Forgotten Opera Singers

Forgotten Opera Singers

Jul 9, 2016

Stefan Schwer (Tenor) (Düren, Germania October 30, 1902 - Düren, Germania January 12, 1990)



                                                                            Rodolfo


He studied singing in Cologne and from 1930 to 1931 at the College of Music in Berlin. In 1928-30 season he appeared at the Opernhaus in Essen, in the 1932-1939 seasons at the Staatsoper in Hamburg. There he was discovered by the conductor Karl Böhm. In the 1939-1949 seasons he was the first tenor of the Staatstheater in Kassel, where among other things he appeared in the premiere of the opera "Der Uhrmacher von Straßburg" by Hans Brehme (25. 2. 1941). Since 1949 he was a member of the  Staatsoper in Stuttgart. He guested in 1934 in Amsterdam (‘’Arabella’’ of R. Strauss), also at the Staatsoper in Berlin, in 1939 and several times after 1945 at the Staatsoper of Vienna. In 1933 he performed at the festival of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. In 1963 and 1967 he sang at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. At the Bayreuth festival he sang in the 1963-1964 season the part of Balthasar Zorn in "Meistersingern". In Stuttgart he appeared on 14. 5. 1950 in the premiere of the opera "Don Juan und Faust" by H. Reutter. Until 1955 member of the Staatsoper in Stuttgart. He spent his old age in his hometown Düren. By the end of his career he also took over parts from the character field. His repertoire included Manrico in ‘’Il Trovatore’’, Alvaro in ‘’La forza del destino’’, Otello, Radames in ‘’Aida’’, Max in ‘’Freischütz’’, José in ‘’Carmen’’, Cavaradossi in ‘’Tosca’’, Florestan in ‘’Fidelio’’ and Canio in ‘’Pagliacci’’.

Chronology of some appearances

1928-1930 Essen Opernhaus
1932-1939 Hamburg Staatsoper
1939-1949 Kassel Staatstheater

RECORDINGS FOR SALE


 






Telefunken, Hamburg
Halka (Moniuszko): Heut' ist Sonntag (w. chorus) E1934 021172
















1 comment:

  1. Stefan Schwer was my uncle. I am very proud to find something about this amazing opera singer in the internet.
    From his first appearances until his late years he believed in the live performance on stage very much more than a "made" version for the record. You definitely can say, he didn´t like recording studios.

    for this reason there unfortunately there are only a few recordings, that show his masterclass vocal skills.

    What I admired most of my uncle was his self-organisation. He took personal notes on every appearance on stage and was very disciplined learning his characters.

    Stefan Schwer studied in Germany during a period of time, when it was quite normal to perform opera in german translation. That was especially the case during Nazi Germany. This may be a reason, why he was mostly admired in germany during his early career.

    As a singer of Wagner and Strauss his career became more international.

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