BOGDAN VULAKOVIĆ
(VELIKA GORICA, 10 SEPTEMBER, 1862 – ZAGREB, 25 FEBRUARY, 1919)
Bogdan Vulaković was
born on 10 September 1862 in Velika Gorica. He studied singing at the school of
the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb with Ivan pl. Zajc. He was engaged at
the Opera in the 1888/1889 season, and it is clear that he had already become a
respected member when, on 31 May 1889, he participated in the final concert of
its first period of activity, where he performed an aria from Gomes’s Il Guarany.
He then went to Vienna to continue his vocal studies at the
Conservatory under Joseph Gänsbacher. When he gave a concert in Zagreb in
January 1890, the newspaper Hrvatska
on 17 January 1890 described him as “a former member of our Opera who, after
its dissolution, was forced to go to Vienna to further perfect his singing at
the Conservatory there,” adding that “we were truly astonished by the beauty of
his voice.”
In Prosvjeta in 1893,
it is recorded that as “a graduate of the Vienna Conservatory, he was engaged
in Graz from the autumn of 1893, together with pl. Šanta, who came from
Darmstadt, and Micika Freudenreich.”
In April 1896, Vulaković appeared as a guest performer in Il Trovatore, Aida, Faust, and
Rigoletto. At that time, the
principal baritone engaged was the Czech Emanuel Kroupa, whom Miletić held in
high esteem and around whom he built much of the repertoire. After Vulaković’s
appearance in the first performance of Aida
in the new theatre building on 20 April 1896, Hrvatska domovina wrote on 21 April 1896 that his Amonasro had
“a very pleasant voice, not especially powerful, but flexible and soft.”
Upon entering permanent engagement, Vulaković took over nearly all the
leading baritone roles in the active repertoire, both in the Croatian premieres
of works by foreign composers and in the world premieres of operas by Croatian
composers. He sang the role of Kocelin in the premiere of Porin on 2 October 1897, and as
Miletić writes in the second volume of Hrvatsko
glumište, “he put much effort into the rather thankless role of Kocelin,
and his fine voice resounded brightly in the great finale of the last act.”
He also appeared as Pizarro in the first Croatian performance of
Beethoven’s Fidelio in 1898,
with Milka Trnina in the title role. Critics praised his “beautiful, bright,
and strong voice” and his “expressive and passionate acting.”
Nevertheless, a beautiful voice and fitting stage presence could not
make up for Vulaković’s main shortcoming—insufficient musicality. Thus, in Agramer Zeitung on 26 May 1897, in a
review of Lohengrin, in which
Lili Lejo appeared as a guest and Vulaković sang Telramund, it was noted that
“he still only knows the first act,” and to make matters worse, the bulk of the
role is in the second act. In the same year, about his Eugene Onegin, it was written: “a fine baritone, without
musicality,” while Miletić nevertheless stated that he was “an excellent
Onegin.”
Be that as it may, Vulaković was one of the pillars of the repertoire
during the second organized period of the Zagreb Opera’s activity, and
continued to be so in the third period, singing the baritone roles that were
not taken by Marko Vušković or performing in revivals when Vušković had sung
the premieres.
He performed about fifty leading roles—he sang little else—including
Nikola Šubić Zrinjski, Tonio in Pagliacci,
Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana,
Renato in Un ballo in maschera,
William Tell, Iago in Otello.
When the Opera again ceased operations in 1902, he went to Olomouc,
then to Aachen, and in 1908 to Ljubljana, from where he returned to Zagreb in
1910.
In Ljubljana in 1908, he sang Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Samson in Samson et Dalila, and Escamillo in Carmen in their first Slovenian performances, as well as Nikola
Šubić Zrinjski. In 1909, he was the first Slovenian Albert in Werther, and also performed as Eugene
Onegin.
In Zagreb, he appeared as Dako in the premiere of Povratak by Josip Hatze in March 1911
and sang Figaro in The Barber of
Seville.
In his autobiography My
Life’s Journey, Marko Vušković, who was engaged in 1909 as the principal
baritone, remembered him in this way:
“The heroic baritone Vulaković, my predecessor in Zagreb, achieved
great successes in Germany with his velvety voice. I first heard him in Aachen.
I respected him greatly and very much enjoyed his company.”
Bogdan Vulaković apparently had delicate nerves, as he frequently came
into conflict with the theatre management. In a petition sent on 12 March 1900
to director Ivo Hreljanović, preserved at the Institute for the History of
Croatian Literature, Theatre, and Music in Zagreb, he requested “dismissal
because he could not endure under such circumstances.”
His nervous state worsened when his voice began to deteriorate, and he
therefore turned to acting in drama.
In 1914, he participated in the premiere of the play Kletva (The Curse), which Marija Jurić Zagorka had written based on
Šenoa’s novel of the same name.
After the death of his wife, Vulaković, overcome by grief and in a
complete nervous breakdown, took his own life.
He died in Zagreb on 25 February 1919.
TRACKLIST
Blago blago, duet, narodna pjesma (w.
Horvat) 21187 Odeon
Maričon (Albini) Valčík Grenadieux 75803 669-01219-e Favorite, Zagreb
Misli moje od Vj. Klaića (w. Cammarota, Huzek & Lesić) C.-2-13179
4318r Gramophone, Zagreb
Napitnica od M. Mayera pjeva (w. Cammarota, Huzek & Lesić)
C.-2-13180 4320r Gramophone, Zagreb
Prvi Cjelov G. C.-4-12818 65201 Gramophone, Zagreb
Ustaj davorija od Zajca G. C. 5-12808 Gramophone, Zagreb
Zrinjski (I Zajca) Romanca G. C.-4-12817 55181 Gramophone, Zagreb
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