Marcel Wittrisch
Marcel Hermann Wittrisch ( born October 1, 1903 in Antwerp, † June 3, 1955 in Stuttgart) was a popular tenor of the 20th century. His singing style was clearly oriented to the model of Richard Tauber.
Life
He studied singing in Leipzig, later in Munich. The study was completed by a stay in Milan. He had his debut on January 1, 1925 at the Theater of Halle ( Saale) in the role of Heinrich Marschner's opera Hans Konrad in Heiling. In 1926 he moved to the Opera House in Brunswick and in 1929 was active in Berlin. He lived in the Arnimallee 16-18 in the Berlin district of Dahlem.
1927 to 1928 he was with the record company " Vox " under contract and from 1927 at the Electrola, where he made 317 recordings over the next 12 years. 1933-1935 were some Telefunken plates to 1949 he took then for Decca.
His career began in Berlin New Year's Eve 1928 with the role of Pygmalion in Franz von Suppé The beautiful Galathée. Until the closure of all theaters in the course of "total war " in 1944 he was one of the highlights at the Berlin State Opera " Unter den Linden".
He equally dominated the German and the Italian and French trade and was considered excellent Mozart tenor. In 1931 he toured with great success as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. He participated in several world premieres, including on 21 January 1934, Alexander von Zemlinsky's The Caucasian Chalk Circle and 1937 Rembrandt van Rijn by Paul of Klenau. However, his signature role was the Lohengrin, inter alia, in Bayreuth. As a song interpreter Wittrisch emerged together with the pianist Sebastian Peschko at the Festival in 1937.
He left to posterity almost 400 recordings, among other complete recordings of Lohengrin, Rigoletto, Der Freischütz ( excerpts, 1936), A Night in Venice (1938 ), individual operatic arias, pop ( including the successful Oh Donna Clara, 1930), folk songs and operetta recordings.