Forgotten Opera Singers

Forgotten Opera Singers

Mar 5, 2016

Max Dawison (Bass-Baritone) (Schwedt a. d. Oder 17. Febr. 1869 † Hamburg 22. April 1953)



                                                                    Don Giovanni


He received his first singing lessons in the Kullak’schen Konservatorium in Berlin from Adolf Zebrian. Then he perfected his vocal technique at the Konservatorium in Köln under Benno Stolzenberg. He finished his education with Mariano Padilla y Ramos and Désirée Artôt de Padilla in Paris and made his debut in 1889 at the  Opernhaus in Düsseldorf as an Army caller in ‘’Lohengrin’’. Still in the same year he worked at the  Krollschen Theater in Berlin and made his debut on the 10th October, 1890 in Prague as ‘’Der fliegende Holländer’’. On the 31st May, 1900 he appeared there as Hans Sachs in Richard Wagner's opera  ‘’Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’’. In February, 1900 he excited in Copenhagen a sensation as Wanderer in the première there of R. Wagner’s ‘’Siegfried’’. He was engaged in 1903 for two roles at the Bayreuth festival. Here Dawison appeared also as Alberich in  ‘’Der Ring des Nibelungen’’ (1906-1909), as Telramund in ‘’Lohengrin’’ (1908) and as Klingsor in ‘’Parsifal’’ (1909). From 1900 to 1926 he was active at the Stadttheater in Hamburg. Here he sang among other things in the German premières of the operas ‘’Adriana Lecouvreur’’ (1903; as Michonnet) and in 1906 in ‘’Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame’’ by J. Massenet. From 1926 Dawison worked as vocal pedagogue in Hamburg. In 1929 he became a leader of the opera school in the Klindworth-Scharwenka-Konservatorium in Berlin.


Chronology of some appearances

1889 Düsseldorf  Opernhaus
1889 Berlin  Krollschen Theater
1890 Prague Opera 
1900 Copenhagen Opera
1900-1926 Hamburg Stadttheater
1903 Bayreuth festival
1906-1909 Bayreuth festival
1908 Bayreuth festival
1909 Bayreuth festival

RECORDINGS FOR SALE










Odeon, Berlin 1906 (late)
Trovatore (Verdi): Ihres Auges himmlisch' Strahlen X50216 Bx1732

Ballo in maschera (Verdi): Für dein Glück X50219 Bx1733


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