William Wernigk

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William Wernigk ( February 5, 1894 in Chemnitz - January 21, 1973 in Vienna ) was an Austrian opera singer ( tenor ) of German descent who was a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble for 44 years .

Life

During his school days, Wernigk became a member of the Nibelungia Vienna fraternity around 1910 .

Wernigk was drafted into the war in 1914 and seriously wounded in Russia in 1915.

From 1915 he lived in Vienna and trained as an opera singer, mostly self-taught. In 1919 he was signed to the Vienna State Opera , whose ensemble he was part of until he left the stage in 1963. From 1927 to 1949 he was a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival and he was seen and heard on a number of other opera stages in Europe, for example at the Semperoper in Dresden (1927), in Milan, Paris and Brussels and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (1935).

Wernigk was a versatile play and character tenor whose acting talent was widely appreciated. His star roles included Pedrillo and Monostatos in the German-language Mozart operas Entführung aus dem Serail und Zauberflöte , Wenzel in Smetana's Bartered Bride and in the Italian subject Cassio in Verdi's Otello , Goro in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and Altoum and Pong in his Turandot . 85 times he played the role of Dr. Falcon in the bat from Johann Strauss .

As a Comprimario actor, he became a pillar of the Vienna State Opera Ensemble. He also took on miniature roles, such as servants, bouncers, sailors, tailors, the first prisoner in Fidelio and one of the armed men in the Magic Flute , messengers, executioners, executioners, hotel directors and other service providers, but also musically complex ensemble roles such as the second and third Jews in Salome ,. With comedic verve he sang 21 times the Alcindoro in La Bohème , 70 times the Spoletta in Tosca . In the Rosenkavalier von Hofmannsthal and Strauss , he took on four different roles at the Vienna State Opera from 1920 to 1956: 215 times the steward at Faninal, 176 times the landlord, 8 times the Valzacchi and 4 times the steward of the field marshal , sometimes two roles in one evening.

From 1927 to 1949 he played regularly at the Salzburg Festival . There he sang Pedrillo, Monostatos and Don Basilio, the first prisoner in Beethoven's Fidelio , Heinrich the Schreiber in Wagner's Tannhäuser and took over the speaking role of Welko in Arabella von Hofmannsthal and Strauss . He sang the steward at Faninal im Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival during all system changes - from the First Republic to the corporate state and Hitler regime to the Second Republic .

Wernigk was also a popular concert singer. For example, at the Salzburg Festival in 1933 he sang the tenor solo in Bruckner's Mass No. 3 and in 1936 in Mozart's Mass in C major , KV 337.

In 1959 he was elected to the artistic works council of the Vienna State Opera, in 1963 he retired from the stage.

Roles (selection)

World premieres

repertoire

Beethoven :

Mountain :

Bizet :

  • Dancairo and Remendado in Carmen

Giordano :

Engelbert Humperdinck :

Grain gold :

Lehár :

  • Pierrino and street singers in Giuditta

Lortzing :

Meyerbeer :

Mozart :

Nicolai :

Offenbach :

Pfitzner :

  • Bishop of Budoja, master of the art of music and chapel singer of St. Maria in Palestrina
 

Puccini :

Johann Strauss :

  • Dr. Falke, Alfred, prison director Frank and Murray in Die Fledermaus

Richard Strauss :

Verdi :

Wagner :

Weinberger :

Wolf-Ferrari :

Audio documents

Total recordings
Individual scenes from archive recordings of the Vienna State Opera

literature

  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , p. 720.
  • Wernigk, William in Kutsch / Riemens: Large Singer Lexicon (see Singer Lexicon Volume 4, p. 5020), Verlag KG Saur, electronic edition of the third, expanded edition, Digital Library Volume 33.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Salzburg Festival : 3rd Cathedral Concert , Salzburg Cathedral , August 9, 1936, accessed on November 25, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Wernigk, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wernigh, William (wrong name form); Wernigh, Wilhelm (misspelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian opera singer (tenor) of German descent
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 1973
Place of death Vienna