Otto Edelmann

An musician of consistently high standards, Otto Edelmann sang the key bass and bass-baritone assignments in the Wagner, Strauss, and Mozart repertories through the 1950s and 1960s. If he lacked the really handsome build quality of predecessors such as for example Schorr, Bocklemann, and Nissen, he non-etheless offered a tone of voice that was cleanly produced and without woolliness. Although he previously already made an optimistic impression in Vienna from 1947 onward, the engagement that concentrated the limelight on his artwork emerged in the 1951 reopening from the Bayreuth Celebration when he sang the bass component in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under Furtwängler (to start the function) and performed a younger-than-customary Hans Sachs under Herbert von Karajan. Both shows were recorded and also have continued to be cornerstones from the documenting catalog since. Created near Vienna, Edelmann pursued his musical research in the Vienna Academy with, amongst others, Norwegian dramatic tenor Gunnar Graarud, a preferred designer at Berlin and Bayreuth. For his stage debut in 1937, Edelmann was involved by the business at Gera to sing Mozart’s Figaro. From 1938 to 1940, he was an associate of the business at Nuremberg, but present his profession essentially placed on keep during WWII. Soon after starting again on the war’s end, he joined up with the Vienna Staatsoper and quickly set up himself being a vocalist of considerable guarantee. His Bayreuth Celebration performances in 1951 positioned him in leading rank of post-war performers and resulted in other essential engagements. Under Knappertsbusch, he sang live shows of Hans Sachs and documented Meistersinger, this time around as Pogner. On the Edinburgh Celebration in 1952, he was noticed once again as Sachs, executing the role using the going to Hamburg Opera. In 1953, he was selected by Furtwängler to record Pizarro in Fidelio. His Leporello followed Cesare Siepi’s Don Giovanni for quite some time at Salzburg — a thoughtful characterization, if relatively without Italianate flair. For his Metropolitan Opera debut on November 11, 1954, Edelmann shown his Hans Sachs, pleasing critics along with his solid, dependable performing. In 1955, Edelmann produced his SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA debut as Baron Ochs, showing up several weeks afterwards as Heinrich in Lohengrin. As Ochs, his mastery of Viennese design and dialect was observed and appreciated. The next season, he and his Marschallin, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, dedicated their interpretations to disc for EMI within a documenting that has not really still left the catalog since. Edelmann continued to execute Ochs in various locations, notably at Salzburg where Rosenkavalier initiated shows in the brand new Grosses Festspielhaus in 1960. From these shows Paul Czinner designed his now renowned film from the opera. When Decca searched for to record Kirsten Flagstad’s Brünnhilde in 1957, the vocalist felt herself struggling to manage adequately with Work II’s opening battle cry and opted to execute Act III just. With Solti performing, Edelmann was the Wotan of preference for the task. Edelmann was once involved with a Metropolitan Opera misadventure with Wotan. After starting a performance from the Walküre Wotan, he announced towards the end of Work II that he cannot continue. Another vocalist was earned, but uncovered his voice declining midway through Take action III and signaled for the drape to become brought down. No additional vocalist being obtainable, Edelmann — right now somewhat retrieved — was persuaded to continue at the start of picture 3 and end the bedeviled overall performance.