Karl Formes
Encyclopedia
Karl Johann Franz Formes (b. Mülheim am Rhein
, 7 August 1815; d. San Francisco, 15 December 1889), also called Charles John Formes, was a German bass
opera and oratorio singer who had a long international career especially in Germany, London and New York. At one time extremely famous and in the forefront of his profession, several roles were composed for his voice, most notably that of Plunkett in Flotow's opera Martha
.
Formes's own Memoirs, first published in 1888, may not be entirely trustworthy. Charles Santley
recorded that Formes was a great teller of stories, 'much after the style of Baron Münchhausen
'.
family of Formes-de-Varaz, settled in Germany since the 16th century. His father was sacristan of the Roman Catholic church at Mülheim, and Karl was eldest of seven sons and one daughter. He began by singing in the church choir, received keyboard (spinet) lessons and became adept at the organ and the guitar. For three years he served as church organist before, aged 14, he made a journey as far as Switzerland to earn money by itinerant singing. Although financially successful, his father would not permit him to make a career in music: instead he was apprenticed to a brewer in Cologne
, a relative of his mother's, and there he remained until he was twenty. He got training in fencing and pistol shooting. There followed two years' military service in the 25 Regiment, then stationed at Coblenz. Here he first met Karl Anschütz
, a musician whose career became linked to his own. After Coblenz he returned to the brewery at Cologne. In 1838 he went back to Mülheim to support his father and worked both as brewer and sacristan, while also singing when the chance arose and serving as choirmaster. At about this time he married and had children.
Around 1840 he decided to attempt a musical career, encouraged by Franz Liszt
who heard him sing. An actor Ferdinand Gumbert tutored him in bass roles from Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro), Norma
(Oroveso) and Boieldieu's La dame blanche
(Gaston). He made his debut as Sarastro at Cologne Stadt-Theater in January 1842, with such success that the Director, Spielberger, immediately engaged him on a salary, and he was able to understudy other roles. Liszt declared his prophecy fulfilled, and Formes devoted himself fully to the stage. At Cologne the bass Josef Staudigl
(of the Vienna Hofoper) made guest appearances which Formes studied closely, especially his Bertram in Robert le diable
and his Marcel in Les Huguenots
. Staudigl, returning from London in 1843, heard Formes perform Bertram with his own modifications, and paid him a broad compliment. They sang together once in I puritani
, as Riccardo (Staudigl) and Giorgio (Formes). After two years (including a season at Düsseldorf
), Formes broke his contract with Spielberger and escaped to Mannheim
, where he joined the Grand-Ducal Opera and befriended Vinzenz Lachner
. In February 1845 he was singing Marcel there.
at the end of 1844, Formes was offered trial performances at Vienna. Having sung under Lachner on his way through Munich, his first Vienna performance was as Bertram under Heinrich Proch
, beside Joseph Erl (Roberto), Louise Liebhart (Alice), Hasselbarth (Princess) and Reichart (Rambaldo). He was appointed to succeed Staudigl immediately, and soon performed Sarastro, Marcel, and Mozart's Figaro.
In the midst of success he was visited by Giovanni Basadonna who offered to instruct Formes in the 'true old Italian method'. Formes studied seriously with him for three years, improving the evenness of colour in his voice, learnt musical theory with Simon Sechter
, and met elderly musicians who had known Mozart or Beethoven. His interest in Schubert Lieder was developed, singing privately with Liszt on one occasion: he often sang 'Der Wanderer
'.
In Vienna he sang Malvolio in Flotow's Alessandro Stradella
, with Joseph Erl and Anna Zerr, and the composer wrote the role of Plunkett in Martha
for him, which he created at the Theater am Kärntnertor
in 1847 with Erl and Zerr, and with Therese Schwarz as Nancy. Also Halévy
adapted his Les mousquetaires de la reine for Formes, Erl and Zerr. Otto Nicolai composed the role of Falstaff in his Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor for Formes, though he did not sing it until 1853 in Hamburg. Before the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
he made a tour to Brno
, Pesth and Ofen. At Pesth he met the young Johann Nepomuk Beck
, whom he coached as Riccardo in I puritani and performed it with him, before Beck made his distinguished baritone career in Vienna. In Ofen, in the Arena, he sang Bertram, and also his Caspar in Der Freischütz
to Joseph Erl's Max.
Formes obtained performances at Vienna of Nicolai's Die Heimkehr des Verbannten and Il templario, both suppressed there as works of Prussian sympathy. An engagement from 1846-1850 to sing at Milan was broken off after a few days for fear of anti-Austrian feeling, though he was in fact German. Giacomo Meyerbeer
invited him to sing Marcel and Bertram in Berlin, but the plan misfired and he did not appear there until 1853. Imprisoned briefly in Vienna for speaking disrespectfully of Metternich, he still took part in rehearsals and performances. Formes, hostile to Metternich's oppressions, fell heavily out of official favour in revolutionary Vienna
. When he was driven to leave early in 1848, Joseph Staudigl resumed his post at the State Opera.
, Leipzig
and Frankfurt he reached Dresden
, where for a term he sang with Josef Tichatschek
(whom he admired immensely) and Johanna Wagner, sometimes under Richard Wagner
's baton, though not himself a Wagnerian. Formes advocated to Wagner the Italianate delivery of his recitatives in preference to harsher declamation. In addition to Bertram and Marcel, Sarastro, Figaro and Caspar, he sang Lysiart (Euryanthe
), the Cardinal (La Juive
), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail
), Rocco (Fidelio
) and Mephisto in Spohr
's opera of Faust
. He was also singing Leporello
at that time.
After a season in Braunschweig
he returned to Dresden. He attempted to revisit in Vienna and only narrowly escaped. Then after singing in Cologne for a spell, he received engagements in Amsterdam through Ferdinand Röder, where (for his old friend Karl Anschütz) he appeared in Der Freischütz, Weber's Jessanda, Spohr's Faust and Die Zauberflöte in Italian versions for the first time. He also sang with success in Rotterdam
, Leyden, Utrecht
, and other parts of the Netherlands, all the time suffering from an intermittent fever.
, London to great acclamation: Anschütz became leader of the Drury Lane orchestra. Charles Santley was inspired by this example.
H.F. Chorley
wrote that Formes
Engaged by the Sacred Harmonic Society to sing Elijah, Messiah
and The Creation at Exeter Hall
, soon Formes became as admired in concert as on the theatre stage. In the 1849 Wednesday Concerts under Anschütz at Exeter Hall he appeared alongside such musicians as Alfredo Piatti
, Henri Vieuxtemps
, Ole Bull
, Giorgio Ronconi
and Marietta Alboni
. He sang in the solo quartet of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Clara Novello
, Charlotte Sainton-Dolby and Sims Reeves
, under Anschütz, with orchestra of 350 and chorus of 700, (afterwards repeated with Reichart, former Vienna colleague, in Reeves's place) and in the same formation sang Mozart's Requiem
at the Wednesday Concerts.
Formes was soon recruited as primo basso assoluto for the standing management for reconstruction of the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden Theatre after its latest collapse. This group included Michael Costa
, Mario
, Giulia Grisi
, Mme Castellan, Giorgio Ronconi and Enrico Tamberlik
(all migrants from Benjamin Lumley
's company in 1846), Antonio Tamburini
, Elena D'Angri and Frederick Gye
. In April 1850 Formes appeared as Caspar in the first Italian Der Freischütz in London (Il franco arciero) with Tamberlik, which Chorley thought 'one of his favourite characters - the type of all he could do best in opera'.
There followed the first London Italian performances of Gli Ugonotti
, with Mario, Grisi, D'Angri, Tamburini and Marai to Formes's Marcel, and Roberto il diavolo
, with Tamberlik, Pauline Viardot, Grisi and Mario to his Bertram. Chorley remarked:
Chorley saw him play Caspar with the Belgian tenor Maralti and Mme Castellan, and his Leporello with Grisi, Viardot and Mario. There followed his Sarastro, with Louisa Pyne
, Angiolina Bosio
and Mario. Formes had a successful debut and season in Spain, and claimed to have visited and sung for both Heinrich Heine
and Rossini in Paris on his way there. In autumn 1850 he sang Elijah at the Hall inauguration for Liverpool
's first Grand Musical Festival, and the next night joined Tamburini, Luigi Lablache
and Ronconi in bass passages of Mozart's Requiem and Rossini's Stabat Mater. The same year (and in later years) he joined the Italian Company's operatic tour in Dublin under Anschütz, and made a recital tour in Scotland with Clara Novello and Sims Reeves, the violinist Ernst
and pianist Litolff
.
(Rocco), with Jenny Bürde-Ney (1826–1886) and Tamberlik, and in the third (1852) was Weber's Jessonda
and Formes's Mephisto in Spohr's Faust
, with Ronconi, Bosio and Tamberlik. Rossini's Guglielmo Tell was also given, and Tamberlik and Formes appeared as Peter the Great and General Romanoff in two sumptuous performances of Jullien
's opera Pietro il Grande, which was a complete failure and ruined the composer. In 1851 Karl Formes's brother Theodor Formes (1826–1875) became a principal tenor at the Hofoper Berlin, where he sang the title roles in the first local performances of Tannhäuser
(1856) and Lohengrin
(1859). Theodor sang at Berlin until 1864. The brothers Hubert and Wilhelm were also operatic singers.
Karl Formes sang every year from 1850-1857 in London, and from October 1851 to Lent 1852 and in two subsequent winters he sang at St Petersburg. His first performance there was with Mario, Grisi, Tamburini and others, and he sang Les Huguenots, Le nozze di Figaro, etc. In 1852 he was in the premiere of a new 3-act revision of Spohr's Faust
. With Reeves, Viardot, Pyne and Sainton-Dolby, he gave first performances of new English oratorios at the Norwich Festival
, and in September made his debut at the Birmingham Festival. In 1853 he took part in the London first performance of Berlioz' Benvenuto Cellini
in the role of Cardinal. In Berlin he now first sang Sarastro, Marcel and Bertram, before returning to London. He performed a Fidelio (Rocco) at Liverpool under Edward Loder
, and made his first operatic tour (of many) in Scotland with Anetta Caradori, Mme Rudersdorff, Minna Von Berkel and Elena D'Angri, tenors Pavesi and Reichart, baritones Fortini and Mancusi and bassisti Charles Zelger and himself.
Formes sang in the first Grand Concert in the Crystal Palace
in 1853, and performed Handel's Messiah in the first Crystal Palace Music Festival later that year. He took part in a concert at Exeter Hall to benefit Hungarians exiled after the Revolution. Anna Zerr was in London but could not participate from expectation of reprisals in Vienna, for spies were ready to denounce them. In autumn Formes sang at Hamburg the Falstaff written for him by Nicolai. In 1854 he sang under Liszt's baton at Weimar
, and was appointed an English Royal Chamber-singer by H.M. Queen Victoria. On 29 August 1855 Michael Costa conducted the premiere of his oratorio Eli at the Birmingham Festival, with Viardot, Castellan, Reeves and Formes. That year Formes sang Pierre le Grand in L'étoile du nord
with Mmes Bosio and Marai, a role he claimed Meyerbeer intended for him, though Chorley compared him unfavourably with the original Pierre of Bataille. In 1856 he assisted in bringing the tenor Theodore Wachtel to London.
debut, 30 Nov 1857, Formes sang Bertram in Roberto il diavolo at the Academy of Music (Italian U.S. première), and over the next 7 weeks appeared in Martha, I puritani, Fidelio, Il barbiere di Siviglia (Don Basilio) and Don Giovanni (Leporello). There were grand performances of The Creation and Messiah, and (in concert with Thalberg
and Vieuxtemps
) of Mozart's Requiem. Formes was an instant sensation. After Elijah in Boston
, by 27 January 1858 the troupe was off to Philadelphia Academy
, where Formes sang Plunkett
(with Hugo Pickaneser), I puritani, Leporello
, Bertram
, and Elmiro in Otello
with conductors Anschütz, D'Angri and Carl Bergmann
. By late February Formes was back in New York for I puritani and Otello, and (8 March) his Marcel in Gli Ugonotti (Italian U.S. première). After Bignardi's farewell on 23 March, and a short season in San Francisco, he sang Mozart's Requiem and Elijah at New York in late April.
Anschütz and Formes made a recital tour in the west before the start of the second opera season, in October 1858. Ullman's company included soprano Rosine d'Hur Laborde, pianist Gustave Satter
. His new star, soprano Marie Piccolomini brought conductor Emanuele Muzio to share direction. She sang La figlia del reggimento
with Formes (Sulpizio) and Giuseppe Tamaro at New York Academy from October 27, 1858. (The 'astonishing little flirt Piccolomini' was contrasted with the 'massive loyalty of the ponderous Formes'.) Formes sang his Leporello, Bertram and Marcel: he and Piccolomini shared honours in Le nozze di Figaro ('Non più andrai' encored in German) and weaknesses in Lucrezia Borgia
, but were at odds as Adam and Eve in The Creation on 11 January 1859 in a ludicrous showdown over 'God save the Queen'. Formes and Piccolomini had a four-week tour in Boston in December and went to Philadelphia in January with La figlia under Muzio, and Le Nozze (with Angiolina Ghioni, von Berkel and Emanuele Florenza, under Anschütz) and Don Giovanni (with Euphrosine Poinsot, Ghioni, Florenza, Domenico Lorini and Domenico Coletti). Formes gave Les Huguenots and Roberto il diabolo with Poinsot and Laborde. Anschütz and Formes then led the company's touring progress en route to New Orleans (arrived 23 February), while Piccolomini left to make her farewell. Returning, in May Philadelphia heard Formes's Martha (with Laborde, Adelaide Phillips
and Giovanni Sbriglia
), and his roles in Norma, Roberto, Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni in casts featuring Laborde and Stefani: then to Boston again until 11 June.
Formes returned to England for the principal seasons of 1860, 1861 and 1862, making visits to the States and in Germany. In 1860 the impresario Maurice Strakosch
(Adelina Patti
's brother-in-law) was in partnership with Ullman, and Anschutz, settled in America, was directing the troupe and leading the Arion Männergesangverein, a Teutonized men's singing-circle. Formes (who befriended Strakosch), after a spell in London and Europe returned to America. He sang Act 2 of Martha in concert with Bertha Johanssen, von Berkel and Giorgio Stigelli, and with Stigelli gave the duet scene from Masaniello
under Theodore Thomas. On October 10, 1860 he sang in the Philadelphia Gala Performance for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales of Martha with the young Patti, Fanny Heron Natali, Pasquale Brignoli and Nicolò Basili: Patti and Formes led 'God save the Queen.' The Ullman-Strakosch partnership failed, and split into a Franco-Italian faction under Muzio and a German company under Formes and soprano Inez Fabbri
, with Stigelli, von Berkel, Anschütz and manager Richard Mulder. Having won control of the New York Academy, on October 24, 1860 the Formes-Fabbri company gave Roberto il diavolo, and a week later sang Der Freischütz: but after only four opera nights the project folded. Formes gave a Grand Farewell on 1 January 1861 in Martha and Act 2 of Flotow's Stradella under Theodore Thomas, with Johannsen, Mme Eckardt and Stigelli, and then reappeared for Stigelli's Farewell on January 11 singing Stradella in full and Act 4 of La Juive. Formes made a great impression with the Star-spangled banner, 'with a flag of the Union in one hand, and with a voice and air that thrilled with lofty patriotism, and found an echo in every heart present...' Formes and Carlotta Patti
sang in Stigelli's Boston Farewell on 28 January.
in his residence and property in Wiesbaden to his wife, and when trying to buy a house in Chicago he found she had taken everything. His voice becoming worn, and needing employment, he essayed a career as stage actor: after some study he played Schiller
's William Tell and Lessing
's Nathan the Wise, in Würzburg
and Mainz
with success, and Shylock
(The Merchant of Venice
) with artistic (but not financial) success in England. His second wife, from Wiesbaden, also failed to safeguard his money. However Formes returned to singing, and to America. Anschütz established German Opera at New York in 1862, and in October 1864 Formes was with Leonard Grover's German Opera Company in Boston, with Johannsen and Marie Frederici (mezzo), Johanna Rotter, Theodore Habelman (tenor), Josef Hermanns (basso) and Sig. Tamaro. These singers cohered in subsequent years. Anschütz retired from the German Opera in 1864, and in spring 1865 his pupil and chorus-master Adolf Neuendorff
delivered William Tell at the New York Academy with Frederici, Habelman, Hermanns, Carl Formes and Wilhelm Formes (his brother), as Grover's Company. The Grover company gave Martha (April 29) with Formes, Franz Himmer, Rotter and Sophie Dziuba (Nancy).
Formes had developed connections with Abraham Lincoln
's household, and published a Song without words for piano in his memory. In summer 1865 he sang under Anschütz at Hyde Park Hotel on Lake Michigan
(near Calumet
) and afterwards had a season of game-shooting. A crack shot, Formes could shoot a coin from between a prima donna's thumb and forefinger from twelve feet, and told stories of his fights with grizzlies
. In the winter of 1865-66 he sang in Havana
, notably in Martha and Roberto il diabolo, under Muzio: he was briefly arrested. In 1868 he visited England for a Covent Garden season (including a tour) for Mapleson
, in company with Charles Santley
, Zélia Trebelli
and colleagues. After a very busy programme Formes went on to Cologne, but was back in the States for the winter, touring with La Grange, Brignoli, Hermanns, Rotter and others, in a company which in January 1869 was performing Roberto il diabolo, Sicilian Vespers, L'Etoile du nord, L'Africaine and Belisario, among more standard repertoire, in Boston. Formes returned to England for the 1869 Covent Garden company tour, playing the Ghost in the Hamlet
of Ambroise Thomas
with Santley (title) and Ilma de Murska (Ophelia) in Manchester, Liverpool and London. Santley liked him:
When Anschütz died in America in 1870 his German Company had already failed, but under Neuendorff the troupe brought by Luise Lichtmay that winter introduced Bertha Roemer, Clara Perl and basso Adolf Franosch: Formes was with their January 1871 Boston tour in a full programme including Lustige Weiber, La dame blanche and Stradella. Lichtmay's troupe presented the U.S. premiere of Lohengrin
at the Stadt Theater (Bowery
), in German, but Franosch, not Formes, played Heinrich, with Lichtmay (Elsa), Habelman (title), Marie Frederici (Ortrud) and Edward Vierling (Telramund). In January 1872 Formes appeared in the U.S. premiere of Marschner
's opera Der Templer und die Jüdin
. About two months later he played Marcel in one performance of Gli Ugonotti at New York under Neuendorff, with Parepa-Rosa
, Adelaide Phillips, Santley and Theodor Wachtel. 'His voice was too much worn to last out the whole opera, but his representation of the rough old soldier was as perfect as ever,' wrote Santley.
Formes's voice preserved its volume and sweetness, though advancing age affected his intonation. In 1874 he sang in Europe, notably in Berlin where the continuing beauty of his voice caused wonder and admiration. His brother Theodor was then dying in asylum, having become mentally ill. That winter he conducted an operatic tour in the southern states, and spent Christmas Day singing at a plantation between Charleston
and Savannah
.
with his pupil Carrie McLellan. He and Pauline visited England and France in 1888, and Formes gave concerts in England and met again with Charles Santley. He published his memoirs in German at Cologne in 1888 with the help of the editor Wilhelm Koch. His final appearance was on 10 December 1889 at the opening of the Bijou Theatre in San Francisco, to sing Don Basilio once more: he was received with great enthusiasm. On December 15 he succumbed to pneumonia and heart failure. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. His wife published the English translation of his Memoirs in 1892.
Formes's son Ernst Formes (b. Mühlheim 30 Jan 1841; d. Berlin 2 April 1898) was a noted actor in Germany. He was a literary connoisseur who could read in four languages. Like his father, 'he could relate the most unbelievable Munchhausiads with the most passive face in the world.'
It seems likely that Carl Formes jnr. (b. London 3 July 1841; d. Los Angeles 18 Nov 1939), actor in about 40 silent movies c.1914 onwards, was a relative, probably the nephew of Karl senr.
A street in Cologne-Mülheim is named the Formesstrasse after this formerly world-famous family of singers.
Mülheim am Rhein
Mülheim is a city district of Cologne in Germany and a formerly independent town . Mülheim is located on the right bank of the Rhine opposite the old town of Cologne....
, 7 August 1815; d. San Francisco, 15 December 1889), also called Charles John Formes, was a German bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
opera and oratorio singer who had a long international career especially in Germany, London and New York. At one time extremely famous and in the forefront of his profession, several roles were composed for his voice, most notably that of Plunkett in Flotow's opera Martha
Martha (opera)
Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond is a 'romantic comic' opera in four acts by Friedrich von Flotow, set to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese and based on a story by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges....
.
Formes's own Memoirs, first published in 1888, may not be entirely trustworthy. Charles Santley
Charles Santley
Sir Charles Santley was an English-born opera and oratorio star with a bravuraFrom the Italian verb bravare, to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era...
recorded that Formes was a great teller of stories, 'much after the style of Baron Münchhausen
Baron Munchhausen
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen , usually known as Baron Münchhausen in English, was a German nobleman born in Bodenwerder and a famous recounter of tall tales....
'.
Origins, training and début
Karl Formes derived from the SpanishSpanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
family of Formes-de-Varaz, settled in Germany since the 16th century. His father was sacristan of the Roman Catholic church at Mülheim, and Karl was eldest of seven sons and one daughter. He began by singing in the church choir, received keyboard (spinet) lessons and became adept at the organ and the guitar. For three years he served as church organist before, aged 14, he made a journey as far as Switzerland to earn money by itinerant singing. Although financially successful, his father would not permit him to make a career in music: instead he was apprenticed to a brewer 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...
, a relative of his mother's, and there he remained until he was twenty. He got training in fencing and pistol shooting. There followed two years' military service in the 25 Regiment, then stationed at Coblenz. Here he first met Karl Anschütz
Karl Anschütz
Karl Anschütz was a German-born musical director and composer who founded the German Opera in New York City. His grandson is Philip Anschutz...
, a musician whose career became linked to his own. After Coblenz he returned to the brewery at Cologne. In 1838 he went back to Mülheim to support his father and worked both as brewer and sacristan, while also singing when the chance arose and serving as choirmaster. At about this time he married and had children.
Around 1840 he decided to attempt a musical career, encouraged by Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
who heard him sing. An actor Ferdinand Gumbert tutored him in bass roles from Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro), Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
(Oroveso) and Boieldieu's La dame blanche
La Dame blanche
La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...
(Gaston). He made his debut as Sarastro at Cologne Stadt-Theater in January 1842, with such success that the Director, Spielberger, immediately engaged him on a salary, and he was able to understudy other roles. Liszt declared his prophecy fulfilled, and Formes devoted himself fully to the stage. At Cologne the bass Josef Staudigl
Josef Staudigl
Josef Staudigl was an Austrian bass singer.- Life :Staudigl attended the school in Wiener Neustadt and, from 1825, was a novice in the Benedictine monastery of Stift Melk. In 1827 he went to Vienna to study surgery there...
(of the Vienna Hofoper) made guest appearances which Formes studied closely, especially his Bertram in Robert le diable
Robert le diable (opera)
Robert le diable is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, often regarded as the first grand opera. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Casimir Delavigne and has little connection to the medieval legend of Robert the Devil. Originally planned as a three-act opéra comique, "Meyerbeer persuaded...
and his Marcel in Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
. Staudigl, returning from London in 1843, heard Formes perform Bertram with his own modifications, and paid him a broad compliment. They sang together once in I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
, as Riccardo (Staudigl) and Giorgio (Formes). After two years (including a season at Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
), Formes broke his contract with Spielberger and escaped to Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, where he joined the Grand-Ducal Opera and befriended Vinzenz Lachner
Vinzenz Lachner
Vinzenz Lachner was a significant German composer and conductor....
. In February 1845 he was singing Marcel there.
Vienna 1845-1848
When Staudigl left the Vienna State OperaVienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
at the end of 1844, Formes was offered trial performances at Vienna. Having sung under Lachner on his way through Munich, his first Vienna performance was as Bertram under Heinrich Proch
Heinrich Proch
Heinrich Proch was an Austrian composer.Proch studied jurisprudence and completed his training as a violinist in Vienna. From 1834 to 1867, he was a member of the Vienna Hofkapelle...
, beside Joseph Erl (Roberto), Louise Liebhart (Alice), Hasselbarth (Princess) and Reichart (Rambaldo). He was appointed to succeed Staudigl immediately, and soon performed Sarastro, Marcel, and Mozart's Figaro.
In the midst of success he was visited by Giovanni Basadonna who offered to instruct Formes in the 'true old Italian method'. Formes studied seriously with him for three years, improving the evenness of colour in his voice, learnt musical theory with Simon Sechter
Simon Sechter
Simon Sechter was an Austrian music theorist, teacher, organist, conductor and composer.Sechter was born in Friedberg , Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, and moved to Vienna in 1804, succeeding Jan Václav Voříšek as court organist there in 1824. In 1810 he began teaching piano and voice...
, and met elderly musicians who had known Mozart or Beethoven. His interest in Schubert Lieder was developed, singing privately with Liszt on one occasion: he often sang 'Der Wanderer
Der Wanderer
Der Wanderer is the name of a Lied composed by Franz Schubert in October 1816 for voice and piano. A revised version was published near the end of May 1821 as opus 4, number 1. The words are taken from a German poem by Georg Philipp Schmidt...
'.
In Vienna he sang Malvolio in Flotow's Alessandro Stradella
Alessandro Stradella (opera)
Alessandro Stradella is a romantic opera in three acts composed by Friedrich von Flotow to a German libretto by "Wilhelm Friedrich" . Set in Venice and the countryside near Rome, it is loosely based on the colourful life of the 17th century Italian composer and singer Alessandro Stradella...
, with Joseph Erl and Anna Zerr, and the composer wrote the role of Plunkett in Martha
Martha (opera)
Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond is a 'romantic comic' opera in four acts by Friedrich von Flotow, set to a German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Riese and based on a story by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges....
for him, which he created at the Theater am Kärntnertor
Theater am Kärntnertor
Theater am Kärntnertor or Kärntnertortheater was a prestigious theatre in Vienna during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...
in 1847 with Erl and Zerr, and with Therese Schwarz as Nancy. Also Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
adapted his Les mousquetaires de la reine for Formes, Erl and Zerr. Otto Nicolai composed the role of Falstaff in his Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor for Formes, though he did not sing it until 1853 in Hamburg. Before the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many of the European Revolutions of 1848 and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas...
he made a tour to 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...
, Pesth and Ofen. At Pesth he met the young Johann Nepomuk Beck
Johann Nepomuk Beck
Johann Nepomuk Beck was a Hungarian operatic baritone. He possessed a flexible and strong voice that was particularly suited to the French and Italian operatic repertoire...
, whom he coached as Riccardo in I puritani and performed it with him, before Beck made his distinguished baritone career in Vienna. In Ofen, in the Arena, he sang Bertram, and also his Caspar in Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
to Joseph Erl's Max.
Formes obtained performances at Vienna of Nicolai's Die Heimkehr des Verbannten and Il templario, both suppressed there as works of Prussian sympathy. An engagement from 1846-1850 to sing at Milan was broken off after a few days for fear of anti-Austrian feeling, though he was in fact German. Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
invited him to sing Marcel and Bertram in Berlin, but the plan misfired and he did not appear there until 1853. Imprisoned briefly in Vienna for speaking disrespectfully of Metternich, he still took part in rehearsals and performances. Formes, hostile to Metternich's oppressions, fell heavily out of official favour in revolutionary Vienna
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...
. When he was driven to leave early in 1848, Joseph Staudigl resumed his post at the State Opera.
Germany and Netherlands, 1848-49
Escaping to Hamburg (where he had missed fulfilling a contract in April 1848) he joined the Opera's co-operative, paid on shares not guarantee, singing first his Marcel. That autumn 1848 he took some part in the opening of the revolt of Schleswig against Denmark. After singing in BremenBremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and Frankfurt he reached 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 for a term he sang with Josef Tichatschek
Josef Tichatschek
Josef Aloys Tichatschek , originally Tichaček, was a Bohemian opera singer highly regarded by Richard Wagner...
(whom he admired immensely) and Johanna Wagner, sometimes under 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...
's baton, though not himself a Wagnerian. Formes advocated to Wagner the Italianate delivery of his recitatives in preference to harsher declamation. In addition to Bertram and Marcel, Sarastro, Figaro and Caspar, he sang Lysiart (Euryanthe
Euryanthe
Euryanthe is a German "grand, heroic, romantic" opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna on 25 October 1823...
), the Cardinal (La Juive
La Juive
La Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835.-Composition history:...
), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
), Rocco (Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
) and Mephisto in Spohr
Spohr
Spohr is a German surname, and may refer to:* Arnold Spohr , Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of German descent* Louis Spohr , German composer, violinist, and conductor...
's opera of Faust
Faust (Spohr)
Faust is an opera by the German composer Louis Spohr. The libretto, by Josef Karl Bernard, is based on the legend of Faust; it is not influenced by Goethe's Faust, though Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy had been published in 1808. Instead, Carl Bernard's libretto draws mainly on Faust plays...
. He was also singing Leporello
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
at that time.
After a season in Braunschweig
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
he returned to Dresden. He attempted to revisit in Vienna and only narrowly escaped. Then after singing in Cologne for a spell, he received engagements in Amsterdam through Ferdinand Röder, where (for his old friend Karl Anschütz) he appeared in Der Freischütz, Weber's Jessanda, Spohr's Faust and Die Zauberflöte in Italian versions for the first time. He also sang with success in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Leyden, Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
, and other parts of the Netherlands, all the time suffering from an intermittent fever.
London, 1849-1850
In May 1849 he joined Röder's German company under Anschütz for a season in London. The fever gone, in June Formes first sang his Sarastro at Drury Lane TheatreTheatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, London to great acclamation: Anschütz became leader of the Drury Lane orchestra. Charles Santley was inspired by this example.
H.F. Chorley
Henry Fothergill Chorley
Henry Fothergill Chorley was an English literary, art and music critic and editor. He was also an author of novels, drama, poetry and lyrics....
wrote that Formes
Engaged by the Sacred Harmonic Society to sing Elijah, Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
and The Creation at Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall was a hall on the north side of The Strand, London, England. It was erected between 1829 and 1831 on the site of Exeter Exchange, to designs by John Peter Gandy, the brother of the visionary architect Joseph Michael Gandy...
, soon Formes became as admired in concert as on the theatre stage. In the 1849 Wednesday Concerts under Anschütz at Exeter Hall he appeared alongside such musicians as Alfredo Piatti
Carlo Alfredo Piatti
Carlo Alfredo Piatti was an Italian cellist. He was born at via Borgo Canale, in Bergamo and died in Mozzo, 4 miles from Bergamo....
, Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....
, Ole Bull
Ole Bull
Ole Bornemann Bull was a Norwegian violinist and composer.-Background:Bull was born in Bergen. He was the eldest of ten children of Johan Storm Bull and Anna Dorothea Borse Geelmuyden . His brother, Georg Andreas Bull became a noted Norwegian architect...
, Giorgio Ronconi
Giorgio Ronconi
Giorgio Ronconi was an Italian operatic baritone celebrated for his brilliant acting and compelling stage presence. In 1842, he created the title-role in Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco at La Scala, Milan.-Career:...
and Marietta Alboni
Marietta Alboni
Marietta Alboni was a renowned Italian contralto opera singer. Together with the charismatic Maria Malibran, she was considered the greatest deeper-voiced female singer of the nineteenth century.-Biography:...
. He sang in the solo quartet of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Clara Novello
Clara Novello
Clara Anastasia Novello was an acclaimed soprano, the fourth daughter of Vincent Novello, a musician and music publisher, and his wife, Mary Sabilla Hehl....
, Charlotte Sainton-Dolby and Sims Reeves
Sims Reeves
John Sims Reeves , usually called simply Sims Reeves, was the foremost English operatic, oratorio and ballad tenor vocalist of the mid-Victorian era....
, under Anschütz, with orchestra of 350 and chorus of 700, (afterwards repeated with Reichart, former Vienna colleague, in Reeves's place) and in the same formation sang Mozart's Requiem
Requiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
at the Wednesday Concerts.
Formes was soon recruited as primo basso assoluto for the standing management for reconstruction of the Royal Italian Opera at Covent Garden Theatre after its latest collapse. This group included Michael Costa
Michael Costa (conductor)
Sir Michael Andrew Angus Costa was an Italian-born conductor and composer who achieved success in England.-Biography:He was born in Naples as Michaele Andrea Agniello Costa, to a family, according to some, of Sephardic stock...
, Mario
Mario (tenor)
Giovanni Matteo "Mario" was an Italian opera singer. The most celebrated tenor of his era, he was lionized by audiences in Paris and London.-Early life:...
, Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi
Giulia Grisi, also known as Madame De Candia was an Italian opera singer...
, Mme Castellan, Giorgio Ronconi and Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik
Enrico Tamberlik was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and America's leading opera venues. He excelled in the heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his powerful declamation and clarion high notes.-Career:Born in Rome, some sources claim that...
(all migrants from Benjamin Lumley
Benjamin Lumley
Benjamin Lumley, opera manager and solicitor, was born Benjamin Levy, in 1811, the son of a Jewish merchant Louis Levy, and died 17 March 1875 in London.-Beginnings at His Majesty's Theatre:...
's company in 1846), Antonio Tamburini
Antonio Tamburini
Antonio Tamburini was an Italian operatic baritone.Born in Faenza, then part of the Papal States, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose . He went on to become one of the...
, Elena D'Angri and Frederick Gye
Frederick Gye
Frederick Gye was an English businessman and opera manager who for many years ran what is now the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.-Life:...
. In April 1850 Formes appeared as Caspar in the first Italian Der Freischütz in London (Il franco arciero) with Tamberlik, which Chorley thought 'one of his favourite characters - the type of all he could do best in opera'.
There followed the first London Italian performances of Gli Ugonotti
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
, with Mario, Grisi, D'Angri, Tamburini and Marai to Formes's Marcel, and Roberto il diavolo
Robert le diable
Robert le diable may refer to:* Robert le diable by Giacomo Meyerbeer* Robert the Devil, a medieval legend...
, with Tamberlik, Pauline Viardot, Grisi and Mario to his Bertram. Chorley remarked:
Chorley saw him play Caspar with the Belgian tenor Maralti and Mme Castellan, and his Leporello with Grisi, Viardot and Mario. There followed his Sarastro, with Louisa Pyne
Louisa Pyne
Louisa Bodda-Pyne was an English soprano and opera company manager.She was born Louisa Fanny Pyne in 1832, the youngest daughter of the alto George Pyne...
, Angiolina Bosio
Angiolina Bosio
Angiolina Bosio was an Italian operatic soprano who had a major international career from 1846 until her premature death in 1859 at the age of 29. She sang at the most important opera houses in Boston, Havana, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Saint Petersburg, and Verona...
and Mario. Formes had a successful debut and season in Spain, and claimed to have visited and sung for both Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
and Rossini in Paris on his way there. In autumn 1850 he sang Elijah at the Hall inauguration for Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
's first Grand Musical Festival, and the next night joined Tamburini, Luigi Lablache
Luigi Lablache
Luigi Lablache was an Italian opera singer of French and Irish heritage. He was most noted for his comic performances, possessing a powerful and agile bass voice, a wide range, and adroit acting skills: Leporello in Don Giovanni was one of his signature roles.-Biography:Luigi Lablache was born in...
and Ronconi in bass passages of Mozart's Requiem and Rossini's Stabat Mater. The same year (and in later years) he joined the Italian Company's operatic tour in Dublin under Anschütz, and made a recital tour in Scotland with Clara Novello and Sims Reeves, the violinist Ernst
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. Ernst was widely seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Paganini's greatest successors....
and pianist Litolff
Henry Charles Litolff
Henry Charles Litolff was a piano virtuoso, composer of Romantic music and music publisher.Litolff was born in London, the son of a Scottish mother and an Alsatian father...
.
London and elsewhere, 1850-1857
Formes and Anschütz holidayed with Reményi in Jersey. His second Covent Garden season included FidelioFidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
(Rocco), with Jenny Bürde-Ney (1826–1886) and Tamberlik, and in the third (1852) was Weber's Jessonda
Jessonda
Jessonda is a grand opera in German by Louis Spohr, written in 1822. The German libretto was written by Eduard Gehe.Spohr, who wrote the work in 1822, had been newly appointed Hofkapellmeister in Kassel...
and Formes's Mephisto in Spohr's Faust
Faust (Spohr)
Faust is an opera by the German composer Louis Spohr. The libretto, by Josef Karl Bernard, is based on the legend of Faust; it is not influenced by Goethe's Faust, though Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy had been published in 1808. Instead, Carl Bernard's libretto draws mainly on Faust plays...
, with Ronconi, Bosio and Tamberlik. Rossini's Guglielmo Tell was also given, and Tamberlik and Formes appeared as Peter the Great and General Romanoff in two sumptuous performances of Jullien
Louis Antoine Jullien
Louis Antoine Jullien was a French conductor and composer of light music.Jullien was born in Sisteron, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and was baptised Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas...
's opera Pietro il Grande, which was a complete failure and ruined the composer. In 1851 Karl Formes's brother Theodor Formes (1826–1875) became a principal tenor at the Hofoper Berlin, where he sang the title roles in the first local performances of Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
(1856) and Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
(1859). Theodor sang at Berlin until 1864. The brothers Hubert and Wilhelm were also operatic singers.
Karl Formes sang every year from 1850-1857 in London, and from October 1851 to Lent 1852 and in two subsequent winters he sang at St Petersburg. His first performance there was with Mario, Grisi, Tamburini and others, and he sang Les Huguenots, Le nozze di Figaro, etc. In 1852 he was in the premiere of a new 3-act revision of Spohr's Faust
Faust (Spohr)
Faust is an opera by the German composer Louis Spohr. The libretto, by Josef Karl Bernard, is based on the legend of Faust; it is not influenced by Goethe's Faust, though Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy had been published in 1808. Instead, Carl Bernard's libretto draws mainly on Faust plays...
. With Reeves, Viardot, Pyne and Sainton-Dolby, he gave first performances of new English oratorios at the Norwich Festival
Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Norfolk & Norwich Festival is an arts organisation based in Norwich, England which is primarily responsible for the eponymous international arts festival held in annually every May, with events also held throughout the wider county of Norfolk....
, and in September made his debut at the Birmingham Festival. In 1853 he took part in the London first performance of Berlioz' Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (opera)
Benvenuto Cellini is an opera in two acts with music by Hector Berlioz and libretto by Léon de Wailly and Henri Auguste Barbier. It was the first of Berlioz's operas. The story is loosely based on the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The opera is technically very challenging...
in the role of Cardinal. In Berlin he now first sang Sarastro, Marcel and Bertram, before returning to London. He performed a Fidelio (Rocco) at Liverpool under Edward Loder
Edward Loder
Edward James Loder was an English composer and conductor. His best remembered work is the 1855 opera Raymond and Agnes.-Biography:...
, and made his first operatic tour (of many) in Scotland with Anetta Caradori, Mme Rudersdorff, Minna Von Berkel and Elena D'Angri, tenors Pavesi and Reichart, baritones Fortini and Mancusi and bassisti Charles Zelger and himself.
Formes sang in the first Grand Concert in the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
in 1853, and performed Handel's Messiah in the first Crystal Palace Music Festival later that year. He took part in a concert at Exeter Hall to benefit Hungarians exiled after the Revolution. Anna Zerr was in London but could not participate from expectation of reprisals in Vienna, for spies were ready to denounce them. In autumn Formes sang at Hamburg the Falstaff written for him by Nicolai. In 1854 he sang under Liszt's baton at Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, and was appointed an English Royal Chamber-singer by H.M. Queen Victoria. On 29 August 1855 Michael Costa conducted the premiere of his oratorio Eli at the Birmingham Festival, with Viardot, Castellan, Reeves and Formes. That year Formes sang Pierre le Grand in L'étoile du nord
L'étoile du nord
L'étoile du nord is an opéra comique in three acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe....
with Mmes Bosio and Marai, a role he claimed Meyerbeer intended for him, though Chorley compared him unfavourably with the original Pierre of Bataille. In 1856 he assisted in bringing the tenor Theodore Wachtel to London.
First American tours, 1857-63
In 1857, Bernard Ullman invited Carl Anschütz to lead an operatic company on American tour, including soprano Anna de la Grange, bass-baritone Edouard Gassier and his soprano wife, Elena d'Angri (contralto) and conductor Abella d'Angri, tenors Mario Tiberini and Luigi Stefani, and bassisti Augustini Susini and Karl Formes. For his New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
debut, 30 Nov 1857, Formes sang Bertram in Roberto il diavolo at the Academy of Music (Italian U.S. première), and over the next 7 weeks appeared in Martha, I puritani, Fidelio, Il barbiere di Siviglia (Don Basilio) and Don Giovanni (Leporello). There were grand performances of The Creation and Messiah, and (in concert with Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...
and Vieuxtemps
Henri Vieuxtemps
Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....
) of Mozart's Requiem. Formes was an instant sensation. After Elijah in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, by 27 January 1858 the troupe was off to Philadelphia Academy
Academy of Music (Philadelphia)
The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at Broad and Locust Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1857 and is the oldest opera house in the United States that is still used for its original purpose...
, where Formes sang Plunkett
Martha
Martha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...
(with Hugo Pickaneser), I puritani, Leporello
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Bertram
Robert le diable
Robert le diable may refer to:* Robert le diable by Giacomo Meyerbeer* Robert the Devil, a medieval legend...
, and Elmiro in Otello
Otello (Rossini)
Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsi, based on Shakespeare's play Othello....
with conductors Anschütz, D'Angri and Carl Bergmann
Carl Bergmann
Carl Bergmann was a German-American cellist and conductor.-Biography:...
. By late February Formes was back in New York for I puritani and Otello, and (8 March) his Marcel in Gli Ugonotti (Italian U.S. première). After Bignardi's farewell on 23 March, and a short season in San Francisco, he sang Mozart's Requiem and Elijah at New York in late April.
Anschütz and Formes made a recital tour in the west before the start of the second opera season, in October 1858. Ullman's company included soprano Rosine d'Hur Laborde, pianist Gustave Satter
Gustave Satter
Gustave Satter was an Austrian-Slovenian composer and pianist.- Biography :Gustave Satter was born on February 12, 1832 at Rann in Slovenia, then part of the Austrian Empire. Rejecting the desire of his father that he take up medicine, he turned to music, and was largely self-taught...
. His new star, soprano Marie Piccolomini brought conductor Emanuele Muzio to share direction. She sang La figlia del reggimento
La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was written while the composer was living in Paris, with a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.La figlia del reggimento, a slightly different Italian-language version , was...
with Formes (Sulpizio) and Giuseppe Tamaro at New York Academy from October 27, 1858. (The 'astonishing little flirt Piccolomini' was contrasted with the 'massive loyalty of the ponderous Formes'.) Formes sang his Leporello, Bertram and Marcel: he and Piccolomini shared honours in Le nozze di Figaro ('Non più andrai' encored in German) and weaknesses in Lucrezia Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia (opera)
Lucrezia Borgia is a melodramma, or opera, in a prologue and two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after the play by Victor Hugo, in its turn after the legend of Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia was first performed on 26 December 1833 at La Scala, Milan with...
, but were at odds as Adam and Eve in The Creation on 11 January 1859 in a ludicrous showdown over 'God save the Queen'. Formes and Piccolomini had a four-week tour in Boston in December and went to Philadelphia in January with La figlia under Muzio, and Le Nozze (with Angiolina Ghioni, von Berkel and Emanuele Florenza, under Anschütz) and Don Giovanni (with Euphrosine Poinsot, Ghioni, Florenza, Domenico Lorini and Domenico Coletti). Formes gave Les Huguenots and Roberto il diabolo with Poinsot and Laborde. Anschütz and Formes then led the company's touring progress en route to New Orleans (arrived 23 February), while Piccolomini left to make her farewell. Returning, in May Philadelphia heard Formes's Martha (with Laborde, Adelaide Phillips
Adelaide Phillips
Adelaide Phillips , American contralto singer, was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, England, her family emigrating to America in 1840. Her mother taught dancing, and Adelaide began a career on the Boston stage at ten years old...
and Giovanni Sbriglia
Giovanni Sbriglia
Giovanni Sbriglia , was an Italian tenor and prominent teacher of singing.A native of Naples, Sbriglia attended the city's music conservatory before making his debut, aged 21, at the Teatro San Carlo. He then performed throughout Italy before being engaged by Max Maretzek for New York City's...
), and his roles in Norma, Roberto, Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni in casts featuring Laborde and Stefani: then to Boston again until 11 June.
Formes returned to England for the principal seasons of 1860, 1861 and 1862, making visits to the States and in Germany. In 1860 the impresario Maurice Strakosch
Maurice Strakosch
Maurice Strakosch was an American musician and impresario of Czech origin.-Biography:Strakosch was born in Gross-Seelowitz , Moravia. He made his debut as a pianist at the age of 11 in Brno performing a piano concerto by Hummel...
(Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti was a highly acclaimed 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851 and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914...
's brother-in-law) was in partnership with Ullman, and Anschutz, settled in America, was directing the troupe and leading the Arion Männergesangverein, a Teutonized men's singing-circle. Formes (who befriended Strakosch), after a spell in London and Europe returned to America. He sang Act 2 of Martha in concert with Bertha Johanssen, von Berkel and Giorgio Stigelli, and with Stigelli gave the duet scene from Masaniello
Masaniello
Masaniello was a Neapolitan fisherman, who became leader of the revolt against Spanish Habsburg rule in Naples in 1647.-Name and place of birth:...
under Theodore Thomas. On October 10, 1860 he sang in the Philadelphia Gala Performance for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales of Martha with the young Patti, Fanny Heron Natali, Pasquale Brignoli and Nicolò Basili: Patti and Formes led 'God save the Queen.' The Ullman-Strakosch partnership failed, and split into a Franco-Italian faction under Muzio and a German company under Formes and soprano Inez Fabbri
Inez Fabbri
Inez Fabbri , née Agnes Schmidt, was an Austrian American soprano, voice teacher and impresaria. She sang in Austria, Germany, England, South America and the Caribbean, making her home in San Francisco where, in the 1870s, she was the most important musical personality and prima donna assoluta of...
, with Stigelli, von Berkel, Anschütz and manager Richard Mulder. Having won control of the New York Academy, on October 24, 1860 the Formes-Fabbri company gave Roberto il diavolo, and a week later sang Der Freischütz: but after only four opera nights the project folded. Formes gave a Grand Farewell on 1 January 1861 in Martha and Act 2 of Flotow's Stradella under Theodore Thomas, with Johannsen, Mme Eckardt and Stigelli, and then reappeared for Stigelli's Farewell on January 11 singing Stradella in full and Act 4 of La Juive. Formes made a great impression with the Star-spangled banner, 'with a flag of the Union in one hand, and with a voice and air that thrilled with lofty patriotism, and found an echo in every heart present...' Formes and Carlotta Patti
Carlotta Patti
Carlotta Patti was a nineteenth century operatic soprano and sister to famed soprano Adelina Patti. Various sources list her birth year as 1835, 1840, and 1842. Born into a musical family, Patti studied the piano in her youth before following her younger sister's inclination toward singing...
sang in Stigelli's Boston Farewell on 28 January.
Later career
In 1863, in London, Formes became bankrupt. He had transferred power of attorneyPower of attorney
A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...
in his residence and property in Wiesbaden to his wife, and when trying to buy a house in Chicago he found she had taken everything. His voice becoming worn, and needing employment, he essayed a career as stage actor: after some study he played Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
's William Tell and Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
's Nathan the Wise, in Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
and Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
with success, and Shylock
Shylock
Shylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh...
(The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
) with artistic (but not financial) success in England. His second wife, from Wiesbaden, also failed to safeguard his money. However Formes returned to singing, and to America. Anschütz established German Opera at New York in 1862, and in October 1864 Formes was with Leonard Grover's German Opera Company in Boston, with Johannsen and Marie Frederici (mezzo), Johanna Rotter, Theodore Habelman (tenor), Josef Hermanns (basso) and Sig. Tamaro. These singers cohered in subsequent years. Anschütz retired from the German Opera in 1864, and in spring 1865 his pupil and chorus-master Adolf Neuendorff
Adolf Neuendorff
Adolf Heinrich Anton Magnus Neuendorff, also known as Adolph Neuendorff was a German-American composer, violinist, pianist and conductor, stage director and theater manager.-Early years:...
delivered William Tell at the New York Academy with Frederici, Habelman, Hermanns, Carl Formes and Wilhelm Formes (his brother), as Grover's Company. The Grover company gave Martha (April 29) with Formes, Franz Himmer, Rotter and Sophie Dziuba (Nancy).
Formes had developed connections with Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's household, and published a Song without words for piano in his memory. In summer 1865 he sang under Anschütz at Hyde Park Hotel on Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
(near Calumet
Calumet, Michigan
Calumet is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County, in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, that was once at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula. Also known as Red Jacket, the village includes the Calumet Downtown Historic District, listed on the National...
) and afterwards had a season of game-shooting. A crack shot, Formes could shoot a coin from between a prima donna's thumb and forefinger from twelve feet, and told stories of his fights with grizzlies
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
. In the winter of 1865-66 he sang in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, notably in Martha and Roberto il diabolo, under Muzio: he was briefly arrested. In 1868 he visited England for a Covent Garden season (including a tour) for Mapleson
James Henry Mapleson
James Henry Mapleson was an English opera impresario, probably the leading figure instrumental in the development of opera production, and of the careers of singers, in London and New York City in the second half of the 19th century.-Life and career:Mapleson was born in London, England...
, in company with Charles Santley
Charles Santley
Sir Charles Santley was an English-born opera and oratorio star with a bravuraFrom the Italian verb bravare, to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical skill technique who became the most eminent English baritone and male concert singer of the Victorian era...
, Zélia Trebelli
Zelia Trebelli-Bettini
Zelia Trebelli-Bettini , also known as Zelia Gilbert or by her stage name Trebelli, was a French opera singer.Mme Trebelli's artistry was greatly admired by George Bernard Shaw, who wrote about her a number of times in his various reviews...
and colleagues. After a very busy programme Formes went on to Cologne, but was back in the States for the winter, touring with La Grange, Brignoli, Hermanns, Rotter and others, in a company which in January 1869 was performing Roberto il diabolo, Sicilian Vespers, L'Etoile du nord, L'Africaine and Belisario, among more standard repertoire, in Boston. Formes returned to England for the 1869 Covent Garden company tour, playing the Ghost in the Hamlet
Hamlet (opera)
Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
of Ambroise Thomas
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
with Santley (title) and Ilma de Murska (Ophelia) in Manchester, Liverpool and London. Santley liked him:
When Anschütz died in America in 1870 his German Company had already failed, but under Neuendorff the troupe brought by Luise Lichtmay that winter introduced Bertha Roemer, Clara Perl and basso Adolf Franosch: Formes was with their January 1871 Boston tour in a full programme including Lustige Weiber, La dame blanche and Stradella. Lichtmay's troupe presented the U.S. premiere of Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
at the Stadt Theater (Bowery
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
), in German, but Franosch, not Formes, played Heinrich, with Lichtmay (Elsa), Habelman (title), Marie Frederici (Ortrud) and Edward Vierling (Telramund). In January 1872 Formes appeared in the U.S. premiere of Marschner
Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich August Marschner , was the most important composer of German Romantic opera between Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, and is remembered principally for his operas Hans Heiling , Der Vampyr , and Der Templer und die Jüdin...
's opera Der Templer und die Jüdin
Der Templer und die Jüdin
Der Templer und die Jüdin is an opera in three acts by Heinrich Marschner...
. About two months later he played Marcel in one performance of Gli Ugonotti at New York under Neuendorff, with Parepa-Rosa
Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa
Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa was a British operatic soprano who established the Carl Rosa Opera Company together with second husband Carl Rosa...
, Adelaide Phillips, Santley and Theodor Wachtel. 'His voice was too much worn to last out the whole opera, but his representation of the rough old soldier was as perfect as ever,' wrote Santley.
Formes's voice preserved its volume and sweetness, though advancing age affected his intonation. In 1874 he sang in Europe, notably in Berlin where the continuing beauty of his voice caused wonder and admiration. His brother Theodor was then dying in asylum, having become mentally ill. That winter he conducted an operatic tour in the southern states, and spent Christmas Day singing at a plantation between Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
.
Retirement
In 1875 he was sent (with his second wife) to California to recover from a cough, and having sung with success in opera and concert there, decided to settle in San Francisco, and to establish himself as a teacher. He retired from the stage in 1878, but continued to sing regularly in concert and public events. Some notices suggest that Formes became very poor, and was reduced to singing popular songs in cafés chantants for a living. After his second wife's death, in 1882-83 he went east for a season to sing again, and married Pauline, one of his students since 1876, in Philadelphia. In 1883 made a concert tour in various parts of the U.S. and Canada with the distinguished operatic singer Emma Thursby (1845–1931), travelling with Maurice Strakosch. Having returned to San Francisco to resume teaching with Pauline, in 1887 he published his 'Old Italian Method of Singing', the fruits of a lifetime's experience. In 1888 he sang at the first large Music Festival in QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
with his pupil Carrie McLellan. He and Pauline visited England and France in 1888, and Formes gave concerts in England and met again with Charles Santley. He published his memoirs in German at Cologne in 1888 with the help of the editor Wilhelm Koch. His final appearance was on 10 December 1889 at the opening of the Bijou Theatre in San Francisco, to sing Don Basilio once more: he was received with great enthusiasm. On December 15 he succumbed to pneumonia and heart failure. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. His wife published the English translation of his Memoirs in 1892.
Formes's son Ernst Formes (b. Mühlheim 30 Jan 1841; d. Berlin 2 April 1898) was a noted actor in Germany. He was a literary connoisseur who could read in four languages. Like his father, 'he could relate the most unbelievable Munchhausiads with the most passive face in the world.'
It seems likely that Carl Formes jnr. (b. London 3 July 1841; d. Los Angeles 18 Nov 1939), actor in about 40 silent movies c.1914 onwards, was a relative, probably the nephew of Karl senr.
A street in Cologne-Mülheim is named the Formesstrasse after this formerly world-famous family of singers.
Writings
- Wilhelm Koch (Editor), Aus meinem Kunst- und Bühnenleben. Erinnerungen des Bassisten Karl Formes (Köln 1888).
- My Memoirs. Autobiography of Karl Formes. Published in his Memory (James H. Barry (printer), San Francisco 1891)
- The Old Italian Method of Singing (San Francisco 1885).
- Three Songs Without Words (for piano) (Root and Cady, Chicago 1865)
- 1. In Memory of Abraham Lincoln
- 2. About Madrid 1851
- 3. The Pruss Refugee
- In Sheltered Vale, (Old German folk song).
Sources
- 'Obituary: Herr Carl Formes', The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 31, No. 563 (Jan. 1, 1890), pp. 25–26.
- Public domain text from Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4. Auflage von 1888–1890.
- Wilhelm Koch (Ed.), Aus meinem Kunst- und Bühnenleben. Erinnerungen des Bassisten Karl Formes (Cologne 1888).
- Deutscher Bühnen-Almanach. 25. Jahrg. (German Stage-Almanack, 25th Year) Ed. by Th. Entsch. (Berlin 1891), p. 310.
- Neuer Theater-Almanach Edited by the Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnen-Angehöriger, 2nd Year. (Berlin 1891), p. 96, 97.
- Ludwig Eisenberg, Großes Biogr. Lexikon d. Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrh. (Big Biographical Lexikon of the German Stage in the 19th century), (Leipzig 1903), p. 271.
- R. Lothar and Jul. Stern, 50 Jahre Hoftheater. Geschichte d. beiden Wiener Hoftheater Neue Ausgabe. (Vienna, no year) Register p.xv.
- Ferdinand Ritter von Seyfried, Rückschau in das Theaterleben Wiens seit den letzten fünfzig Jahren. (Retrospective of the Theatre Life of Vienna over the past 50 years), (Vienna 1864), pp. 314–316.
- H. Rosenthal, Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden (London, 1958).
- H. Uhde, Das Stadttheater in Hamburg. (Stuttgart 1879). Register.