Helge Rosvaenge (1897-1972) was an outstanding spinto tenor whose 50 year career encompassed opera, operetta, concerts, radio, film and recordings. Born Helge Anton Rosenvinge Hansen, Rosvaenge (sometimes spelled Roswaenge) began his working life as a chemist after graduating from the Polytechnic in his native Copenhagen. He had taken a few voice lessons during his teens, but it wasn’t until a 1920 visit to Schwerin, Mecklenburg, Germany that he discovered the thriving theater scene. He also met the soprano who would become his wife, Ilonka Holndonner, who encouraged him to sing a concert with her. Other concerts followed, as well as a few productions with local theaters. An agent from the opera at Neustrelitz heard Rosvaenge and invited him to audition for their upcoming season. Despite his inexperience, the singer managed to pass himself off as a seasoned performer. The ruse worked, for management offered Rosvaenge a contract to sing Don José in Carmen, the role in which he made his official debut in the fall of 1921.
Rosvaenge spent the season in Neustrelitz before moving on to the opera in Altenburg the following year. He was engaged in Basel in 1924 and was a member of Cologne Opera from 1927 to 1930. He also made guest appearances in Vienna and Berlin before accepting a contract with the Staatsoper Berlin in 1929. Berlin would become the tenor’s artistic home and he remained there until 1944. Rosvaenge was also a welcome guest at the Salzburg Festival, Bayreuth (singing just one role there, Parsifal), London’s Covent Garden, as well as the major theaters of Dresden, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
One of the sad controversies of Rosvaenge’s career was his status as a favored artist of the Nazi party. Although he was never overtly political, he did enjoy the benefits of being on the party’s list of indispensable artists. This proved to be undesirable at the end of WWII when the Red Army overtook Berlin. Rosvaenge found himself caught between two worlds. As a Dane, he was now considered a foreigner in his adopted land and faced deportation. As a supposed Nazi, he found that he was also unwelcome in Germany…and most everywhere else. Russian troops captured him and deported him, ostensibly to his native Denmark. Instead, the tenor found himself detained in a Soviet prison camp. After several months of imprisonment, Rosvaenge was released, but was refused entry into Berlin. Penniless and with nowhere to go, he joined a group of refugees and travelled west to Spain. He eventually made his way to the Canary Islands where he returned to the profession of his youth, chemical engineering. Interestingly, Rosvaenge never really abandoned chemistry. During the ‘30s and ‘40s, he was granted patents for everything from algae proof paint to potato flour and new food preservation methods!
Rosvaenge spent two years as a chemist, with occasional stage roles with small local companies. He celebrated his silver jubilee in the fall of 1946 with a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana in Las Palmas. The tenor traveled to Switzerland in 1948, hoping to renew his passport. During a visit to Basel, he was invited to sing a performance of Aïda, which helped to relaunch his stage career. Rosvaenge returned to Vienna a year later and the Staatsoper Berlin welcomed him back in 1951. Although still in splendid voice, Rosvaenge was unwilling to adopt the modern standard of singing operas in the original language. When the tenor found that his practice of singing his roles in German was no longer acceptable, he began concentrating more and more on concerts and recitals. His American debut occurred in a 1963 Carnegie Hall recital, when the 65 year old singer amazed public and critics alike with his still clarion tones. Rosvaenge continued performing throughout the 1960s and celebrated his golden jubilee in 1971. Less than a year after this triumphant occasion, Rosvaenge passed away in Munich on June 19, 1972, just seven weeks shy of his 75th birthday.
Helge Rosvaenge’s repertoire of 100 roles included Radames in Aïda, the Duke in Rigoletto, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Alvaro in La Forza del Destino, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Calaf in Turandot, Canio in Pagliacci, Énée in Les Troyens, Arnold in Guillaume Tell, Chapelou in Le Postillon de Lonjumeau, Florestan in Fidelio, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Hüon in Oberon, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Fra Diavolo and Andrea Chénier. Rosvaenge also excelled in operetta, oratorio and lieder. His recorded legacy, made between 1927 and 1949 for HMV, Odeon and Telefunken (as well as many live recordings) showcase a robust instrument with top notes reaching high D. Here, Rosvaenge (with Felicia Weathers, Robert Allman & Willi Brokman) sings “Vesti la giubba” (“Hüll’ dich in Tand nur” in German) from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. This was recorded live in Cologne on December 17, 1964.
23 фев 2021
