- Alois Burgstaller
Alois Burgstaller, (
September 21 ,1872 inHolzkirchen –April 19 ,1945 ) was a Germantenor .Burgstaller was a trained watchmaker, but always loved to sing. His talent was discovered during an amateur theatre performance in church. Alois was encouraged to sing professionally by
Cosima Wagner and he made a serious study ofOpera . He studied inFrankfurt and at theBayreuth School underJulius Kniese and made his stage debut in 1894 at theBayreuth Festival in a small role. Burgstaller performed the roles of Siegfried, Siegmund, Erik and Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festivals in Germany (1896-1902).Following a promising start, Alois sang all the major roles in
Richard Wagner 's operas at Bayreuth and in many prominent opera houses - performing around the world in places like Paris, Zurich, Budapest, London, Amsterdam and Moscow.Alois made his American debut at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York playing Siegmund in "Die Walküre " onFebruary 12 1903 . Performing throughout the US in San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles he remained on the cast for almost six years. His final performance as Siegmund was onJanuary 14 1909 . Burgstaller also sang the title role in the first staged American performance ofRichard Wagner 's "Parsifal " in New York City on Christmas Eve,December 24 1903 .The performance was in violation of the German copyright law and drew considerable wrath from
Cosima Wagner , who was trying to keep exclusive protection for the work at Bayreuth. As a result, Burgstaller, as well asAnton van Rooy and conductorAlfred Hertz , were banned from any further performances at Bayreuth.He spent his old age in St.Quirin, municipality Gmund at the Tegernsee till his death in 1945. He is buried in his parents
at the Holzkirchner cemetery. Alois Burgstaller was given the honor of having the market municipality, wood churches and a road named after him. References
* http://www.historicopera.com/jbayreuth1_page.htm
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