Description

THEODOR SCHEIDL (VIENNA, 3 AUGUST, 1880 – TÜBINGEN, 22 APRIL, 1959)

 

 

 

 

After attending a commercial school, he first worked as a pharmacist. He was also a renowned athlete and participated in the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens as a pentathlete. In 1906, he began vocal studies in Vienna.

He made his debut in 1910 at the Vienna Volksoper as the Herald in Lohengrin. From 1911 to 1912, he sang at the Olomouc City Theatre. In 1912, he joined the Augsburg City Theatre, and in 1913 he became a member of the Stuttgart Court Opera, where he remained principal baritone until 1921. There, he participated in the world premieres of Walter Braunfels’s Ulenspiegel (1913), Siegfried Wagner’s An allem ist Hütchen schuld (1917), and Ture Rangström’s Die Kronenbraut (Kronbruden) (1919).

At the Bayreuth Festival, he proved himself a distinguished Wagner interpreter. He sang Klingsor in Parsifal in 1914, Donner in the Ring cycle, Amfortas in Parsifal in 1924–25 and 1928, and Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde in 1927.

From 1921 to 1932, he was a celebrated member of the Berlin State Opera. On December 19, 1922, he sang in the world premiere of Franz Schmidt’s Fredigundis; on December 10, 1928, in the world premiere of Franz Schreker’s Der singende Teufel; on May 5, 1930, in Darius Milhaud’s Christophe Colomb (in German); and in 1931 in the German premiere of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Die schalkhafte Witwe (La vedova scaltra). One of his greatest Berlin successes was the title role in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.

He appeared as a guest in Milan and London, in Paris (1936) and Brussels, at the Vienna State Opera (1936), the Stockholm Opera (1929, 1930), in Amsterdam, and in Munich, enjoying great acclaim. In 1926, his Telramund in Lohengrin caused a sensation at the Sopot Festival.

In 1932, he joined the German Theatre in Prague for four years, but continued appearing as a guest after 1936. He was heard at the Stuttgart State Opera in 1938, at the Vienna Volksoper in 1939, and at the Cologne Opera in 1939.

In 1937, he was appointed professor at the Munich Academy of Music, and from 1944 onward he lived and taught in Tübingen. In 1955, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, he again sang Scarpia in Tosca at the Stuttgart State Opera.

Among his major roles outside the Wagner repertoire were Iago in Otello, Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana, Francesco in Max von Schillings’s Mona Lisa, the title roles in Marschner’s Hans Heiling and Weinberger’s Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer, as well as roles in operas by Richard Strauss.

He was married to the contralto Emma Haußer, who was engaged at the Stuttgart Opera from 1912 to 1921 and, like her husband, sang in the world premiere of Kronbruden in 1919.

Theodor Scheidl was known primarily as a Wagnerian singer, but he was also distinguished in many other roles and esteemed as an interpreter of art song and ballad repertoire.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Africaine (Meyerbeer) Dir, o Königin 66777 1146½bm I Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Africaine (Meyerbeer) Hei Adamastor 66777 1147½bm I Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Ballo in maschera (Verdi) Für dein Glück 66672 642bm Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Fliegende Holländer (Wagner) Versank ich jetzt in wunderbares Träumen, pt 1, pt 2 (w. Ohms) 95407, 95407, 878Bi I, 879Bi I Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Hans Heiling (Marschner) An jenem Tag 66825 Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) Was duftet doch der Flieder 66671 640bm Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Nachtlager in Granada (Kreutzer) Die Nacht ist schön, pt 1, pt 2 95368, 95368, 1842BM I, 1843BM I Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Otello (Verdi) Ich glaube an einen Gott (Credo) 66672 643½bm Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Du sagtest doch, du gingst zum Weine (w. von Debitzka) 95384 Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Parsifal (Wagner) Das Weihgefäßes göttlicher Gehalt (Amfortas Klage) 66671 641bm Grammophon, Berlin (el)

‘s wird schöne Maderin geben (Gruber-Hornig) 90076 Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer (Weinberger) Ich bin der Schwanda 66937 185½BV I Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Schwanda, der Dudelsackpfeifer (Weinberger) Wie kann ich denn 66937 186BV I Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Trovatore (Verdi) Sieh’ meiner hellen Tränen Flut… Befreit, o welche Seligkeit (w. von Debitzka) 66864, 66864 Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Undine (Lortzing) Es wohnt am Seegestade 66825 Grammophon, Berlin (el)

Wia si der Weaner ‘n Himmel vorstellt (Hirsch) 90076 Grammophon, Berlin (el)