Description

RICHARD MAYR (HENNDORF, 18 NOVEMBER, 1877 – VIENNA, 1 DECEMBER, 1935)

 

 

 

 

His father was the owner of the Salzburg Gablerbräu. He initially studied medicine at the University of Vienna and was a member of the Vienna Academic Choral Society during his studies. He then trained as a singer at the Vienna Conservatory.

In 1900, he sang the bass solo in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Bolzano and then performed Dvořák’s Requiem in Vienna. In 1902, Gustav Mahler personally engaged him at the Vienna Court Opera (in his debut role as Silva in Verdi’s Ernani), where he remained until his death. Throughout this long tenure, he was one of the most popular artists in Vienna.

In 1902, he sang at the Bayreuth Festival — one month before his Vienna debut — after the Vienna Court Opera’s concertmaster recommended him to Cosima Wagner. There, he performed as Hagen in Götterdämmerung, a role he repeated in Bayreuth in 1904, 1908, and 1924. He also sang Pogner in Die Meistersinger and, between 1910 and 1914, Gurnemanz in Parsifal. He later sang Gurnemanz in the Vienna premiere of Parsifal in 1914.

In 1910, he was a soloist in the world premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Munich. Since 1905, he had been a frequent guest at the Frankfurt Opera. He was already celebrated as a brilliant Mozart interpreter at the Salzburg Mozart Festivals in 1906 and 1910. With the launch of the Salzburg Festival in 1922, he became a central figure there.

At Salzburg, he sang Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro (1922, 1925–27, 1929–30), Leporello in Don Giovanni (1922, 1925–27, 1929–31), Sarastro in The Magic Flute (1928, 1931–33), Dr. Pandolfo in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona (1926, which he also directed), Don Pasquale (1925, 1930), Rocco (1928, 1930) and the Minister (1933) in Fidelio, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde (1933–34), and — most notably — his incomparable Ochs auf Lerchenau in Der Rosenkavalier (1929–32, 1933–34). He had already sung Ochs in the Vienna premiere of Strauss’s opera in 1911 (Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal called him “the Ochs par excellence”).

He also performed regularly in oratorios and concerts at Salzburg, and in 1925 gave the first-ever song recital at the festival.

On April 1, 1914, he appeared in the premiere of Franz Schmidt’s opera Notre Dame at the Vienna State Opera, and on October 10, 1919, he sang Barak in the world premiere of Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten there. In 1931, he performed in the Vienna premiere of Mozart’s Idomeneo in an adaptation by Richard Strauss, and in 1933 appeared as Waldner in the Vienna premiere of Arabella. In 1934, he took part in the premiere of Julius Bittner’s Das Veilchen.

Guest appearances at major opera houses worldwide brought him great success. From 1927 to 1930, he sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (debuting as Pogner in Die Meistersinger), where he also performed the Landgrave in Tannhäuser, Hunding in Die Walküre, and, above all, Ochs.

Between 1924 and 1931, he appeared at London’s Covent Garden Opera, including as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Daland in The Flying Dutchman, Pogner, King Marke, Gurnemanz, and again as Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier.

Highly acclaimed as a concert and oratorio bass, he possessed a magnificent, dark-timbred voice and was equally convincing in serious and comic roles. He was also renowned as an outstanding actor, unsurpassed in his art of characterization.

Literature:
O. Kunz: Richard Mayr (Foreword by Lotte Lehmann, Salzburg, 1953).

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Aida (Verdi) Zu des Niles heil’gen Ufern (w. Elizza, Forst, Stehmann, Slezak & chorus) 3-44055 15230u Gramophone, Wien 1909-10-02

Alessandro Stradella (Flotow) Trinklied (w. Slezak) 3-44006 14621u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Ballo in maschera (Verdi) Durchstrahlt von tausend Lampen (w. Elizza, Forst, Weidemann & Stehmann) 3-44034 14691u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Barbier von Bagdad (Cornelius) So schwärmet Jugend 62391 1400ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Verleumdungs-Arie 65652 547as Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Benvenuto Cellini (Berlioz) Arie des Kardinals 4-42487 13013L Gramophone, Wien 1911-10-11

Bohème (Puccini) Höre, du alter Mantel 62391 1403ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Bohème (Puccini) Mantellied 4-42345 15096u Gramophone, Wien 1909-09-14

Der Wirtin Töchterlein (Loewe) 66129 1580 as Polydor 1924

Domino Noir (Auber) Deo gracias 4-42362 15214u Gramophone, Wien 1909-09-29

Don Giovanni (Mozart) Bei Blondinen fantasieren 62370 1133ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Don Giovanni (Mozart) Keine Ruh’ bei Tag und Nacht 62388 1394ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Don Giovanni (Mozart) Schöne Donna 62370 1132ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Elias (Mendelssohn) Herr Gott Abrahams, Isaaks und Israels 65624 544as Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Ernani (Verdi) Cavatine 4-42338 14616u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Ein Jeder kennt die Lieb’ auf Erden 4-42488 13015L Gramophone, Wien 1911-10-11

Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky) Ein jeder kennt die Lieb’ auf Erden 65653 Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Fidelio (Beethoven) Gold-Arie 62388 1404ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Fidelio (Beethoven) Mir ist so wunderbar (w. Forst, Elizza & Preuss) 044130 01011v Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Fliegende Holländer (Wagner) Was frommt der Schatz (w. Weidemann) 3-44072 14642u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Freischütz (Weber) Hier im ird’schen Jammertal 62389 1395ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Freischütz (Weber) O lass’ Hoffnung dich beleben (w. Preuss, Stehmann & chorus) 3-44012 14659u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Götterdämmerung (Wagner) Hier sitz’ ich zur Wacht 4-42434 15046b Gramophone, Wien 1910-10-28

Huguenots (Meyerbeer) Will meinem guten Recht vertrauen (w. Preuss, Stehmann & Slezak) 2-44427 13223u Gramophone, Wien 1908-07

Juive (Halévy) Gebet 042108 460c G&T, Wien 1905-02

Juive (Halévy) Wenn ew’ger Hass 65652 538as Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Königin von Saba (Goldmark) Dieses Auge (w. Elizza, Stehmann, Slezak & chorus) 044222 01212v Gramophone, Wien 1909-10-02

Krönungsmesse (Mozart) Benedictus (w. Keldorfer, Drummer & Gallos) 82 4255m1 Christschall

Krönungsmesse (Mozart) Dona nobis pacem (w. Keldorfer, Drummer & Gallos) 83 4257m Christschall

Lohengrin (Wagner) Königsgebet 66129 539 as Polydor, 1921

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) Sextett (w. Elizza, Lukschic, Schmedes, Preuss, Weidemann & chorus) 44432 2444h G&T, Wien 1904-10

Manon (Massenet) Zur Frau nimm dir ein ehrsam’ Mädchen 4-42346 15097u Gramophone, Wien 1909-09-14

Martha (Flotow) Porterlied 62389 1396ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Muette de Portici (Auber) Barcarole (w. chorus) 4-42439 15024b Gramophone, Wien 1910-10-25

Muette de Portici (Auber) Der Feindes Macht (w. Slezak) 3-44007 14622u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Dort vergiss leises Fleh’n 62390 1397ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Will der Herr Graf 62390 1398ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Requiem (Mozart) Tuba mirum (w. Seebach-Ziegler, von Braun-Fernwald & Gallos) 75 C 4238m1 Christschall

Schöpfung (Haydn) Rollend in schäumenden Wellen (Wasser-Arie) 65624 Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Siegfried (Wagner) Wache, Wala 4-42433, 15047b Gramophone, Wien 1910-10-28

Tannhäuser (Wagner) Gar viel und schön 042109 461c G&T, Wien 1905-02

Tannhäuser (Wagner) O kehr’ zurück (w. Preuss, Stehmann & Slezak) 2-44428 13224u Gramophone, Wien 1908-07

Templer und Jüdin (Marschner) Der Barfüsser-Mönch (Lied des Bruder Tuck) (w. chorus) 4-2438 15023b Gramophone, Wien 1910-10-25

Zar und Zimmermann (Lortzing) Sextett (w. Preuss, Stehmann, Weidemann, Stejskal & Thiemann) 3-44013 14660u Gramophone, Wien 1909-05

Zauberflöte (Mozart) In diesen heil’gen Hallen 62380 1399ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922

Zauberflöte (Mozart) O Isis und Osiris 62380 1393ar Grammophon, Berlin 19211922