Toni Blankenheim

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toni Blankenheim (born December 12, 1921 in Cologne ; † December 11, 2012 in Hamburg ) was a German opera singer with a bass-baritone voice .

Life

Blankenheim received his vocal training from the well-known concert singer and singing teacher Paul Lohmann in Frankfurt am Main and from the contralto and Wagner singer Res Fischer in Stuttgart .

His debut as an opera singer took place in 1947 at the Frankfurt Opera House as Figaro in the opera Le nozze di Figaro . From 1947 to 1950 Blankenheim was a member of the ensemble at the Frankfurt Opera. In 1950 he moved to the Hamburg State Opera , of which he remained a permanent member of the ensemble until the end of his artistic career. In 1961 he received the honorary title of Hamburger Kammersänger there . Later, in addition to his permanent engagement in Hamburg, Blankenheim was also a member of the Darmstadt State Theater (1965–1968) and, from 1968, the Stuttgart State Opera .

In Hamburg, Blankenheim sang the major roles in the musical dramas by Richard Wagner and works by almost all modern composers such as Alban Berg , Igor Stravinsky , Rolf Liebermann and other contemporary composers. In 1951 he was the agent of the secret police at the Hamburg State Opera in the German-language premiere of the opera Der Konsul . In October 1951 he sang Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress on the side of Rudolf Schock . He often sang in Hamburg in the production of Günther Rennert the Dr. Nice in the two-act version of Lulu , so in 1957 in the new production with Helga Pilarczyk as partner, then in 1967/1968 at the side of Anneliese Rothenberger in the title role. 1970 followed the title role in Wozzeck with Sena Jurinac as Marie. In 1971 he was the father of the gods Jupiter in the now legendary production of the comic opera Orpheus in der Unterwelt , in which Liselotte Pulver (Public Opinion), Inge Meysel (Juno) and Theo Lingen (Hans Styx) were his partners.

Blankenheim was a very busy ensemble singer at the Hamburg State Opera and also took on many smaller roles and Comprimario parts in the course of his career . In 1966 he was heard as Count Horn in a production of Un ballo in maschera , which was also recorded for television. Blankenheim also sang in opera film adaptations in the operas Schwarzer Peter (ZDF 1966) and Die Zaubergeige (BR 1976).

Blankenheim also sang in numerous world premieres and first performances in Hamburg: The Homecoming of Marcel Mihalovici (revised version, 1955), The Marriage of Bohuslav Martinů (staged world premiere in 1954), The Prince of Homburg by Hans Werner Henze (1960), Figaro is getting divorced by Giselher Klebe (1963), Der goldene Bock by Ernst Krenek (1964), Der Zerrissene by Gottfried von Eine (1964), Jacobowsky und der Oberst von Giselher Klebe (1965), The smile at the foot of the ladder by Antonio Bibalo , Arden muss die by Walter Goehr (1967), Hamlet by Humphrey Searle (1968), state of siege by Milko Kelemen (1970). In 1975 he performed with the Hamburg Ensemble at the Schwetzingen Festival in the opera Der Puss in Boots by Günter Bialas . In 1982 he sang Puntti in the opera monodrama The Birthday ( Avain ) by the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho . He sang this role in 1984 at the Days of Nordic Music in Copenhagen . His artistic achievement has been highlighted several times by the press in contemporary reviews.

Blankenheim's stage career lasted a very long time. In 1978 he took on the role of Schigolch in the new Lulu production by Luc Bondy at the Hamburg State Opera . He then designed this role, "in character, more abysmal" in the 1979/80 season. In the 1984/85 season he took over the role of garbage driver Doolittle in a new production of My Fair Lady (premiere: December 1984, director: Karl Wesseler ). In later years he sang Graf Waldner in Arabella at the Hamburg State Opera regularly until the mid-1980s (new production, 1982/83 season; premiere: May 1983, director: Otto Schenk , with further series of performances in March 1984 and March 1985) Marquis d'Obigny in La Traviata ( inter alia in several series of performances in June 1984, January 1985 and February 1987) and the gardener Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro ( inter alia in March 1984).

One of his last premiere roles in the 1989/90 season was the small role of Sciarrone in Tosca . During the 1989/90 season, in June 1990, he took over the role of Dreieinigkeitsmose in Brecht / Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in several performances , which he had sung in 1962 at the Hamburg premiere. In the later course of his career Blankenheim also took on speaking roles, including regularly since 1985 the steward in Ariadne on Naxos , with whom he continued to guest. He also took over the steward in the musical Ariadne rehearsal in May 1992. Blankenheim was officially a member of the Hamburg State Opera until the end of the 1996/97 season. There he last appeared as Pancratius, in a new production of the Lortzing opera Der Wildschütz (premiere: December 1993, further performances in March 1994), where he offered “a wonderfully poetic character study, far from exaggeration”, and as steward ( February 1994, November 1994 and February 1995). In the 1994/95 season, he took on the short speaking role of the Medical Councilor in a new Lulu production (director: Michael Hampe ) at the Cologne Opera . In the 1994/95 season he also took on the silent role of Sir Edgar in the new production of Henze's opera Der Junge Lord (director: Günter Krämer ) at the Bavarian State Opera . In November 1995 he appeared at the Schauspiel Köln together with Ingrid Andree and Ralph Morgenstern in the play Be nice to Mr. Sloane by Joe Orton .

Blankenheim had extensive guest contracts at home and abroad. He has appeared several times at the Munich State Opera, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein , at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin , at the State Theater in Darmstadt , at the State Theater in Karlsruhe and at the State Theater Braunschweig . In 1954 Blankenheim sang for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival . From 1954 to 1960 he was a permanent member of the Bayreuth Festival. There he took on both the major character roles and smaller roles. 1956–1959 he sang the Klingsor in Parsifal , 1956 and 1958–1960 every year the Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , in between 1957 the Kothner. He was also heard as Donner in Das Rheingold (1954, 1955, 1957), as Biterolf in Tannhäuser (1954, 1955) and as 3rd Edler in Lohengrin (1954).

In 1956 he took over the Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde in a series of performances at the Vienna State Opera . In 1968 he sang Kratos in the world premiere of the opera Prometheus by Carl Orff at the Stuttgart State Opera . In 1979 he sang the role of Schigolch in the three-act version of Lulu supplemented by Friedrich Cerha in the first performance in Paris at the Opéra Garnier . In the 1981/82 season he took on the role of circus director Springer in a new production of the opera The Bartered Bride at the Bavarian State Opera .

He also gave foreign guest appearances in Copenhagen , Stockholm , Brussels , Liège , Amsterdam and at the Leipzig Opera House (1971 as Wozzeck alternating with Theo Adam ). He sang at the Edinburgh Festival , at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence , at La Scala in Milan , at the Grand Opéra Paris , at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona , at the San Francisco Opera , at the National Opera in Zagreb (1963 guest performance of the Hamburg State Opera with Lulu ) and the opera houses of Mexico City and Montréal .

Blankenheim last lived, almost completely withdrawn, in Bonn . In 2007 he was a guest at the artists' meeting of the Gottlob Frick Society.

Audio documents

There are only relatively few original studio recordings that document Blankenheim's voice on vinyl . For example, in 1955 in Munich he sang the magician Colas in a studio recording for Deutsche Grammophon in the singspiel Bastien and Bastienne with Rita Streich and Richard Holm in the title roles.

However, there are live recordings of operas and radio recordings . Numerous performances with Toni Blankenheim, especially from the Bayreuth Festival , were recorded every year for radio and later published on records. In the meantime, these performances have also been re-released on CD, often under various different record labels. A performance recording by Tristan und Isolde from Vienna (1956) with André Cluytens at the podium has also been released on CD by the Walhall label.

The Hamburg Lulu production was recorded in a performance recording from 1968 by EMI on record and meanwhile also on CD. Several studio productions of the Hamburg State Opera with Toni Blankenheim have meanwhile been released on DVD on the Arthaus Musik label : Der Freischütz (1968, as Kuno), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1970, as Sixtus Beckmesser), Wozzeck (1970, title role), Orpheus in the Underworld (1971, as Jupiter).

A live recording of the Parisian Lulu production from 1979 with Pierre Boulez on the conductor's podium and Teresa Stratas in the title role, in which Blankenheim also took on the roles of medical advisor and police commissioner in addition to the Schigolch, was also recorded by Deutsche Grammophon, initially on record and later on CD released.

When West German Radio 1979, a total recording was the comic opera The Widow Grapin of Friedrich von Flotow in German with Josephine Engel Kamp in the title role, and Peter Minich , in Blankenheim sings the role of the servant Vincent.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Four chamber singers! - Hamburg's thanks to its artists . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , August 22, 1961.
  2. ↑ The consul cannot be spoken to . In: Die Zeit , No. 3/1951, Critique
  3. ↑ Oh, I have in my heart ...: memories (excerpts from Google Books)
  4. ↑ All sorts of things to yawn at in "Orpheus" . In: Die Zeit , No. 1/1972, Critique
  5. ^ Giuseppe Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera . Production details at 3sat
  6. ↑ ... Avain must be reckoned as one of the highlights of the Nordic Music Days on the strength of Toni Blankenheim's immensely impressive performance as Puntti. ; Nordic Music Days in Copenhagen  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Nordic Sounds Årgang / Hæfte No .: 1984 - 04, Side: 12 - 15@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / dvm.nu  
  7. ↑ Klaus Laskowski: ADDITION ... . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue April 4, 1980. Page 267/268.
  8. ↑ S. Maruschak: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Issue September 9, 1990. Page 22/23.
  9. ↑ Gerhart Asche: VOCAL CULTURE . Premiere review. In: Opera world . Issue February 2, 1994. Page 51/52.
  10. ^ K. Ruhnke : COLOGNE: LULU . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Issue January 1, 1995. Page 20/21.
  11. ↑ G. Knopf: MUNICH: THE YOUNG LORD . Performance review. In: Opera glasses . Edition April 4, 1995. Pages 32/33.
  12. ↑ Be nice to Mr. Sloane ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Official website of the actor Ralph Morgenstern @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ralph-morgenstern.de
  13. ^ Toni Blankenheim . Vita on the website of the Bayreuth Festival
  14. ↑ List of roles by Toni Blankenheim in: Chronik der Wiener Staatsoper 1945–2005 , p. 311. Löcker Verlag, Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-85409-449-3
  15. ^ Music: Lulu Is the Toast of Paris . Review in: Time of March 12, 1979
  16. ↑ Gottlob Frick Society Annual Letter 2007 . (PDF; 1.5 MB) Artists' Meeting 2007 (with photos)
personal data
SURNAME Blankenheim, Toni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (bass baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 2012
Place of death Hamburg