Gerhard Hüsch

Gerhard Heinrich Wilhelm Fritz Hüsch (Hanover, February 2, 1901 - Munich, November 23, 1984) was one of the most important German singers of modern times. He specialized in "Lieder", and to a lesser extent in opera.

Between 1925 and 1942, Hüsch sang regularly at several German (as well as British and Italian) opera houses, primarily in Berlin from 1930 onwards. The role for which he is best remembered is that of Papageno in Mozart's "The Magic Flute", but his repertoire included most of the standard lighter baritone roles, including Wagner's (he appeared at Bayreuth, most notably as Wolfram in "Tannhäuser") and Richard Strauss's (he appeared in the premiere of Strauss's "Intermezzo"). Lacking the vocal amplitude of his contemporaries Hans Hotter and Gottlob Frick, Hüsch concentrated on beautifully lucid diction and an unfailingly smooth vocal line.

Nowhere were these qualities better displayed than in his pioneering pre-war "Lieder" records. Here he shows the art which conceals art. He performed the first more-or-less-uncut versions of Schubert's "Winterreise" and "Die Schöne Müllerin" song-cycles, and Beethoven's "An die Ferne Geliebte"; his discs of songs by Hugo Wolf, made under Walter Legge's auspices, helped introduce that composer to thousands of music-lovers previously unfamiliar with Wolf's output; and he released a generous selection of songs by Hans Pfitzner, these recordings bearing the imprimatur of Pfitzner himself at the piano. The obscure Finnish composer Yrjö Kilpinen found in Hüsch a steadfast champion. Sometimes Hüsch performed in choral masterpieces as well, his recorded work in this field including an exceptional Jesus in a wartime set – severely abridged – with Günther Ramin conducting, of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion".

After World War II, Hüsch, whose political naïveté during the Third Reich (and, in particular, closeness to Rosalind von Schirach, the sister of Baldur von Schirach) [Michael Kater, The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich (Oxford University Press, New York, 1997), p. 13.] was unlikely to endear him to the Allies, mostly abandoned concert and operatic appearances, preferring to concentrate on teaching. A professor at the Munich Hochschule für Musik, he numbered among his pupils the British tenor Nigel Rogers. He gave master classes not only in Europe but in Japan. By now most of his large discography has been reissued on compact disc.

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