Description

GÜNTHER TREPTOW (BERLIN, 22 OCTOBER, 1907 – BERLIN, 28 MARCH, 1981)

He studied at the Berlin Music Academy and under Giovanni Scarmeo in Milan and made his debut in 1936 at the German Opera House in Berlin as an Italian singer in Rosenkavalier. Initially, he sang smaller roles there, but in 1942, he achieved decisive successes as Otello in Verdi’s Otello and as Max in Der Freischütz. In 1938, he appeared as a guest at the opening performance of the Vienna Volksoper as Florestan in Fidelio. In 1939, he performed as Tannhäuser at the Sopot Festival.

From 1940, he was a member of the Munich State Opera, where he primarily specialized in Wagner. From 1947 to 1955, he was a member of the Vienna State Opera. Guest performances took him to La Scala in Milan (1950 as Siegmund), Covent Garden Opera in London (1953), and to stages in France, Spain, and Switzerland. In the 1950–51 season, he was active at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, making his debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre.

At the Bayreuth Festival in 1951–52, he sang Siegmund in Die Walküre. Later, in 1961 and 1968, he performed Balthasar Zorn, and in 1963–64, Ulrich Eisslinger in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In 1954, he was heard at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Tristan and Parsifal. In 1954–55, he was a guest at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and made guest appearances at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Leningrad Opera.

In 1955, the renowned Wagnerian tenor accepted a call to the Berlin State Opera, where he participated in the world premiere of The Poor Konrad by K. Forest in 1959. He worked there until 1961 and then returned to the German Opera House in Berlin, remaining a member until 1972. One of his last performances at this opera house was in 1971, a production of The Young Lord by Hans Werner Henze, in whose world premiere he had also participated on April 7, 1965, at the same venue.

As one of the few great heroic tenors of his generation, his brilliant repertoire included Wagnerian heroes such as Siegmund, Siegfried, and Tristan, as well as Florestan, Otello, and Stewa in Jenůfa by Janáček.

TRACKLIST

1. Bajazzo (Leoncavallo) Hüll dich in Tand 014027 K-C 0276 Imperial, Berlin 1940
2. Bajazzo (Leoncavallo) Nein, bin Bajazzo nicht bloß 014027 K-C 0277 Imperial, Berlin 1940
3. Der Evangelimann (Kienzl) Selig Sind, Die Verfolgung Leiden with Marie Luise Schilp 014046 K-C 0316, 0317 Imperial, Berlin 1940
4. Der Zarewitsch (Lehar) Allein, wieder allein 10809 BA 1284 GR 3 Polydor
5. Frasquita (Lehar) Hab’ ein blaues Himmelbett 10809 BA 12867 a Polydor
6. Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) Preislied 014023 K-C0269 Imperial, Berlin 1940
7. Walküre (Wagner) Siegmund’s Liebeslied 014023 K-C 0268 Imperial, Berlin 1940