna University of Technology , which he later broke off, and at the same time had his voice trained. He took private singing lessons from Johanna Willimsky and studied singing at the Vienna Conservatory , where he graduated with honors in 1967.

Since his first engagement as the so-called “First Baritone” he received at the beginning of the 1967/68 season at the Landestheater Linz . There he made his debut as Melot in Tristan und Isolde . In Linz, where he was a permanent member of the ensemble until 1978, Wolfrum sang mainly parts from the role of the lyrical baritone and the cavalier baritone. His repertoire, which comprised more than 75 roles in total, included: Papageno in The Magic Flute , Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro , Guglielmo in Così fan tutte , Figaro in The Barber of Seville , Belcore in The Love Potion , Malatesta in Don Pasquale , Herr Fluth in The Merry Wives of Windsor , Tsar Peter in Tsar and Zimmermann , Valentin in Margarethe , Olivier in Capriccio , Barbier in Die Schweigsame Frau and Marcel in La Bohème .

He also took on roles in modern and contemporary operas, including works by Peter Ronnefeld , Gottfried von Eine and Helmut Eder . In July 1975 he took part in the Carinthian Summer in Ossiach , together with Hans-Martin Nau in the German-language premiere of the Britten opera The Lost Son . In September 1976 he was part of the premiere cast of Eder's opera Der Aufstand at the Landestheater Linz .

Engagements in Vienna and Berlin

In February 1977 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera with Papageno . From 1978 to 1981 he was a permanent member of the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera. There he sang mostly medium and small parts. His Viennese roles included Papageno a. a. Schaunard in La Bohème , Dancairo in Carmen (in the now legendary Carmen production under Carlos Kleiber / Franco Zeffirelli ), Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos (1980, at the Japan guest performance of the Vienna State Opera under Karl Böhm ) and Graf Dominik in Arabella .

In 1981 Paul Wolfrum moved to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as a permanent member of the ensemble , where he also made his house debut in September 1981 with Papageno. Wolfrum sang around 30 different roles in Berlin. In the following years he sang the Schaunard in La Bohème ( inter alia April 1983, March 1986) and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (inter alia in March 1985) in repertoire performances . In October 1982 he sang Count Dominik in Arabella . Other new roles in his time in Berlin included a. Fra Melitone in La forza del destino , Moralès in Carmen (directed by Peter Beauvais , among others in May 1983 and in a new musical production, June 1988), Silvano in Un ballo in maschera (among others April / May 1983, January 1984), Haudy in The Soldiers (new production, 1983/84 season, premiere: October 1983), Altgesell in Jenůfa (new production, 1984/85 season) and Weber Zettel in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten , which he sang in July 1984 as part of the Berlin Summer Games . Wolfrum was a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin until his death in February 1990; A few days before his death in Berlin he was still on stage in the opera The Makropulos Affair , its last premiere in January 1990, in the small role of the theater machinist.

In 1985 he sang the Berlin Theater of the West , the role of the imperial customs commissioner Conte Carnero in a production of Strauss operetta The Gypsy Baron . Wolfrum had been a member of the board of directors of the German Stage Members' Cooperative (GDBA) at the local association of Deutsche Oper Berlin in Berlin since 1988 .

Guest performances and concerts

Wolfrum performed a. a. at the Vienna Volksoper , at the Basel City Theater , at the Graz Opera House , at the Innsbruck State Theater , at the Klagenfurt City Theater , at the Mannheim National Theater , at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and at the Teatro Massimo Palermo . He also sang in Basel , Geneva , Lille , Istanbul and Tokyo . In the 1982/83 season he took over the role of Dandini in the Rossini opera La Cenerentola at the Salzburg State Theater .

Since 1977 he has appeared repeatedly at the Carinthian Summer in Ossiach. In July 1984 he was there again as "Old Son" in a performance of the Britten opera The Prodigal Son . At the Schwetzingen Festival in May 1984 he took part in the world premiere of the opera Ophelia by Rudolf Kelterborn . In May 1984 he was a guest at the San Antonio Festival in Texas as Moralès in Carmen .

tomb

Wolfrum also appeared as a concert singer in numerous national and international appearances. He appeared as a concert singer a. a. in Dresden , in the Wiener Musikverein (May 1989; as steward in the final scene of the opera Capriccio with Anna Tomowa-Sintow and the ORF Symphony Orchestra under Václav Neumann ), at the Schubertiade Hohenems (1979 and 1980) and at the Carinthian Summer . He also appeared at the Bruckner Festival in Linz , the Vienna Festival Weeks , the Berlin Festival Weeks , the European Weeks in Passau , the Heidelberg Castle Festival and the Dresden Music Festival . He was particularly known as a Bach interpreter. He gave numerous recitals, often with his friend Roman Zeilinger as an accompanist.

death

Wolfrum died suddenly in February 1990, a few days after an operation that found an incurable disease. He was buried in the Neustifter Friedhof (P-5-4) in Vienna.

Audio documents

Wolfram's voice is documented by several recordings (among other things as a piggy bank bill in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny , recording from 1988; final scene from Capriccio with Anna Tomowa-Sintow under Herbert von Karajan ) and by several radio recordings. As a piggy bank bill, it attracted music critics "positively"; behind soulful cantilena [...] he makes the self-preservation instinct and egoism of the figure clear.

There are also live recordings from the Vienna State Opera (1978, Carmen as Dancairo under Carlos Kleiber ; 1981, Andrea Chénier as Fléville under Nello Santi , director: Otto Schenk ) and from the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1987; as 1st Apparizione in Macbeth , under Giuseppe Sinopoli ). Further TV productions on ORF were Der verlorene Sohn (1982, under Lee Schaenen and Federik Mirdita at the Carinthian Summer), Helmut Eder's opera Der Aufstand (from Graz) and Salome .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Noticed: That is ... Paul Wolfrum . Brief portrait. In: Orpheus . Issue June 6, 1982. Page 441.
  2. ^ Index of roles by Paul Wolfrum in: Chronik der Wiener Staatsoper 1945-2005 , p. 836. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-85409-449-3 .
  3. ↑ Paul Wolfrum . Schedule archive of the Vienna State Opera. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  4. ↑ Concert review . Concert reviews March – June 1989. In: Orpheus . October 1989 issue. Pages 822–824.
  5. ^ Paul Wolfrum baritone . Appearances. Official website of the Schubertiade Hohenems. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  6. ↑ Rudolf Hopper: GAP BLOCKED . CD review. In: Orpheus . Issue July 7, 1988. Page 554/555.
personal data
SURNAME Wolfrum, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolfrum, Paul Hermann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Kitzbühel , Tyrol
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1990
Place of death Vienna