Hermin Esser

He was first a graphic designer, then studied architecture, then voice in Düsseldorf. Debut in Krefeld 1954. After contracts in Gelsenkirchen, at the Komische Oper Berlin and in Wiesbaden, he came to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf–Duisburg in 1964. He was a frequent guest in Wiesbaden and Essen. From 1966 to 1979, he regularly appeared at the Bayreuth Festival: Froh, Walther von der Vogelweide, Lohengrin, David, Stolzing, Erik, Tannhäuser, Siegmund, Loge, Tristan.

Abroad, he sang in Torino, Rome, Monte Carlo, London (Sadler's Wells), Vienna (Staatsoper), Paris (Opéra), Brussels, Lyon, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Moscow (Stanislavskij and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater), Budapest, Warsaw, Zagreb, Stockholm, Chicago, Zürich, Geneva, Dresden.

For a tenor whose most requested role was probably Tristan, he sang an incredibly varied repertory: Belmonte, Don Ottavio, Idomeneo, Alfredo, Duca, Ismaele, Jeník; but of course also Max, Alvaro, German, Don Carlo, Samson, Bacchus. He was still active at 70 years old. I for one find his guttural, laboured, wobbly, drab voice production difficult to digest, and don't even want to imagine him as Duca or Belmonte.

Reference and picture source: Isoldes Liebestod