Hans Bechstein
17 July 1872 Munich – 20 February 1943 Munich
He was the son of a painter and the grandson of a writer, both called Ludwig Bechstein. Hans Bechstein studied piano and
acting in his native Munich, and started his career as a straight theater actor in Lucerne in 1893. Via Meiningen and Nürnberg, he
came back to Munich, to the Gärtnerplatztheater, in 1899, and started to appear also as singer there. Only then, he studied voice,
and made his tenor debut in Lübeck, where he spent the 1902/03 season. He had further contracts in Altenburg,
Mülhausen/Mulhouse and Bremen, before he decided to go on as a freelancer in 1911, for the rest of his long career. He was
considered one of the foremost comprimari of his time; his signature role was Mime. He sang it from 1907 to 1914 at Covent Garden (where
he was also cast in many other roles) or at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1922 (in Argentina's first complete Ring).
He further appeared in Dresden, at the Hofoper Berlin, in Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Amsterdam, at the Teatro Real in Madrid, in Rio de
Janeiro, Chicago or Philadelphia, and often at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. He was also a famous David.
He was forced to retire by the Nazis in 1933, because of being Jewish.
Reference: Kutsch & Riemens
Picture source: Forgotten Opera Singers
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