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
Stefan Schwer was my uncle. I am very proud to find something about this amazing opera singer in the internet.
ReplyDeleteFrom 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.