  g(11696700)a(1393595))
| | Jungwirth Manfred | | basso |  
| First a member of the boys choir at the Cathedral of St. Pölte, he studied various instruments including violin, cello, horn and percussion. At age 13 began vocal training with Alice Goldberg in St. Pölten, then with Emilie Auer-Weissberger in Vienna, later in Bucharest with Albert d'Andrée, in Munich with Rudolf Grossmann and in Berlin with Josef Burgwinkel. He nevertheless began to study medicine at the University of Vienna in 1937, but in 1940 he undertook state examinations in singing, piano and conducting. His first engagement at the Landestheater of Klagenfurt had to be abandoned when he was drafted for military duty. From 1941 to 1945 he sang for German soldiers in Romania and Bulgaria; he made his debut as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust in Bucharest in 1942. He sang in Salzburg for the first time during the summer of 1945, and was engaged that same year by the Landestheater of Innsbruck, remaining there until 1949. In 1946 and 1947 he appeared at the Salzburg Festival as oratorio soloist. In 1948 he received his Ph.D. in musicology at Innsbruck. That same year he won first prize in the Geneva vocal competition. In 1949 he became a member of the Stadttheater ensemble in Zurich, remaining there until 1954 and returning from 1958 to 1961. He made guest appearances at the Komische Oper of Berlin under Walter Felsenstein, and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg. In 1956-57 he performed at the Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, in 1957-58 at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and after returning to Zurich in, he spent 1960-1968 at the Frankfurt Opera. His career reached its high point in the years 1968-85 when he served as a member of the Vienna Staatsoper. The Bavarian Staatsoper in Munich claimed his services as permanent guest artist after 1976. He made highly successful guest appearances with the opera companies of Hamburg, Cologne and Stuttgart, in Paris, Athens and Lisbon, and at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where his debut assignment was Waldner in Arabella in 1981. He was admired at the Glyndebourne Festival of 1965 for his Ochs, a role regarded as one of his finest creations. He repeated it in numerous locales, including Seattle in 1982. In 1964 he made guest appearances in Holland. In 1978 he sang Rocco in Fidelio at la Scala. From 1985 to 1987 he sang La Roche in Capriccio at the Salzburg Festival, and repeated the part at the Maggio Musicale of Florence in 1987. Recordings: Decca (Rosenkavalier, Tannhäuser, Der Schauspieldirektor), DGG (Fidelio), Amadeo-Polygram (Gottfried von Einem's Der Besuch der Alten Dame [The Visit]). MMS. |
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