Kurt Baum
Encyclopedia
Kurt Baum was a Czechoslovakian born American
operatic tenor. He is best remembered for his 25 seasons spent with the Metropolitan Opera
, between 1941 and 1966.
on March 15, 1908, Kurt Baum attended high school in Cologne
, Germany
where his father did business and attended medical school
at the University of Prague
. Robust and athletic, Baum was at one time the amateur heavyweight
boxing
champion of Czechoslovakia
and member of Max Schmeling's Sports Club in Cologne.
Baum never considered a career in music until a friend urged him to study music after hearing him sing a German
drinking song
at a party. In 1933, he dropped out of medical school and began attending the Music Academy of Berlin where he studied for less than a year. In 1933 Baum won first prize at the Vienna International Singing Competition, and his operatic début came in the same year in Zurich
in Zemlinsky
's Der Kreidekreis
. Baum spent his early year performing lyric roles at Zurich and dramatic roles at Deutsches Theater, and after furthering his studies with Eduardo Gabin in Milan and the faculty of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
he toured the major theatres of Europe including Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Monte Carlo, and Salzburg. In 1939, Baum escaped the war threatening Czechoslovakia by migrating to Paris, and accepted a 3 year contract with the Chicago Lyric Opera
. He made his debut there as Radames in Verdi
's Aida
.
Baum's debut with the Metropolitan Opera
, which became his artistic home, came in November 1941 as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier
. Baum's roaring spinto voice easily reach the high-D in the Rosenkavalier Italian singer aria, in which he had express permission (via a letter) from the composer to interpolate the note. He appeared in his first major role at the Met, Don Alvaro
, in January 1943. In 1952, Baum performed Radames in London at the behest of Queen Elizabeth II shortly after her coronation. Baum remained on the Met's full time roster until the 1965-1966 season, appearing there for the last time as Radames at the Old Met's Farewell Gala in April 1966. His repertoire included cornerstone spinto
roles such as Don Alvaro, Radames, Cavaradossi
, Manrico
, Lohengrin
, Walther von Stolzing
, Don José
, Canio
, Samson
, Des Grieux
, Turiddu
, Enzo
, Pollione
, and Andrea Chénier
, which he played beside such illustrious colleagues such as Maria Callas
, Renata Tebaldi
, Zinka Milanov
, Eleanor Steber
and Risë Stevens
. He won renown especially for his heroic voice, which can otherwise turn metallic over a performance, reliable technique and an amazing top register, which was lauded for its strength and virility.
Baum became an American citizen
and spent later years in New York City
, where after the death of his wife he could often be found walking his dog around Central Park
. He also wrote several treatises on preservation of the voice and singing well in old age. Baum died in New York on December 27, 1989 due to unspecified causes, leaving no immediate survivors.
Recordings include the Lohengrin Bridal scene with Helen Traubel
from 1945 which finds him in an ardent, heroic mood, underpinned by his characteristically strident technique. Several of his live performances as Radames and Don Alvaro beside Maria Callas
in their 1950 Mexico
tour were especially noted for the high degree of excitement generated .
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
operatic tenor. He is best remembered for his 25 seasons spent with 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...
, between 1941 and 1966.
Life and career
Born an ethnic German-Jewish in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
on March 15, 1908, Kurt Baum attended high school 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...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
where his father did business and attended medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
at the University of Prague
University of Prague
Prague UniversitiesSocial Science:*Charles University in PragueEconomic University:*University of Economics, Prague*The University of Finance and AdministrationTechnical University:*Czech Technical University in Prague...
. Robust and athletic, Baum was at one time the amateur heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and member of Max Schmeling's Sports Club in Cologne.
Baum never considered a career in music until a friend urged him to study music after hearing him sing a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
drinking song
Drinking song
A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music...
at a party. In 1933, he dropped out of medical school and began attending the Music Academy of Berlin where he studied for less than a year. In 1933 Baum won first prize at the Vienna International Singing Competition, and his operatic début came in the same year 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...
in Zemlinsky
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
's Der Kreidekreis
Circle of Chalk
Circle of Chalk , by Li Xingdao , is a Yuan dynasty Chinese classical zaju verse play, in four acts with a prologue...
. Baum spent his early year performing lyric roles at Zurich and dramatic roles at Deutsches Theater, and after furthering his studies with Eduardo Gabin in Milan and the faculty of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy.It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western...
he toured the major theatres of Europe including Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Monte Carlo, and Salzburg. In 1939, Baum escaped the war threatening Czechoslovakia by migrating to Paris, and accepted a 3 year contract with the Chicago Lyric Opera
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
. He made his debut there as Radames in Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
.
Baum's debut with 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...
, which became his artistic home, came in November 1941 as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
. Baum's roaring spinto voice easily reach the high-D in the Rosenkavalier Italian singer aria, in which he had express permission (via a letter) from the composer to interpolate the note. He appeared in his first major role at the Met, Don Alvaro
La forza del destino
La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...
, in January 1943. In 1952, Baum performed Radames in London at the behest of Queen Elizabeth II shortly after her coronation. Baum remained on the Met's full time roster until the 1965-1966 season, appearing there for the last time as Radames at the Old Met's Farewell Gala in April 1966. His repertoire included cornerstone spinto
Spinto
Spinto is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals...
roles such as Don Alvaro, Radames, Cavaradossi
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Manrico
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, 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...
, Walther von Stolzing
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,...
, Don José
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Canio
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, Samson
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
, Des Grieux
Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
, Turiddu
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, Enzo
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
, Pollione
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...
, and Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
, which he played beside such illustrious colleagues such as Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
, Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period...
, Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centred on the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...
, Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
and Risë Stevens
Risë Stevens
Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic mezzo-soprano.-Professional life:Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years. She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until...
. He won renown especially for his heroic voice, which can otherwise turn metallic over a performance, reliable technique and an amazing top register, which was lauded for its strength and virility.
Baum became an American citizen
Citizenship in the United States
Citizenship in the United States is a status given to individuals that entails specific rights, duties, privileges, and benefits between the United States and the individual...
and spent later years in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where after the death of his wife he could often be found walking his dog around Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. He also wrote several treatises on preservation of the voice and singing well in old age. Baum died in New York on December 27, 1989 due to unspecified causes, leaving no immediate survivors.
Recordings include the Lohengrin Bridal scene with Helen Traubel
Helen Traubel
Helen Francesca Traubel was an American opera and concert singer. A dramatic soprano, she was best known for her Wagnerian roles, especially those of Brünnhilde and Isolde. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, she began her career as a concert singer and went on to sing at the Metropolitan...
from 1945 which finds him in an ardent, heroic mood, underpinned by his characteristically strident technique. Several of his live performances as Radames and Don Alvaro beside Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
in their 1950 Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
tour were especially noted for the high degree of excitement generated .
Reference
- Kurt Baum, Tenor, Is Dead at 81; He Sang at Met in 40's and 50's - New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
' obituary, published December 29, 1989 (retrieved April 12, 2011) - Kurt Baum: Ending On A High Note - Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article, published February 22, 1987 (retrieved June 6, 2011) - Biography and Credits (retrieved June 6, 2011)