Walther Ludwig (singer)
Walther Ludwig , actually Walther Ludewig (born March 17, 1902 in Bad Oeynhausen , † May 15, 1981 in Lahr / Black Forest ) was a German opera and concert singer ( tenor ).
Life
Walther Ludwig came from a merchant family. His birth name was actually Ludewig , but he changed it to Ludwig. He graduated from high school in Herford and initially completed a banking apprenticeship. Then he began to study law and medicine at the universities of Freiburg, Munich, Münster and Königsberg. He also took singing lessons. During his studies in 1924 he became a member of the Franconia Freiburg fraternity . In Königsberg, Ludwig finally switched to singing. In 1928 he made his debut there at the Stadttheater as a lyric tenor.
From 1929 to 1932 an engagement at the State Theater in Schwerin followed. There he sang a. a. the title role in the world premiere of the opera Friedemann Bach by Paul Graener . In 1932 the Städtische Oper Berlin engaged him as first lyric tenor. In 1935 Ludwig sang Belmonte and Tamino in the Mozart operas Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte at the Glyndebourne Festival . In 1936 he was appointed Prussian chamber singer . Ludwig stayed in Berlin until the theater was closed due to the war in autumn 1944.
After the war, Walther Ludwig made guest appearances, primarily in Mozart operas, also as an evangelist in the Bach Passions, at all major music centers in the Federal Republic of Germany as well as in Vienna and Salzburg. Numerous recitals took him through almost all of Europe. Major guest performance contracts committed the singer to the state operas of Hamburg, Munich, Vienna and Stuttgart. He also developed extensive concert activities outside of Europe, such as in South America.
For many years, from 1952 to 1969, Ludwig worked as a professor at the Berlin University of Music.
When his career came to an end, he surprisingly made the headlines again: in the mid-sixties he resumed his previously interrupted medical studies, passed the medical state examination at the Free University in Berlin in 1969 and received his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1971 with a thesis on music and medicine - Musicians and physicians for Dr. med.
His grave is in the cemetery in Oberkirch (Baden) .
Honors
- 1973: Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany
literature
- Alexander Rausch : Ludwig, Walther. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-7001-3045-7 .
- Riemann music dictionary . Schott, Mainz 1961.
- Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , pp. 468-469.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 71, April 11, 1973.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ludwig, Walther |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ludewig, Walther (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German opera and concert singer (tenor) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 17, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bad Oeynhausen |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 15, 1981 |
| Place of death | Lahr / Black Forest |