Karel Burian
Encyclopedia
Karel Burian (12 January 1870 - 25 September 1924) was a renowned Czech
opera
tic tenor
who had an active international career spanning the 1890s to the 1920s. A Heldentenor, Burian earned acclaim in Europe and America for his powerful performances of the heaviest Wagnerian roles. His voice is preserved on numerous recordings made for Pathé Records
, the Gramophone Company
, the Gramophone & Typewriter Company (and its successor HMV) and the Victor Recording Company.
, Burian was the older brother of operatic baritone Emil Burian
and the uncle of composer Emil František Burian
. Both brothers studied singing under Franz Pivoda in Prague
. Inititially Burian had intended to become a lawyer and had attended Prague University for a year in pursuit of this goal. However, a professor at the university heard his voice and encouraged him to pursue an operatic career, putting him in touch with Pivoda for lessons. He later pursued further vocal studies with Felix von Kraus
in Munich
.
Burian made his professional opera debut as Jeník in Bedřich Smetana
’s The Bartered Bride
at the opera house in Brno
on 28 March 1891. The very next day he portrayed the title role in Smetana's Dalibor to such outstanding success that he was offered a long-term contract with the Brno Opera. However, he sang only one other major role with the company, Manrico in Giuseppe Verdi
's Il trovatore
, before joining the opera house in Reval for the 1892-1893 season. He sang at the opera house in Aachen
during the 1893-1894 season, notably appearing in the world premiere of Leo Blech
's first opera, Aglaja.
By the mid-1890s Burian was beginning to build a substantial reputation in Germany for the quality of his performances of the heldentenor repertoire. From 1894 to 1896 he was the leading Wagnerian tenor at the opera house in Cologne
. While there, he sang (among other things) in the world premieres of Karl von Kaskel's Sjula (1895) and Arnold Mendelssohn
's Elsi, die seltsame Magd (1896). He left Cologne to take up a commitment to sing at the Hanover opera house in 1896-1898, followed by a three-year term at the Hamburg State Opera
in 1898-1901. He was also active at the Berlin State Opera
during the 1898-1899 season.
By 1899, Burian had been engaged to appear at the best opera house of his home nation, the National Theatre
in Prague
. However, he did not remain for long with that theatre, as he was now a much-in-demand singer in Germany, where he could earn higher fees and greater prestige. For more than a decade prior to World War I
, Burian was a leading and much-admired tenor at the Semperoper
in Dresden
, where he made a powerful impression as Herod in the world première of Richard Strauss
’s Salome
in 1905. He later repeated the role for the first productions of Salome in New York City
and Paris
(in 1907).
The operas of Richard Wagner
were Burian's major focus on the international stage. He notably sang Tristan in the Hungarian première of Tristan und Isolde
, and also appeared as several of the principal Wagner heroes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
, London
, during four seasons between 1904 and 1914. He also sang almost all of the major Wagner roles at the Metropolitan Opera
, where he performed for seven seasons. In 1908, he made his only appearance at the Bayreuth Festival
in the title role of Parsifal
.
In 1913 Burian's memoirs, Z mých pamětí, were published. Among other things, they contain his recollections of the composer/conductor Gustav Mahler
and the conductor Arturo Toscanini
. He never retired from the stage, dying in 1924 after a brief illness in Senomaty
, near Prague, at the age of 54.
Some of Burian's acoustic recordings are available on CD reissues. Based on the evidence of these recordings, and judging by contemporary reviews of his performances, he possessed a big, burly, dark-coloured dramatic tenor voice and a strong stage presence. His singing was not beguilingly beautiful but the intensity of his interpretations compensated for this.
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
who had an active international career spanning the 1890s to the 1920s. A Heldentenor, Burian earned acclaim in Europe and America for his powerful performances of the heaviest Wagnerian roles. His voice is preserved on numerous recordings made for Pathé Records
Pathé Records
Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
, the Gramophone Company
Gramophone Company
The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label...
, the Gramophone & Typewriter Company (and its successor HMV) and the Victor Recording Company.
Biography
Born in Rousínov near RakovníkRakovník
Rakovník is a town in the western part of the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic located between the cities of Prague and Plzeň. It has a population of approximately 16,000.- Trade and business :...
, Burian was the older brother of operatic baritone Emil Burian
Emil Burian
Emil Burian was a Czech operatic baritone. He was the father of composer Emil František Burian and the grandfather of Czech songwriter and poet Jan Burian....
and the uncle of composer Emil František Burian
Emil František Burian
Emil František Burian was a Czech poet, journalist, singer, actor, musician, composer, dramatic adviser, playwright and director. He was also active in Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politics.- Life :...
. Both brothers studied singing under Franz Pivoda in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Inititially Burian had intended to become a lawyer and had attended Prague University for a year in pursuit of this goal. However, a professor at the university heard his voice and encouraged him to pursue an operatic career, putting him in touch with Pivoda for lessons. He later pursued further vocal studies with Felix von Kraus
Felix von Kraus
Felix von Kraus was an Austrian dramatic bass. Born in Vienna, he received a doctorate in musicology from the University of Vienna in 1894; as a singer, however, he was mainly self-taught...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Burian made his professional opera debut as Jeník in Bedřich Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
’s The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride
The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
at the opera house in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
on 28 March 1891. The very next day he portrayed the title role in Smetana's Dalibor to such outstanding success that he was offered a long-term contract with the Brno Opera. However, he sang only one other major role with the company, Manrico in Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, before joining the opera house in Reval for the 1892-1893 season. He sang at the opera house in Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
during the 1893-1894 season, notably appearing in the world premiere of Leo Blech
Leo Blech
Leo Blech was a German opera composer and conductor who is perhaps most famous for his work at the Königliches Schauspielhaus Leo Blech (21 April 1871 – 25 August 1958) was a German opera composer and conductor who is perhaps most famous for his work at the Königliches Schauspielhaus Leo...
's first opera, Aglaja.
By the mid-1890s Burian was beginning to build a substantial reputation in Germany for the quality of his performances of the heldentenor repertoire. From 1894 to 1896 he was the leading Wagnerian tenor at the opera house in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. While there, he sang (among other things) in the world premieres of Karl von Kaskel's Sjula (1895) and Arnold Mendelssohn
Arnold Mendelssohn
Arnold Ludwig Mendelssohn was a German composer and music teacher.Mendelssohn was born in the then Ratibor, Province of Silesia, son of Felix Mendelssohn's second cousin Wilhelm Mendelssohn who had married in 1854 Louise Aimee Cauer...
's Elsi, die seltsame Magd (1896). He left Cologne to take up a commitment to sing at the Hanover opera house in 1896-1898, followed by a three-year term at the Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
in 1898-1901. He was also active at the Berlin State Opera
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...
during the 1898-1899 season.
By 1899, Burian had been engaged to appear at the best opera house of his home nation, the National Theatre
National Theatre (Prague)
The National Theatre in Prague is known as the Alma Mater of Czech opera, and as the national monument of Czech history and art.The National Theatre belongs to the most important Czech cultural institutions, with a rich artistic tradition which was created and maintained by the most distinguished...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. However, he did not remain for long with that theatre, as he was now a much-in-demand singer in Germany, where he could earn higher fees and greater prestige. For more than a decade prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Burian was a leading and much-admired tenor at the Semperoper
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...
in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, where he made a powerful impression as Herod in the world première of Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
’s Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
in 1905. He later repeated the role for the first productions of Salome in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(in 1907).
The operas of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
were Burian's major focus on the international stage. He notably sang Tristan in the Hungarian première of Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
, and also appeared as several of the principal Wagner heroes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, during four seasons between 1904 and 1914. He also sang almost all of the major Wagner roles at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, where he performed for seven seasons. In 1908, he made his only appearance at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
in the title role of Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
.
In 1913 Burian's memoirs, Z mých pamětí, were published. Among other things, they contain his recollections of the composer/conductor Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
and the conductor Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
. He never retired from the stage, dying in 1924 after a brief illness in Senomaty
Senomaty
Senomaty is a market town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 910 inhabitants.-External links:*...
, near Prague, at the age of 54.
Some of Burian's acoustic recordings are available on CD reissues. Based on the evidence of these recordings, and judging by contemporary reviews of his performances, he possessed a big, burly, dark-coloured dramatic tenor voice and a strong stage presence. His singing was not beguilingly beautiful but the intensity of his interpretations compensated for this.