Gerd Nienstedt tysk basbaryton 1932-1993

Peter Lagergren
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Gerd Nienstedt debuterade 1954 i Bremerhaven och sjöng på operorna i Gelsenkirchen, Wiesbaden, Köln och Frankfurt innan han 1964 kom till Wiener Staatsoper.

Gerd Nienstedt tysk basbaryton 1932-1993

Gerd Nienstedt (10 July 1932 – 14 August 1993) was a German and Austrian opera singer, bass and bass-baritone. After an international career at major opera houses and the Bayreuth Festival, he was also a theatre director, stage director and academic voice teacher.

Career

Karl Gustav Gerhard Nienstedt was born in Hanover. He studied voice at the Opernschule there with Otto Köhler. His first engagement was in 1954 at the  Stadttheater Bremerhaven, where he made his debut as the king in Lohengrin. He sang in Gelsenkirchen from 1955 to 1959, with the  Staatstheater Wiesbaden to 1961, with the Cologne Opera from 1962 to 1972, and with the Frankfurt Opera. In 1965, he participated in the premiere of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s  Die Soldaten in Cologne, singing the part of Haudy. He performed also in the Frankfurt production of the opera.

Gerd Nienstedt performed at the Bayreuth Festival every summer from 1962 to 1976, in 14 parts such as Klingsor in Parsifal, Gunther in Götterdämmerung, Donner in  Das Rheingold, Hunding in  Die Walküre, Fafner (the dragon) in Siegfried, and Kothner in  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

He was a member of the Vienna State Opera from 1964 to 1973, became an Austrian citizen and was awarded the title  Kammersänger. He performed at the  Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels several times between 1964 and 1983, including the parts Orest in Elektra by Strauss, Rocco in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Marke in  Tristan und Isolde and Gurnemanz in Parsifal.  He sang in 1968 at the  Bayerische Staatsoper the part of King Wladislaw in Smetana’s Dalibor, conducted by Rafael Kubelik,  and in 1971 at La Scala the title role of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, conducted by Claudio Abbado and alongside Evelyn Lear as Marie.

In concert, Nienstedt sang the bass part in Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the 1977  Osterfestspiele Salzburg. Herbert von Karajan conducted the Wiener Singverein and the Berlin Philharmonic, with Peter Schreier as the Evangelist and Jose van Dam as the vox Christi.  In 1979 he performed in the premiere of the three-act version of Alban Berg’s Lulu the parts of the animal tamer and Rodrigo, staged by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez, a performance recorded on DVD.  Again with Boulez, he was in 1987 a soloist in Schoenberg’s  Gurre-Lieder in the Royal Albert Hall.

From 1973, Nienstedt worked in the direction of the Bielefeld Opera, of the  Theater Hof from 1981 to 1985. and of the  Landestheater Detmold from 1985 to 1987. Nienstedt was director and artistic director of the  Eutiner Festspiele  from 1982 to 1988. He appeared occasionally, for example in 1980 as the narrator in a performance of Honegger’s  König David by the  Rheingauer Kantorei and the  Radiosinfonieorchester Frankfurt in the  Marktkirche Wiesbaden, with soloists Klesie Kelly and Claudia Eder.

As a teacher, he taught voice at the opera class of the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Mainz, from 1987 acting at the opera class of the  Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie Detmold (now Hochschule für Musik Detmold), and as professor of voice at the  Konservatorium der Stadt Wien (now  Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität). He died in Vienna.

Selected recordings

  • Alban Berg – Lulu, Rodrigo,  Orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris, Pierre Boulez (1979, DVD)
  • Gustav Mahler –  Das Klagende Lied, London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (1970)
  • W.A. Mozart – Requiem: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis (1967)
  • Giuseppe Verdi – Rigoletto: Monterone, Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Carlo Franci (1970)
  • Richard Wagner –  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
    • Kothner, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Silvio Varviso (1974)
    • Kothner,  Wiener Philharmoniker dirigiert von Georg Solti (1975)
  • Wagner – Tannhäuser
    • Reinmar, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Wolfgang Sawallisch (1962)
    • Reinmar, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Otmar Suitner (1964)
    • Biterolf, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Carl Melles (1966)
  • Wagner –  Das Rheingold
    • Gürzenich Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch (1962)
    • Donner, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Karl Böhm, (1966)
  • Wagner –  Die Walküre: Hunding, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Karl Böhm, (1967)
  • Wagner –  Tristan und Isolde: Steuermann, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Karl Böhm (1966)
  • Wagner – Parsifal: Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Hans Knappertsbusch
  • Wagner – Lohengrin: Heerrufer, Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival, Rafael Kubelik (1971)
  • Bernd Alois Zimmermann –  Die Soldaten: Haudy, Gürzenich Orchestra, Michael Gielen (1965, WERGO)

På svenska

Gerd Nienstedt gästade också bl.a. Deutsche Oper Berlin, Grand Opéra i Paris, Théatre de la Monnaie i Bryssel och La Scala. Han har gjort sig bemärkt som Wagnersångare och sjöng 1962-76 varje sommar i Bayreuth i roller som Klingsor i Parsifal, Hunding och Gunther i Nibelungens ring. På 1980-talet övergick han till administrativa poster.

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