Description

KARL HAMMES (ZELL, 25 MARCH, 1896 – WARSAW, 6 SEPTEMBER, 1939)

After serving in the Luftwaffe during the First World War, he decided to study singing. He made his debut at the Cologne Opera in 1925 and, from 1927, spent two years at the Kroll Opera in Berlin. There, under Otto Klemperer, he sang Don Giovanni, Ottokar in Der Freischütz, the four demons in The Tales of Hoffmann, roles in modern operas by Ernst Křenek, and in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto.

At the Bayreuth Festival in 1927, he performed Amfortas in Parsifal and Gunther in Götterdämmerung. From 1929 to 1935, he was a member of the Vienna State Opera, where he enjoyed great success, as well as at the Salzburg Festival. There he sang Don Giovanni (1929–1931), Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro (1930–1934), Papageno in The Magic Flute (1931–1934), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (1931 and again 1934–1935), Scherasmin in Weber’s Oberon (1931–1932), and the Minister in Fidelio (1934).

From 1935 onwards he was a permanent guest with the Berlin State Opera, where he took part in the premiere of Paul von Klenau’s opera Rembrandt van Rijn in 1937. At the beginning of the Second World War, he became a Luftwaffe officer and commander of a bomber squadron, and suffered a fatal wound during a bombing raid on Warsaw.

His recordings include work with HMV; a complete opera, Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss (1936), was later re-released on BASF-Acanta. He also appears on Danacord as Papageno in a scene from The Magic Flute (Radio Copenhagen, 1931), and on Preiser as Don Giovanni (Reichssender Stuttgart, 1936).

TRACKLIST

Die tote Stadt (Korngold) Mein Sehnen, mein Wöhnen BB207 (72-742) CL6557-1,1T1 HMV, Wien 1930-10-07

Liebeshymnus (Strauss) EG3953 0RA1886-1 HMV, Berlin 1937-03

Schlechtes Wetter (Strauss) EG3953 0RA1884-2 HMV, Berlin 1937-03

Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer (Weinberger) Wie kann ich denn vergessen EG2733 (70-1489) BL6558-1 HMV, Wien 1930-10-07

Tannhäuser (Wagner) Blick’ ich umher AN471 Cw3151- HMV, Wien 1930-01-22

Tannhäuser (Wagner) Wie Todesahnung AN471 Cw3152- HMV, Wien 1930-01-22