Victor Braun
Encyclopedia
Victor Conrad Braun was a Canadian baritone
who had a major international performance career in concerts and opera
s that lasted more than 40 years. While he was an accomplished performer of the standard opera works of Mozart, Puccini, Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner; he was particularly lauded for his portrayals of works by 20th century composers like Berg
, Bartók, Henze, Siegfried Matthus
, and Luciano Berio
among others.
(UWO) before deciding to pursue a singing career. While a student at UWO he began studying voice privately with Lillian Wilson in London, Ontario in 1954. In 1956 he entered The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied singing with George Lambert
and Weldon Kilburn. That same year he became a member of the chorus of the Canadian Opera Company
(COC). He made his professional solo debut with the company in 1957 as Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca
. He remained committed to the COC for the next five years where he was heard in mainly secondary parts. However, his profile with the company was considerably raised when he gave a much lauded portrayal of Escamillo in Georges Bizet
's Carmen
in 1961; a role he performed with the company again in 1964. Another critical success for him at the COC was the part of Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto
(1962).
In 1963 Braun left Canada for Europe after having won a stipend to study singing further in Vienna. Just a few months after his time there, he drew international attention for the first time when he won the grand prize at the 1963 Vienna International Mozart Competition. This accomplishment drew the attention of Wieland Wagner
who took it upon himself to get Braun a contract with the Frankfurt Opera. He remained a resident artist in Frankfurt for the next five years singing a variety of roles, including Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro
and Ottone in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione de Poppea among others. During his time in Frankfurt, he began to appear regularly as a guest artist with other important opera houses in Europe. He sang at the Cologne Opera
(1965-1966), Deutsche Oper am Rhein
(1966-1968), La Scala
(1967, as Wolfram in Tannhäuser
), and the Staatsoper Stuttgart
(1967-1969) among others.
In 1968 Braun left Frankfurt to become a resident artist at the Bavarian State Opera
where he made his debut that year as Almaviva. He remained a contacted member of that house for more than two decades, singing such roles as the Count in Capriccio
, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor
, Ford in Falstaff
, Giorgio Germont in La traviata
, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, Marcello in La Bohème
, Posa in Don Carlos
, Scarpia in Tosca
, and the title roles in Don Giovanni
and Rigoletto
among others. At the same time, his career continued to expand internationally with leading roles at the San Francisco Opera
(1968 debut as the Count di Luna in Il trovatore
) and the Royal Opera, London
(1969 debut in the title role of Eugene Onegin
). He continued to appear at major opera houses throughout the remainder of his career, including performances with the Berlin State Opera
, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera
, the Lyric Opera of Chicago
, the Metropolitan Opera
, the New Orleans Opera
, the Opera Company of Boston
, Opéra de Nice
, the Paris Opera
, and the Santa Fe Opera
among others. His final opera appearance was in 2000 at the Salzburg Festival
as Calchas in La Belle Hélène
.
Braun died of Shy-Drager syndrome at the age of 65 in 2001. His son Russell Braun
is also a Canadian opera singer. His daughter Adi Braun
is a professional jazz singer. His son Torsten is the lead vocalist with the band Defective by Design. His son Tim Braun is a baritone living in Beijing.
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
who had a major international performance career in concerts and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s that lasted more than 40 years. While he was an accomplished performer of the standard opera works of Mozart, Puccini, Strauss, Verdi, and Wagner; he was particularly lauded for his portrayals of works by 20th century composers like Berg
Berg
Berg is the word for mountain in various Germanic languages, and may also refer to:-People:* Alban Berg , Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School.* Paul Berg Berg is the word for mountain in various Germanic languages, and may also refer to:-People:* Alban Berg (1885-1935), Austrian...
, Bartók, Henze, Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Matthus
Siegfried Matthus is a German composer and opera director living in Berlin and is one of Germany's most often performed contemporary composers.- Biography :Matthus attended secondary school in Rheinsberg, followed by studies at the Hochschule für Musik...
, and Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
among others.
Life and career
Born in Windsor, Ontario, Braun initially studied geology at the University of Western OntarioUniversity of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
(UWO) before deciding to pursue a singing career. While a student at UWO he began studying voice privately with Lillian Wilson in London, Ontario in 1954. In 1956 he entered The Royal Conservatory of Music where he studied singing with George Lambert
George Lambert (baritone)
George James Lambert was an English baritone and voice teacher who was primarily active in Canada.Lambert was born in Long Preston. Following World War I, he studied singing in his native country with Frederic Lord while concurrently playing soccer professionally. He was highly active as an...
and Weldon Kilburn. That same year he became a member of the chorus of the Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
(COC). He made his professional solo debut with the company in 1957 as Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca
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...
. He remained committed to the COC for the next five years where he was heard in mainly secondary parts. However, his profile with the company was considerably raised when he gave a much lauded portrayal of Escamillo in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
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...
in 1961; a role he performed with the company again in 1964. Another critical success for him at the COC was the part of Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
(1962).
In 1963 Braun left Canada for Europe after having won a stipend to study singing further in Vienna. Just a few months after his time there, he drew international attention for the first time when he won the grand prize at the 1963 Vienna International Mozart Competition. This accomplishment drew the attention of Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner was a German opera director.- Life :Wieland was the elder of two sons of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner and grandson of composer Richard Wagner....
who took it upon himself to get Braun a contract with the Frankfurt Opera. He remained a resident artist in Frankfurt for the next five years singing a variety of roles, including Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and Ottone in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione de Poppea among others. During his time in Frankfurt, he began to appear regularly as a guest artist with other important opera houses in Europe. He sang at the Cologne Opera
Cologne Opera
The Cologne Opera refers both to the main opera house in Cologne, Germany and to its resident opera company.-History of the company:...
(1965-1966), Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Deutsche Oper am Rhein
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company....
(1966-1968), La Scala
La Scala
La 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...
(1967, as Wolfram 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...
), and the Staatsoper Stuttgart
Staatsoper Stuttgart
The Staatsoper Stuttgart is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, Germany.-History:The Stuttgart Staatsoper forms part of the Stuttgart State Theatre , which is a a three-branch-theatre complex and represents the largest theatre of its kind in Europe...
(1967-1969) among others.
In 1968 Braun left Frankfurt to become a resident artist at the Bavarian State Opera
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
where he made his debut that year as Almaviva. He remained a contacted member of that house for more than two decades, singing such roles as the Count in Capriccio
Capriccio
Capriccio may refer to:* A capriccio, a tempo marking* Capriccio , a chamber music composition* Capriccio , a piece of music which is fairly free in form* Capriccio , a 1942 German-language opera by Richard Strauss...
, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, Ford in Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, Giorgio Germont in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, Marcello in La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Posa in Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
, Scarpia in Tosca
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...
, and the title roles in 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...
and Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
among others. At the same time, his career continued to expand internationally with leading roles at 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...
(1968 debut as the Count di Luna in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
) and the Royal Opera, London
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
(1969 debut in the title role of Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
). He continued to appear at major opera houses throughout the remainder of his career, including performances with 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:...
, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
, the Lyric Opera of Chicago
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...
, 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...
, the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera
Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...
, the Opera Company of Boston
Opera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
, Opéra de Nice
Opéra de Nice
The Opéra de Nice is the principal opera venue in Nice, France.The théâtre municipal of Nice was inaugurated 7 February 1885 with a performance of Verdi's Aida. In 1902 the théâtre municipal became the Opéra de Nice.-References:...
, the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
, and the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
among others. His final opera appearance was in 2000 at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
as Calchas in La Belle Hélène
La belle Hélène
La belle Hélène , opéra bouffe in three acts, is an operetta by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy...
.
Braun died of Shy-Drager syndrome at the age of 65 in 2001. His son Russell Braun
Russell Braun
Russell Braun is a Canadian operatic lyric baritone.Much sought-after as a soloist and for opera roles, Russell Braun performs regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, l'Opéra de Paris, the San Diego Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the Canadian...
is also a Canadian opera singer. His daughter Adi Braun
Adi Braun
Adi Braun is a Canadian jazz and cabaret vocalist and composer.She was born Adreana Braun in Toronto but spent most of her childhood in Germany. Her parents were opera singers Victor Braun and Eraine Braun. She began studying piano at the age of six...
is a professional jazz singer. His son Torsten is the lead vocalist with the band Defective by Design. His son Tim Braun is a baritone living in Beijing.