Gustav Hölzel
Das taube Mütterlein, Op.170Das WaldkirchleinDer Waldgruss, Op.152Die SchildwacheHab' in der Brust ein Vögelein, Op.211Mein Liebster ist im Dorf der Schmied, Op.110Tu m'oublierasWenn ich ein Vöglein wär, Op.236WikipediaGustav Hölzel (2 September 1813 – 3 December 1883) was an Austro-Hungarian bass-baritone and composer who sang in the opera-houses of Austria, Germany and elsewhere for nearly fifty years. He is principally remembered as the first Beckmesser in
Richard Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
He was born in Pest, Hungary, the son of the actor, singer and theatre director Nikolaus Alois Hölzel (1785–1848) who managed the Landestheater in Linz from 1819 until 1924. His mother Elisabeth Hölzel (née Umlauf) was an operatic contralto, daughter of composer
Ignaz Umlauf, and sister of composer
Michael Umlauf. At the age of sixteen, Gustav made his operatic debut in Sopron, and his career continued in Graz (1830–1832), the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna (1833–1837), and the Königsstädtisches Theater in Berlin (1837–1838). He pursued further training in Paris in 1838 before joining the Stadttheater Zürich where he was engaged from 1838 until 1840. In 1840, he joined the Court Opera at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna.
He nevertheless found operatic work at the Theater an der Wien, and also appeared in Darmstadt, Nuremberg and Munich. At the Nationaltheater in the latter city, in 1868, he created the role of Beckmesser in
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg His final engagements were at the Komische Oper Berlin, and his last stage appearance was in 1877 in the role of Baculus in
Albert Lortzing's
Der Wildschütz.
Gustav Hölzel died in Vienna.
He made guest appearances in opera houses in London (1840 and 1843), Saint Petersburg and Stockholm in 1860, and in the American premiere of Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor at the Stadt Theatre in New York in 1870. At the Opéra Comique in Paris in 1859, he appeared in the premiere of Yvonne by the Belgian composer
Armand Limnander.
Hölzel was noted for his comic roles, which included, as well as those mentioned above, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Don Basilio in
The Barber of Seville and Van Bett in Lortzing's
Zar und Zimmermann.
Gustav Hölzel was also a prolific composer of piano music and songs. Among the latter are a setting of Ludwig Uhland's "Sonntag", Op. 226, and three settings of poems by Heinrich Heine, "Die schönsten Augen", Op. 68, "Wasserfahrt", Op. 73, and "Meine Sehnsucht von H. Heine" ("Mädchen mit dem roten Mündchen"), Op. 32.