Toni Blankenheim
Toni Blankenheim ( born December 12, 1921 in Cologne, † December 11, 2012 in Hamburg ) was a German opera singer with the voice bass baritone.
Life
Blankenheim received his vocal training at the famous concert singer and voice teacher Paul Lohmann in Frankfurt am Main and at the alto and Wagner singer Res Fischer in Stuttgart.
His debut as an opera singer was in 1947 at the Frankfurt Opera as Figaro in the opera Le Nozze di Figaro. From 1947 to 1950 Blankenheim was then member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt. In 1950 he moved to the Hamburg State Opera, the ensemble member he remained until the end of his artistic career. In 1961 he received the honorary title of Hamburg Chamber singers. Later Blankenheim was next to his hamburger permanent engagement at the same time a member of the Staatstheater Darmstadt (1965-1968), from 1968 also the Staatsoper Stuttgart.
In Hamburg Blankenheim sang major roles in the music dramas of Richard Wagner and works almost all modern composers such as Alban Berg, Igor Stravinsky, Rolf Liebermann and other contemporary composers. In 1951 he was at the Hamburg State Opera, the agent of the secret police in the German premiere of the opera The Consul. In October 1951 he sang the role of Nick Shadow in The Rake 's Progress at the side of Rudolf Schock. He often sang in Hamburg, directed by Günther Rennert Dr. Schön in the two-act version of Lulu, as in the 1957 revival with Helga Pilarczyk as a partner, 1967/1968 then. Alongside Anneliese Rothenberger in the title role 1970 was followed by the title role in Wozzeck with Sena Jurinac as Marie. In 1971 he was the father of the gods Jupiter in the now legendary production of the comic opera Orpheus in the Underworld, in which Liselotte Pulver ( Public Opinion ), Inge Meysel ( Juno ) and Theo Lingen ( Hans Styx ) was his partner.
Blankenheim was a busy ensemble singer at the Hamburg State Opera and took over in the course of his career, many smaller roles and Comprimario games. So you heard him in 1966 as Count Horn in a production of Un ballo in maschera, which was also recorded for television. In opera films Blankenheim also sang in the operas Peter Black (ZDF 1966) and The Magic Violin (BR 1976).
Blankenheim sang in Hamburg also in numerous premieres and premieres: The Return of Marcel Mihalovici ( revised version, 1955), The Marriage of Bohuslav Martinů ( stage premiere 1954), The Prince of Homburg by Hans Werner Henze (1960), Figaro gets divorced of Gislher adhesive (1963 ), the Golden Bock by Ernst Krenek (1964 ), Torn Apart by Gottfried von Einem ( 1964), JACOBOWSKY and the Colonel of Gislher adhesive (1965 ), the smile at the foot of the ladder by Antonio Bibalo, Arden must die by Walter Goehr (1967 ) Hamlet by Humphrey Searle (1968), a state of siege by Milko Kelemen (1970). With the Hamburg ensemble he performed in 1975 at the Schwetzingen Festival in the Opera Puss in Boots by Günter Bialas. In 1982 he sang the Puntti in the operatic monodrama The Birthday ( Avain ) of the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. He sang this role in 1984 also in the days of Nordic Music in Copenhagen. His artistic output has been repeatedly emphasized by the press in contemporary reviews.
1954 Blankenheim started singing at the Bayreuth Festival. From 1954 to 1960 he was a regular cast member of the Bayreuth Festival. He took over both the major character roles, as well as smaller parts. 1956-1959 he sang Klingsor Parsifal, 1956 and annually from 1958 to 1960 the carping in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, between 1957 Kothner. In addition, in Das Rheingold, he was a thunder (1954, 1955, 1957), as Biterolf in Tannhäuser (1954, 1955) and to hear than 3 Noble in Lohengrin (1954).
In 1956 he took over the Kurvenal in Tristan und Isolde in a series of performances at the Vienna State Opera. In 1968 he sang at the Stuttgart State Opera to Kratos in the world premiere of the opera Prometheus by Carl Orff. In 1979 he sang the role of Schigolch in the first performance in Paris at the Opéra Garnier in the supplemented by Friedrich Cerha three-act version of Lulu.
Blankenheim stage career lasted very long. Later in his career Blankenheim also took speaking roles, regularly including the steward in Ariadne auf Naxos, with which he will continue guested. Blankenheim was officially until the end of season 1996/1997 member of the Hamburg State Opera. There he joined last inter alia, as Pancras ' in The Poacher ( December 1993, March 1994) and as a steward ( February 1994, November 1994 and February 1995) on. In November 1995 he performed at the Schauspielhaus Cologne together with Ingrid Andree and Ralph Morgenstern in the play Be nice to Mr. Sloane by Joe Orton.
Blankenheim had extensive guest engagements at home and abroad. He has appeared at the Munich State Opera, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Staatstheater Darmstadt, Staatstheater Karlsruhe and at the Staatstheater Braunschweig.
Tours abroad led him to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Brussels, Liege, Amsterdam and at the Leipzig Opera House ( 1971 Wozzeck alternating with Theo Adam ). He sang at the Edinburgh Festival, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, at La Scala, at the Grand Opéra Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, at the San Francisco Opera, at the National Opera of Zagreb (1963 guest appearance of the Hamburg State Opera with Lulu ) and the opera houses of Mexico City and Montreal.
Blankenheim last lived, almost completely withdrawn, in Bonn. In 2007 he was a guest artist at the meeting of Gottlob Frick Society.
Audio
Original studio recordings that document Blankenheim voice on record, are relatively few. So he sang, for example, in Munich in 1955 for the German Grammophon in a studio recording the magician Colas in the Singspiel Bastien und Bastienne with Rita Streich and Richard Holm in the title roles.
However, there are live recordings of opera performances and radio recordings. Performed with the Toni Blankenheim, especially of the Bayreuth Festival, were annually recorded for radio and later released as a record. Meanwhile, these performances, often under various different record labels, has been re-released on CD. A performance recording of Tristan und Isolde from Vienna (1956 ) with André Cluytens at the desk, in the Valhalla label also released on CD.
The Hamburg Lulu - production has now been published in a performance recording from 1968 by EMI on LP and on CD. Several studio productions of the Hamburg State Opera with Toni Blankenheim were now at the label Arthaus released music on DVD: Der Freischütz (1968, as Kuno ), The Mastersingers of Nuremberg ( 1970 Sixtus Beckmessers ), Wozzeck (1970, title role ), Orpheus in the Underworld (1971, as Jupiter).
A live recording of the Paris Lulu production from 1979 with Pierre Boulez as conductor and Teresa Stratas in the title role, in Blankenheim next to the Schigolch the roles assumed medical officer and police commissioner, was also initially with Deutsche Grammophon to record and later on CD published.
When the West German broadcast was 1979, a complete recording of the comic opera The Grapin Widow of Friedrich von Flotow in German language with Josefine Angel Kamp in the title role and Peter Minich, in Blankenheim sings the role of the servant Vincent.