Philipp Kraus (singer)

Philipp Kraus (born May 18, 1879 in Frankenthal ; † October 1964 in Söcking , Starnberg ) was a German opera singer (baritone), director and singing teacher.

biography

Kraus was the son of a box manufacturer who later lived in Memel . His talent for singing showed up early on and so, instead of completing a hotel apprenticeship, from 1904 he completed a vocal training as a baritone . He completed his training in Frankfurt am Main and received his first engagement in Colmar in Alsace in 1906 . He then moved to Erfurt and later to Basel . He served as a soldier in World War I and was seriously wounded by a shot in the head in 1915. From 1916 he had stage appearances again in Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen .

In Bremen he first appeared as a lyric baritone and later as a character baritone . In 1919 he married the singer and singing teacher Grete Fritzsche, the daughter of a Berlin conductor. In 1925 he sang at the Bayreuth Festival and partnered with Enrico Caruso and Leo Slezak . Until 1936 he sang many German operas a. a. in Berlin. At the same time, he and his wife organized well-attended concerts. He became an honorary member of the Bremen State Theater , where he also worked as an opera director and senior stage director. 1942-1944 he appeared as operetta buffo at the City Theater in Greifswald on.

After the Second World War , Kraus received a license from the US military government to run the Bremen Opera House as director . The music theater ensemble has been giving performances with well-known opera excerpts in town houses, cinemas and in the art gallery since 1945. Its board of directors ended in 1946.

Kraus worked in his wife's singing school in Bremen until 1962. In 1963 both moved to Söcking on Lake Starnberg. After his death, the widow moved back to Bremen and his urn was also buried in Bremen. Her son Fritz Kraus (* 1920) also received a vocal training and worked as a singer, actor and stage manager at the Bremen Theater .

literature

• Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . Volume: supplementary volume . A – Z. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2008, ISBN 978-3-86108-986-5 .
• Riemens, Leo., Rost, Hansjörg. Large singer lexicon , 4th edition, since 2498. KG Saur Verlag , Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-59844-088-5 .

Web links

• Philipp Kraus at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon