Richard Breitenfeld

Richard Breitenfeld ( born October 13, 1869 in Reichenberg, Bohemia, Austria - Hungary, † December 16, 1942 in the Theresienstadt ghetto, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ) was an Austro- German opera singer (baritone ) Bohemian origin with a long career at the Frankfurt Opera.

Life

A native of Northern Bohemia Breitenfeld received a commercial apprenticeship. He then worked as a laborer in a factory. His artistic training was Breitenfeld from vocal teacher Johann Ress. On January 17, 1897 Richard Breitenfeld made ​​his debut at the Cologne city theater with the Count di Luna in Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi. In May 1901 Breitenfeld made ​​her first appearance during Music Festival in Magdeburg. In 1902 he transferred to the Municipal Theatre of Frankfurt am Main. Over three decades of Breitenfeld was a member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt. 1903 took the Böhme for the first time at the Bayreuth Festival in part.

Width box main vocal parts in 36 years of stage work of Rigoletto, Le Figaro and Tannhäuser were. In 1912 he caused a sensation with its participation in the world premiere of Franz Schreker's The distant sound. At the same time, in the last four years before the outbreak of World War I, Breitenfeld took on records for the companies Odeon and His Master's Voice.

As a result of the seizure of power by the National Socialists in Germany, the Jewish artist was sidelined instantly. On September 2, 1942, German authorities deported him from Frankfurt to Theresienstadt, where he physically weakened, died shortly before Christmas of the same year.