Dezső Ernster
Encyclopedia
Dezső Ernster was a Hungarian
opera singer who sang leading bass
roles with the New York Metropolitan Opera
from 1946 to 1963. In 1929, he created the role of Baron d'Houdoux in Hindemith's Neues vom Tage
.
, the son of a cantor
, and studied in Budapest
and Vienna
. He made his debut in Plauen
in eastern Germany, as Hermann in Tannhäuser
in the 1924–1925 season. From 1929 he appeared at the Berlin State Opera
and the Kroll Opera House, where in 1929 he sang in the world premiere of Paul Hindemith
's Neues vom Tage
conducted by Otto Klemperer
. In 1931 he was engaged by Arturo Toscanini
to sing in Bayreuth
and appeared there as Ritter in Parsifal
, Reinmar in Tannhäuser and Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde
.
With the Nazi rise to power
in 1933, Ernster left Germany to live in Austria. In 1938 he went on tour in the United States with the Salzburg Opera Guild and stayed there for two years before returning to Hungary. By that time Jewish singers could no longer perform in Hungarian theatres. However, through OMIKE
, the Hungarian Jewish Educational Association, he was able to sing the Jewish community's Goldmark Hall. In 1944 he was arrested, sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
. Rudolf Kastner
's Aid and Rescue Committee eventually secured his release, and he was able to get to Switzerland.
After World War II ended, Ernster appeared in Basel
and at New York's Metropolitan Opera
where he made his debut on 20 November 1946 as King Marke in Tristan und Isolde. He went on to sing 175 performances with company between 1946 and 1963. His last performance at the Met was the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo During his career Ernster also sang with the San Francisco Opera
, the Vienna State Opera
and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
. He returned to Europe in 1963 and settled in Switzerland. His last opera performance was in Budapest in 1966 when he sang Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte at the Margaret Island
open air theatre.
Dezső Ernster spent his last years in Zurich
where he died of cancer in 1981, aged 82. His sister, Adelina Ernster (died 1963, New York), was also an opera singer and performed primarily in Frankfurt
and Hamburg
.
Further reading
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
opera singer who sang leading 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...
roles with 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...
from 1946 to 1963. In 1929, he created the role of Baron d'Houdoux in Hindemith's Neues vom Tage
Neues vom Tage
Neues vom Tage is an opera in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer....
.
Biography
Dezső Ernster was born in PécsPécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
, the son of a cantor
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
, and studied in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He made his debut in Plauen
Plauen
Plauen is a town in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The town is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.-History:...
in eastern Germany, as Hermann in 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...
in the 1924–1925 season. From 1929 he appeared at the Berlin State Opera
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...
and the Kroll Opera House, where in 1929 he sang in the world premiere of Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
's Neues vom Tage
Neues vom Tage
Neues vom Tage is an opera in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer....
conducted by Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
. In 1931 he was engaged by Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
to sing 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...
and appeared there as Ritter in Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
, Reinmar in Tannhäuser and Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
.
With the Nazi rise to power
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1933, Ernster left Germany to live in Austria. In 1938 he went on tour in the United States with the Salzburg Opera Guild and stayed there for two years before returning to Hungary. By that time Jewish singers could no longer perform in Hungarian theatres. However, through OMIKE
OMIKE
OMIKE Hungarian Jewish Educational Association 1910–1944 .-Beginning :Founded in 1910 by Budapest chief rabbi, Simon Hevesi, with the purpose to present to people living in modern ideas and values the traditional values of Judaism. The association stimulated the Hungarian ways and religious life’s...
, the Hungarian Jewish Educational Association, he was able to sing the Jewish community's Goldmark Hall. In 1944 he was arrested, sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
. Rudolf Kastner
Rudolf Kastner
Rudolf Israel Kastner was a Jewish-Hungarian journalist and lawyer who became known for facilitating the departure of Jews out of Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust...
's Aid and Rescue Committee eventually secured his release, and he was able to get to Switzerland.
After World War II ended, Ernster appeared in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
and at New York's Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
where he made his debut on 20 November 1946 as King Marke in Tristan und Isolde. He went on to sing 175 performances with company between 1946 and 1963. His last performance at the Met was the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo During his career Ernster also sang with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, 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...
and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
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...
. He returned to Europe in 1963 and settled in Switzerland. His last opera performance was in Budapest in 1966 when he sang Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte at the Margaret Island
Margaret Island
Margaret Island is a long island, 500 metres wide, in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. It belongs administratively to the 13th district. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its importance...
open air theatre.
Dezső Ernster spent his last years in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
where he died of cancer in 1981, aged 82. His sister, Adelina Ernster (died 1963, New York), was also an opera singer and performed primarily in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
Principal roles
- Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte)
- Commendatore (Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon 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...
) - Daland {Der fliegende Holländer)
- Hermann (TannhäuserTannhäuser (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...
) - Hunding (Die WalküreDie WalküreDie Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
) - King Marke (Tristan und IsoldeTristan und IsoldeTristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
)
Recordings
- Don Giovanni – Vienna State OperaVienna State OperaThe 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...
(1954), conducted by Wilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
. Label: Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label... - GötterdämmerungGötterdämmerungis the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
– compilation from performances at the Metropolitan Opera (1936, 1939) conducted by Artur Bodanzky and (1951) conducted by Fritz Stiedry; Royal Opera House, Covent GardenRoyal Opera HouseThe 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...
(1937) conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler; La ScalaLa ScalaLa Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
(1950) conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. Label: Guild - SalomeSalome (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....
– Metropolitan Opera (1949) conducted by Fritz Reiner. Label: Guild
Sources
- Casaglia, Gherardo, "8 Giugno 1929", Almanacco Amadeus, 2005. Accessed 25 December 2009 (in Italian).
- Frojimovics, Kinga and Komoróczy, Géza, Jewish Budapest: Monuments, Rites, History, Central European University Press, 1999. ISBN 9639116378
- Löb, Ladislaus, Dealing with Satan: Rezső Kasztner's Daring Rescue Mission, Jonathan Cape, 2008. ISBN 9780224077927
- Maguidhir, Ivan, Dezső Ernster, 2008. Accessed 25 December 2009.
- Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan OperaThe 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...
, Ernster, Dezsö (Bass), performance record on the MetOpera Database - New York Times, "Adelina Ernster", 18 November 1963, p. 33
- New York Times, "Deszo Ernster, 82, Bass; Sang With Met 17 Years", 26 February 1981, p. B16.
- Rosenthal, H.Harold RosenthalHarold David Rosenthal OBE was an English music critic, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster about opera. Originally a schoolmaster, he became drawn to music, particularly opera, and began working on musical publications...
and Warrack, J.John WarrackJohn Warrack is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. He is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. From 1954–1961 he was music critic for The Daily Telegraph, and from 1961–1972 he was music critic for The Sunday Telegraph. From 1978–1983 he served as the Artistic...
"Ernster, Dezső", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1979, pp. 155-156. ISBN 019311318X
Further reading
- Imre, Fábián, Ernster Dezső, Zeneműkiadó, 1969 (in Hungarian with an introduction by Otto Klemperer)
- Di Cave, Luciano, Mille voci una stella: il contributo degli esecutori vocali ebrei o di origine ebraica alla musica operistica e classica, Carucci Editore, 1985 (in Italian)