  g(11696700)a(1393595))
| | Crass Franz | | basso |   
| He started as an actor with Gerda Heuer in Wiesbaden and was member of a touring company. Following voice study at the Cologne conservatory with Clemens Glettenberg, he debuted at the Stadttheater of Krefeld in 1954 as the King in Aida. In 1956 he became a member of the Opera at Hannover. Guest perfomances mainly at Cologne (1962-64), Hamburg (since 1964) and the Vienna State Opera (1960-74, as Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Rocco in Fidelio, hermit in Freischütz and in Wagner roles) established him internationally. He was also heard at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg. At Bayreuth he distinguished himself in Wagner roles including König Heinrich (1959, 1962, 1971-72), the Dutchman (1960-61) , Biterolf (1961-62), Fasolt (1963), König Marke (1970), Gurnemanz (1967-73). At the Salzburg, he was the Sprecher (1963) and Sarastro (1967-70) and Rocco in Fidelio (1968-70). He sang at La Scala (Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Minister in Fidelio both 1960), followed by Fasolt (1963, 1965), Telramund and Orest (1972). In 1966 he was Barak when Hamburg State Opera visited London for the English premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten. At the Teatro Colón he was heard as König Heinrich (1964), as Rocco (1966), as König Marke (1968, 1971), as Pogner and as Amfortas (1969). At the Grand Théâtre Geneva he sang the Dutchman (1965), the Landgraf (1973) and Minister in the Fidelio (1979); in Madrid Fasolt (1967); at the Staatsoper Berlin Rocco and Sarastro (1965); König Marke in Nancy (1972); and Rocco with the Chicago Lyric Opera (1975). His world wide appearances brought him to the Staatsoper of Dresden (1967), the Opera of Rome (1969), the Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels (1962) and with the ensemble of the Munich State Opera to Tokyo (1975). He also was a well known concert and oratorio singer, especially of Bach's Passions and of Beethoven's Missa solemnis (1960, London) and Mozart's Requiem (1964). After several years of increasing deafness, he left the stage in 1980 in a performance of Der Freischütz at Frankfurt am Main. Recordings: Philips (Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin live from Bayreuth) and the solo in Brahm's 'Deutsches Requiem', DGG (Zauberflöte, Parsifal, Fidelio, Giulio Cesare, Der Freischütz), Ariola-Eurodisc (Der Mond), Opera, Columbia (Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Zauberflöte, Fidelio), Melodram (Lohengrin Bayreuth 1959), Berlin-Classics (Barbiere di Siviglia), MMS, HMV-Electrola. |
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