  g(11696700)a(1393595))
| | Hopf Hans | | tenore |  
| A student of the bass Paul Bender in Munich, he debuted in 1936 with the Bavarian Landestheater as Pinkerton. From 1939 to 1942 he was engaged as lyric tenor at the Stadttheater of Augsburg. From 1942 to 1944 he appeared at the Deutsches Theater of Oslo, where he continued his studies under R. Bjarne. After World War II he specialized in the heroic tenor repertory, and served from 1946 to 1948 as a member of the Berlin Staatsoper. During the 1948-49 season he sang at the Dresden Staatsoper. Since 1949 he has belonged to the Bavarian Staatsoper in Munich, but held a simultaneous guest contract with the Vienna Opera. In 1951 he participated for the first time in the Bayreuth Festival. He was heard there in 1951, 1952 and 1960 as Walther von Stolzing, in 1964 as Froh, from 1960 to 1964 as Siegfried, in 1965 and 1966 as Tannhäuser and in 1966 as Parsifal. He appeared with much success at the Metropolitan Opera in New York between 1952 and 1955 and again in1966 (debut: Walther von Stolzing); he sang 36 performances there, all Wagnerian assignments. Guest appearances at La Scala (debut as Siegfried in 1963), at the Grand Opéra in Paris, at Covent Garden (1951-53, 1963) and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires brought him remarkable success, notably as a Wagner specialist. Since 1950, he has also held a guest contract with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg. At the Salzburg Festival of 1954 he sang Max in Der Freischütz. His great international career took him to Zurich, Geneva, Naples, Rome, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Stockholm, Lisbon, Barcelona, Mexico City, the Bolshoi in Moscow, San Francisco, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro, as well as the Maggio Musicale in Florence. His most important roles were Siegfried, Tristan, Otello and the Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Recordings: Urania (Fra Diavolo), Decca (Freischütz, Frau ohne Schatten), Columbia (Meistersinger), DGG (Don Giovanni), BASF (Luisa Miller), HMV (Tannhäuser), Philips (Tiefland), Melodram (Daphne), Rococo (Franz Schmidt's Notre Dame), Orfeo (Werner Egk's Peer Gynt),Melodram (the Bayreuth Ring [1960]), Cetra Opera Live (Fidelio), Hunt Records (Der Freischütz). |
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