Thomas Herndon (singer)

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Thomas Herndon (born July 23, 1937 in Durham , North Carolina ; † January 6, 1981 in Hamburg ) was an American opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Herndon studied singing with Walter Johnson at Westminster College ( New Jersey ), with Sidney Dietch and Dorothy Di Scalia in Philadelphia , and later in Europe with Hertha Kalcher in Stuttgart . He also attended master classes with Dusolina Giannini in Zurich .

In the early 1960s he came to Europe, where he made his first permanent engagement at the Stadttheater Heidelberg (1964–1968). There he made his debut as Ernesto in Don Pasquale . Further stages were the National Theater Weimar (1968/69 season) and the Stuttgart State Opera (1969–1973). During these engagements he sang the lyric tenor subject . With the beginning of his commitment to the Hamburg State Opera (from 1973) he also took on roles in the youthful-dramatic and heroic subjects. In Hamburg he mainly appeared as a youthful hero and character tenor.

His games included u. a. Tamino in Die Zauberflöte , the hero of the title in Faust , Duke in Rigoletto , Manrico in Il trovatore , the hero of the title in Don Carlos , Cavaradossi in Tosca , Canio in Pagliacci , Lenski in Eugene Onegin , Stewa in Jenůfa and Erik in The Flying Dutchman . Later in his career he also took over Herodes in Salome (1979/80 season) and Aegisth in Elektra (1979/80 season; “defiantly uncomprehending”, with “tenoral assertiveness”; premiere: May 1980, director: August Everding ). In the field of modernism he appeared as President of Walter in the opera Kabale und Liebe by Gottfried von Eine .

Between 1970 and 1977 he was a guest at the Vienna State Opera , where he sang Matteo in Arabella (with Anneliese Rothenberger as a partner, among others ) and Henry Morosus in the Strauss opera Die Schweigsame Frau (March / May 1973). From 1976 to 1980 he had a regular guest contract with the Zurich Opera House . At La Scala in Milan he appeared in Moses and Aron . He also made guest appearances in Germany at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich , at the Frankfurt Opera House , at the Mannheim National Theater , at the Hanover State Opera , at the Deutsche Oper Berlin , at the Wiesbaden State Theater , at the Kassel State Theater , at the Braunschweig State Theater (1969, as the eponymous hero in Hoffmann's stories ) , at the Stuttgart State Opera (1977, as Manrico) and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein . Abroad he gave guest appearances at the Dutch Opera in Amsterdam , at the Paris Opera (1977, as Desportes in The Soldiers in the Palais Garnier ), in Tel Aviv and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino .

In the 1976/77 season he sang the nobleman Desportes at the Hamburg State Opera in a new production of the opera The Soldiers . In March 1980 he appeared there as Lord Cecil in two concert performances of the Donizetti opera Roberto Devereux , in which Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras sang the main roles.

His last Hamburg premiere role was Froh in Das Rheingold (production: Götz Friedrich ) in November 1980; he was determined by the director to portray “a yo-yo playing dude ”, as “tenoral-potent Froh vocally a little straightforward and monotonous”. On New Year's Eve 1980 and January 3, 1981, he sang the singing teacher Alfred in the Strauss operetta Die Fledermaus at the Hamburg State Opera . On January 4, 1981, he took over the role of the Roman cardinal legate Bernardo Navagerio in the Palestrina performance . During the second act he suffered a stroke on the stage of the Hamburg State Opera at the end of his big scene, which he sang with great effort . When he left, he was still able to hold on to the railing on the stairs, but then collapsed unconscious behind the stage. He died a few days later at the age of 43 without regaining consciousness.

Herndon also performed as a concert singer with an extensive repertoire. His voice is preserved in recordings of radio opera broadcasts. There is also a live recording of the opera Arabella from the Grand Théâtre de Genève ( Orchester de la Suisse Romande , conductor: Heinrich Hollreiser ) from 1979, in which he sings Matteo.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Wilhelm Kosch (Ed.): Deutsches Theaterlexikon . Supplementary volume, part 2: G – J. De Gruyter, Berlin a. a. November 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-028755-4 , p. 243. Retrieved online from De Gruyter .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f In memoriam: Thomas Herndon. In: Orpheus . Issue February 2, 1981. p. 136 (obituary).
  3. ↑ Iris Bünsch: ELEKTRA . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue June 6, 1980. Page 429/430; to Th. Herndon there on page 430.
  4. ↑ Thomas Herndon’s list of roles. In: Chronicle of the Vienna State Opera 1945–2005. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-85409-449-3 , p. 464.
  5. ↑ Bernd Alois Zimmermann: The soldiers. ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Cast list with the main roles (PDF; 584 kB). Retrieved October 18, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.guschlbauer.com
  6. ^ Heinz Josef Herbort: Opera: Zimmermann's "The Soldiers" in Hamburg: The world under a shroud. In: The time . December 3, 1976 (performance review). Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  7. ↑ Michael Arndt: Roberto Devereux . In: Orpheus . Issue March 3, 1980. pp. 185/186 (performance review).
  8. ^ Michael Arndt: Hamburg: Das Rheingold. In: Orpheus . Issued January 1, 1981. pp. 21-25 (performance review).
  9. ↑ Arabella by Richard Strauss performed in German. Occupation. Retrieved on October 18, 2017. Note: The different, also to be found information, Herndon sang the part of Elemer, is incorrect. Hermann Winkler sang Count Elemer .
personal data
SURNAME Herndon, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Durham , North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1981
Place of death Hamburg , Germany