Andreas Dippel
Encyclopedia
Andreas Dippel was a German-born operatic tenor
and impressario who from 1908 to 1910 was the joint manager (with Giulio Gatti-Casazza
) of the New York Metropolitan Opera
.
, he initially trained for a banking career there, but also studied singing. He made his stage debut in 1887 at the Bremen
Stadttheater as Lionel in Flotow
's opera Martha
and continued to study singing with Julius Hey (Berlin), Alberto Leoni (Milan) and Johann Ress (Vienna). He sang sang several smaller roles in Bayreuth
in 1889, and become a member of the Vienna State Opera
in 1893. He sang there until 1898 in 27 roles, including Marcello in the Vienna premiere of Leoncavallo’s La bohème
. During that period he also sang in London's Royal Opera House
and at the New York Metropolitan Opera
.
Dippel made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 26 November 1890 in the title role of Alberto Franchetti
's Asrael
for its United States premiere. He appeared with the company 392 times including three other US premieres – Antonio Smareglia
's Il vassalo di Szigeth (1890), Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha's Diana von Solange
(1891), and Richard Strauss
' Salome
(1907). His final appearance at the Met was as Froh in Das Rheingold
on 13 April 1908.
Over his entire career as a tenor, he sang 150 roles, ranging from Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni
to a wide variety of Wagnerian parts, including the leading tenor roles in Lohengrin
and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
. He was known for his willingness to step into roles when his colleagues were ill and substituted for Jean de Reszke
on several occasions.
In 1908 Dippel became the joint manager of the Metropolitan Opera
with Giulio Gatti-Casazza
. He resigned his post in 1910, and from 1910 to 1913 managed the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera Company, after which he formed the Dippel Opera Comique Company. The Dippel Opera Comique Company produced the Broadway
premiere of Lilac Domino at the 44th Street Theatre on 28 October 1914. It ran for 109 performances and then toured the US. Rather less successful was Dippel's next Broadway production, The Love Mill, which opened at the 48th Street Theatre on 17 February 1918 and closed five weeks later after 52 performances. Dippel had his own opera school at the Ithaca Conservatory of Music
in the 1920s, and in his later years, worked in the movie industry as a voice coach and musical advisor.
Andreas Dippel died of heart disease at the age of 65 in Hollywood, California on 12 May 1932.
s for Edison Records
and several unpublished recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company
. He also appears on several Mapleson cylinders, which were recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera. Some of these remastered recordings appear on compilation CDs including:
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...
and impressario who from 1908 to 1910 was the joint manager (with Giulio Gatti-Casazza
Giulio Gatti-Casazza
Giulio Gatti-Casazza was an Italian opera manager. He was general manager of La Scala in Milan, Italy and later the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.-Life and career:...
) of the New York 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...
.
Biography
Born Johann Andreas Dippel in Kassel, GermanyKassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, he initially trained for a banking career there, but also studied singing. He made his stage debut in 1887 at the Bremen
Bremen
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...
Stadttheater as Lionel in Flotow
Friedrich von Flotow
Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand, Freiherr von Flotow was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera Martha, which was popular in the 19th century....
'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....
and continued to study singing with Julius Hey (Berlin), Alberto Leoni (Milan) and Johann Ress (Vienna). He sang sang several smaller roles in Bayreuth
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 1889, and become a member of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna 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...
in 1893. He sang there until 1898 in 27 roles, including Marcello in the Vienna premiere of Leoncavallo’s La bohème
La bohème (Leoncavallo)
La bohème is an Italian opera in four acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The opera received its premiere at the Teatro la Fenice, Venice on May 6, 1897....
. During that period he also sang in London's Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
and at the New York 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...
.
Dippel made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 26 November 1890 in the title role of Alberto Franchetti
Alberto Franchetti
Alberto Franchetti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:Alberto Franchetti was born in Turin, a Jewish nobleman of independent means. He studied first in Venice, then in Dresden under Felix Draeseke, and finally at the Munich Conservatory under Josef Rheinberger. His first major success...
's Asrael
Asrael
Asrael is a leggenda or opera in four acts by composer Alberto Franchetti and librettist Ferdinando Fontana. The plot, based on German fairy tale and folklore, displays the conflict between the spirit of evil and the spirit of Christian love, represented by Asrael and Nefta respectively...
for its United States premiere. He appeared with the company 392 times including three other US premieres – Antonio Smareglia
Antonio Smareglia
Antonio Smareglia was an Austro-Hungarian opera composer of Italian ethnicity.-Life:Antonio Smareglia was born in the town of Pola , in a house on Via Nettuno which still stands and in which there is now a small museum of his life and work...
's Il vassalo di Szigeth (1890), Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha's Diana von Solange
Diana von Solange
Diana von Solange is an opera by the German prince Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, an amateur composer. It was premiered in 1858. In 1859, Franz Liszt wrote an orchestral Festmarsch nach Motiven von E. H. z. S-C-G, S.116, based on themes from Diana von Solange Diana von Solange is an opera by the...
(1891), and 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...
' 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....
(1907). His final appearance at the Met was as Froh in Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
on 13 April 1908.
Over his entire career as a tenor, he sang 150 roles, ranging from Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni
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...
to a wide variety of Wagnerian parts, including the leading tenor roles in 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...
and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
. He was known for his willingness to step into roles when his colleagues were ill and substituted for Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, , was a Polish tenor. Renowned internationally for the high quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing, he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century....
on several occasions.
In 1908 Dippel became the joint manager of 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...
with Giulio Gatti-Casazza
Giulio Gatti-Casazza
Giulio Gatti-Casazza was an Italian opera manager. He was general manager of La Scala in Milan, Italy and later the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.-Life and career:...
. He resigned his post in 1910, and from 1910 to 1913 managed the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera Company, after which he formed the Dippel Opera Comique Company. The Dippel Opera Comique Company produced the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
premiere of Lilac Domino at the 44th Street Theatre on 28 October 1914. It ran for 109 performances and then toured the US. Rather less successful was Dippel's next Broadway production, The Love Mill, which opened at the 48th Street Theatre on 17 February 1918 and closed five weeks later after 52 performances. Dippel had his own opera school at the Ithaca Conservatory of Music
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
in the 1920s, and in his later years, worked in the movie industry as a voice coach and musical advisor.
Andreas Dippel died of heart disease at the age of 65 in Hollywood, California on 12 May 1932.
Recordings
Andreas Dippel made six cylinderPhonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was...
s for Edison Records
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
and several unpublished recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
. He also appears on several Mapleson cylinders, which were recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera. Some of these remastered recordings appear on compilation CDs including:
- Mahler's Decade In Vienna — Singers Of The Court Opera 1897–1907, Marston Records 53004. (Dippel sings "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine" from Les HuguenotsLes HuguenotsLes 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....
, recorded 1906.) - Helden an geweihtem Ort — Wagnertenöre in Bayreuth, Preiser Records 89944. (Dippel sings "Mein lieber Schwan" (Lohengrin's farewell) from LohengrinLohengrin (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...
, recorded 1906.) - Emma Calvé — The Complete 1902 G&T, 1920 Pathé and "Mapleson Cylinder" Recordings, Marston Records 52013 (Emma CalvéEmma CalvéEmma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet , was a French operatic soprano.Calvé was probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Époque. Hers was an international career, and she sang regularly and to considerable acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and the Royal Opera...
, Andreas Dippel, and Marcel JournetMarcel JournetMarcel Journet , was a French, bass, operatic singer. He enjoyed a prominent career in England, France and Italy, and appeared at the foremost American opera houses in New York City and Chicago....
sing "Anges purs", excerpt from Trio and Apotheosis, Act V of FaustFaust (opera)Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, recorded 1902.)