- Anton Dermota
"
Kammersänger " Anton Dermota (June 4 ,1910 –June 22 ,1989 ) was a Slovenetenor .He was born in a poor family Born in the
Upper Carniola n village of Kropa, in what was then theAustro-Hungarian Empire (now inSlovenia ). He went to the conservatory inLjubljana with the intention of studying composition and organ, but in 1934 he received ascholarship which sent him toVienna . There, he devoted himself exclusively to vocal study withMarie Radó .Dermota made his debut at the opera in
Cluj in 1934, and was promptly invited byBruno Walter to perform at theWiener Staatsoper . Here he made his début as a "Man in Armor" inWolfgang Amadeus Mozart 's "The Magic Flute " in 1936 and got a contract immediately. His first leading role was Alfredo inGiuseppe Verdi 's "La Traviata ", which he sang in 1937. In the same year Dermota made his début at theSalzburg Festival in a production ofRichard Wagner 's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ", conducted byArturo Toscanini .Dermota quickly became a favorite of the viennese audience and would remain with the State Opera's company for more than forty years. He was a witness (and helped to save parts of the furniture) when the opera house burned down after an allied air raid on March 13, 1945, he stayed with the company in its provisional lodgings at
Theater an der Wien , and was one of the stars of the reopening of the original house in 1955 (as "Florestan" inLudwig van Beethoven 'sFidelio ). As early as 1946 Dermota was honoured for his faith with the title ofKammersänger .For 20 years Dermota sang at the
Salzburg Festival almost every summer. As guest he gave acclaimed performances atRoyal Opera House Covent Garden London , in Paris and Rome, atTeatro di San Carlo inNaples ,Teatro Colón inBuenos Aires , inAustralia ,Czechoslovakia andHungary .Dermota was best known for his Mozart roles - especially his "Don Ottavio" in
Don Giovanni . But he sang a good deal of thelyric tenor repertory during his career, including more modern parts, such asOedipus inIgor Stravinsky 's "Oedipus Rex ", the title role ofHans Pfitzner 's "Palestrina" and Flamand inRichard Strauss 's "Capriccio". Later in life he ventured into "heldentenor " territory, essaying parts such as the title role inBedřich Smetana 's "Dalibor " and "Florestan". All told, his repertoire included some 80 roles.An accomplished
Lieder singer, he gave many recitals accompanied by his wife, the pianistHilde Berger-Weyerwald . He began a second career as a singing coach at theWiener Musikhochschule in 1966.To celebrate his 70th birthday, Dermota sang Tamino in "The Magic Flute" at the Staatsoper. A year later he sang the Shepherd in
Carlos Kleiber 's famous recording of Richard Wagner'sTristan und Isolde , sounding astonishingly young.He died in Vienna less than a month after his 79th birthday.
References
*Lesley Orrey, ed. "The Encyclopedia of Opera", 1976 ed.
*http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Dermota-Anton.htm
* [http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Tenors/Dermota__Anton/dermota__anton.html short Biography]
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