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. Adelaide, pt 1 (Beethoven) (77) 95391 236BO III Grammophon, Berlin 1930
2. Adelaide, pt 2 (Beethoven) (77) 95391 239BO III Grammophon, Berlin 1930
3. An die Geliebte (Wolf) (79.5) 90179 150DB III Grammophon, Berlin 1931
4. Ballo in maschera (Verdi) Für dein Glück und für dein Leben (77) 67012 385BV I Grammophon, Berlin 1930
5. Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Largo al factotum (77.5) 67012 1052BI I Grammophon, Berlin 1930
6. Caro mio ben (Giordani) (77) 66984 950BI I Grammophon, Berlin 1930
7. Dank sei dir, Herr (Ochs, wrongly attr to Händel) (77.5) 67467 1051BI I Grammophon, Berlin 1930
8. Daß doch gemalt all deine Reize wären (Wolf) (79.5) 90179 149DB III Grammophon, Berlin 1931
9. Der Jüngling an der Quelle (Schubert) (79.5) 90194 146DB III Grammophon, Berlin 1931
10. Der Musensohn (Schubert) (77) 62623 2313BH I Grammophon, Berlin 1930
11. Der Tamboursg’sell (Mahler) (77) 95469 1155BI I Grammophon, Berlin 1931
12. Der Wanderer an den Mond (Schubert) (79.5) 90194 145DB III Grammophon, Berlin 1931
13. Die Ehre Gottes in der Natur (Beethoven) (77) 95421 384BV I Grammophon, Berlin 1930
14. Rheinlegendchen (Mahler) (77) 95469 1154BI I Grammophon, Berlin 1931