Description

HEINRICH SCHLUSNUS (BRAUBACH, GERMAN EMPIRE, 6 AUGUST, 1888 – FRANKFURT, WEST GERMANY, 18 JUNE, 1952)

His father was a postman but also led a male quartet. He initially worked as a postal employee in Frankfurt am Main, while also receiving his first singing lessons and giving a concert in Frankfurt as early as 1912. When World War I broke out in 1914, he was drafted and suffered a leg injury that August at the front in Belgium. This experience led him to pursue a career as an opera singer, and he made his debut at the Hamburg Opera in 1915 as the Herald in Lohengrin. From 1915 to 1917, he sang at the Stadttheater in Nuremberg. In 1917, he was invited to join the Berlin Court Opera (his first role there being Wolfram in Tannhäuser), where he remained until 1945 as a member of what later became the Berlin State Opera.

During the Verdi Renaissance of the 1920s, he performed in the Berlin premiere of I Vespri Siciliani in 1932 and took on various other Verdi roles, including Rigoletto, Count di Luna in Il Trovatore, Germont in La Traviata, Don Carlos in La forza del destino, and Posa in Don Carlo. Following additional training with Louis Bachner in Berlin, he gave his first recital in 1918 at the Blüthner Hall in Berlin. He soon gained a reputation as one of Germany’s most prominent song interpreters, thrilling audiences worldwide with over 2,000 song recitals.

His international concert and recital tours took him across Holland, Belgium, England, France (in Paris in 1931 and 1937), Austria, Bulgaria (in Sofia in 1925), Italy, North America, and Canada. Despite his extensive recital career, he continued to perform on stage in Berlin and on guest appearances. In 1919, 1932, and 1934, he made guest appearances in Amsterdam; in 1922, in Barcelona; in 1923, at the Vienna State Opera; in 1925, at the Budapest Opera; in 1937, at the Paris Grand Opéra; in 1932, in Stockholm; and in 1922, 1938, and 1948, in Zurich. He also performed on many major German stages. During the 1927-1928 season, he was engaged by the Chicago Opera, and in 1933, he sang Amfortas in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival.

After World War II, he continued to perform, including at the Frankfurt Opera, where he sang his last role, Rigoletto, in 1948. In 1951, he made a final appearance as Germont at the Koblenz City Theater. That same year, he gave his last recital after completing another major tour of South America in 1949.

Literature: E. von Naso & Annemarie Schlusnus: Heinrich Schlusnus, Man and Singer (Hamburg, 1957).

TRACKLIST

1. Ballo in maschera (Verdi) Für dein Glück (81) 042516 1142m Grammophon, Berlin 1917-10
2. Ballo in maschera (Verdi) O nur du hast dies Herz mir entwendet (81) 042518 1145m Grammophon, Berlin 1917-10
3. Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Ich bin das Faktotum (76) 042525 1395s Grammophon, Berlin 19181919 (early 1919)
4. Faust (Gounod) Da ich nun verlassen soll (76) 042543 1396s Grammophon, Berlin 19181919 (early 1919)
5. Hamlet (Thomas) O Wein, zerstreue uns’re Sorgen (76) 042557 1436s Grammophon, Berlin 1919
6. Hans Heiling (Marschner) An jenem Tag (76) 042542, 1391s Grammophon, Berlin 19181919 (early 1919)
7. Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Schaut her, ich bin’s! (78) 042558, 1418s Grammophon, Berlin 1919
8. Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) Warum denn hielt’st du mich sehnend umfangen (w. Salvatini) (78) 044329 1417s Grammophon, Berlin 1919
9. Rigoletto (Verdi) Feile Sklaven! (76) 042532 1393s Grammophon, Berlin 19181919 (early 1919)
10. Rigoletto (Verdi) Gleich sind wir beide! (76) 042526 1394s Grammophon, Berlin 19181919 (early 1919)
11. Tannhäuser (Wagner) Blick’ ich umher (81) 042517 1144m Grammophon, Berlin 1917-10
12. Tannhäuser (Wagner) Wie Todesahnung (76) 042589 1437s Grammophon, Berlin 1919
13. Trovatore (Verdi) Ihres Auges himmlisch Strahlen (76) 042531, 1392s Grammophon, Berlin 19181919 (early 1919)
14. Undine (Lortzing) O kehr’ zurück (w. chorus) (81) 042519, 1146m Grammophon, Berlin 1917-10