Štefan Hoza
Originally a school teacher, Hoza studied voice at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, and spent his entire career in the same city, at the Slovak National Theater – from 1932 to 1962. He also appeared in a few films, bot as a singer and an actor. His repertory was primarily heroic: Prince in Dvořák's Rusalka, Laca, Babinski (Švanda dudák), Pedro, Mića (Ero s onoga svijeta by Jakov Gotovac, the most famous Croatian opera), Don José, Radames, Otello, Canio. He sang in three world premieres of Slovak operas to which he had also written the libretti: Krútňava by Eugen Suchoň (1949), Juro Jánošík and Beg Bajazid by Ján Cikker (1954 and 1957, respectively). Hoza was also a dramaturg at the Slovak National Theater from 1939 to 1947, and a stage director towards the end of his career. In 1977, he signed, the "Anticharta", a declaration of loyalty by many Communist public figures as a state-orchestrated reply to the legendary "Charter 1977", by which 242 courageous artists and intellectuals had demanded to implement human rights in Czechoslovakia.
Reference 1, reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens
Many thanks to Anton Bieber for the recordings and label scans. |
