Friedrich Schorr (1888-1953)
"Wotan’s Farewell"
Die Walküre
by Richard Wagner
Born in Hungary, later becoming a naturalized US citizen, Friedrich Schorr
studied with Adolf Robinson, sang some small roles in Chicago in early 1912,
and made his true début in Graz in June, 1912 as Wotan in
Die Walküre.
Following brief engagements in Graz, Prague and Köln he came into his own
at the Staatsoper, Berlin in 1923 where he remained on the roster for seven
years. Although he sang a wide repertory, he excelled in the great Wagnerian
bass-baritone roles, singing in Bayreuth from1925-1931, at Covent Garden from
1925-1933 and at the Metropolitan from 1924-1943.
|
His Wotan and Hans Sachs long dominated the international operatic scene; he
was beyond question the outstanding exponent of these and of numerous other
Wagnerian roles, especially the Dutchman. His voice had majesty and unfailing
beauty; he never fell into the notorious 'Bayreuth bark', but maintained a
steady legato flow of tone even in declamatory passages. The most important
part of his recorded legacy consists of the extensive Wagnerian excerpts made
in his prime, in which his impeccable enunciation plays an important part in
the impression of authority that he conveys. One can believe in the grandeur of
a Wotan whose utterances are so commandingly distinct, and in the poetic
sensibility of a Hans Sachs to whom words are of such evident importance.
— Desmond Shawe-Taylor
This Victor orthophonic recording is from about 1927, Berlin.
