Werner Hollweg

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Werner Hollweg (born September 13, 1936 in Solingen ; † January 1, 2007 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German opera singer ( tenor ) and opera director.

Life

Werner Hollweg originally wanted to become a pianist. However, during an argument after school, a classmate cut the tendons of his arm with a knife. Thereupon the musical Hollweg decided to become a singer.

Hollweg received his vocal training from Frederick Husler in Detmold and Lugano as well as in Munich . He made his debut in 1962 at the Vienna Chamber Opera . The first engagements took him to Bonn , Gelsenkirchen and Düsseldorf . After a successful audition with Herbert von Karajan , the Deutsche Oper Berlin , Hamburg State Opera , the Bavarian State Opera (Munich) and the Vienna State Opera soon followed .

At the Salzburg Festival he was one of the most celebrated Mozart interpreters for over two decades , including as Titus in the opera La clemenza di Tito and as Belmonte in Abduction from the Seraglio . He was also successful under Karajan in Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow . Hollweg also sang leading roles (L'humana fragilitá / Ulisse in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ) in the legendary Monteverdi cycle at the Zurich Opera under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt (conductor) and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (director).

In the 1980s he also began to work as a director (e.g. Mozart's Zaide at the Wiener Festwochen 1983), at the same time he turned to contemporary music. He sang the title role in the German premiere of Alfred Schnittke's Life with an Idiot . As a singer, he has worked with well-known artists such as Otto Klemperer , Rafael Kubelík , Giorgio Strehler , Igor Markevitch , Zubin Mehta , Hans Neuenfels , Sebastian Peschko , Claudio Abbado , Pierre Boulez , Johannes Schaaf , Yehudi Menuhin , August Everding , Claus Helmut Drese and Alberto Erede and Carlo Maria Giulini .

Hollweg was awarded the honorary title of chamber singer .

After a ten-year professorship at the State University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau , Werner Hollweg lived there until his death. He wrote his personal memoirs in novel form, but could no longer publish them. He fell ill with the nervous disease ALS , from which he died at the age of 70. He was married to the German opera singer Mechthild Gessendorf for a few years .

Werner Hollweg has a daughter (Iris Hollweg) and a son ( Titus Hollweg ). Werner Hollweg is not related to the soprano Ilse Hollweg, who also comes from Solingen .

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Hollweg, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Solingen
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 2007
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau