Anton van Rooy

Anton van Rooy (January 1, 1870 - November 28, 1932) was a Dutch baritone. He had a voice of enormous proportions and is most remembered for his association with the music of Richard Wagner.

Born in Rotterdam, van Rooy studied with the famous voice teacher Julius Stockhausen in Frankfurt. He made his operatic debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1897, singing Wotan in "Der Ring des Nibelungen". The year 1898 saw his debuts in Berlin and London; and on December 14 of that same year he sang for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, as Wotan in "Die Walküre". He remained with the Met until 1908, during which time he was heard in all the leading baritone Wagnerian roles. Most notably, he created Amfortas in the American premiere of "Parsifal" in 1903. Four years later, he created the part of John the Baptist in the initial New York production of Richard Strauss's then controversial opera, Salome.

Van Rooy also sang regularly at Bayreuth and appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1898-1913. He made recordings, too, and was a noted song recitalist and soloist in oratorio.

Although the primitive acoustic dics that van Rooy made during the early 1900s were incapable of capturing the full majesty of his voice, they do demonstrate the strength of his high notes, the beauty of his tone and the sensitivity of his phrasing. They show why, to quote the "Oxford Dictionary of Opera" (second edition), "he was considered the finest [Hans] Sachs, Kurwenal and Wotan of the first decade" of the 20th century. (Fortunately, some of his recordings are available on CD reissues.)

After leaving the Metropolitan Opera, van Rooy became the leading Wagnerian baritone of the Frankfurt Opera; but by this juncture his voice had deteriorated due to overuse.

He died in Munich in 1932 at the age of 52.

References and Further Reading

*David Ewen, "Encyclopedia of the Opera: New Enlarged Edition". New York; Hill and Wang, 1963.
*Harold Rosenthal & John Warrack, "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera" (second edition). London; Oxford University Press, 1980.
*Michael Scott, "The Record Of Singing" (volume one). London; Duckworth, 1977.