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Born: April 2, 1928 - Matzleinsdorf, near Vienna, Austria
Died: May 21, 2001 - Munich, Bavaria, Germany |
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The Austrian tenor and music teacher, Fritz [Friedrich] Uhl, it began his training with Mrs. Elisabeth Rado in Vienna. He studied at the Vienna Academy of music from 1947 to 1952. Already during his studies time he participated in a Holland tour with an operetta group.
In 1952 Fritz Uhl made his debut at the Theater von Leoben as Faust by Charles Gounod and then, in 1952-1953, was engaged at the Opera House of Graz. From there he was active in the 1953-1955 season at the Stadttheater of Lucerne, in 1954-1956 at the Stadttheater of Oberhausen, in 1956-1958 at the Opera House of Wuppertal. Here he began to sing roles for hero tenor (Heldentenor) and became then to be acclaimed particularly as Wagner interpreter. In 1956 (or 1958 according to Baker's) he became a member of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where he was made a Kammersänger in 1962. He was connected by appearance contracts also with the State Operas of Vienna (from 1961) and Stuttgart.
Fritz Uhl appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 1957-1958 as Kunz Vogelsang, in 1957-1959 as Melot in Tristan, 1958 as Loge in Rheingold, in 1961-1964 as Siegmund in Walküre, in 1959-1961 as Erik in Fliegenden Holländer and in 1958 as young Seemann in Tristan and as 1st Ritter in Parsifal. At the Salzburg Festival he made guest appearances in 1958 (or 1968 according to Baker's) as Florestan in Fidelio, 1971-1972 as Tambourmajor in Wozzeck by Alban Berg. He appeared as a guest also at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, at the Grand Opéra Paris, in Nice, Strasbourg, Lyon and Toulouse, at the Operas of Stockholm, Amsterdam, Mexico City, Barcelona, Lisbon, Zagreb and San Francisco, at the Maggio Musicals in Florence, and at London's Covent Garden Opera, at which he made his debut in 1963 (or 1962 according to Baker's) as Walther von Stolzing in Meistersingern. In 1962 he sang in Osaka Herodes in Salome by R. Strauss in the Japanese first performance of this opera. In 1976 he participated at the Landestheater of Linz (Danube) in the premiere of the opera Der Aufstand by Helmut Eder, in 1976 at the State Opera of Munich in the premiere of the opera Die Versuchung by Josef Tal, in 1985 at the same opera house in H. Sutermeister's opera Le roi Béranger; in 1969 he had already participated in Munich in the premiere of Ján Cikker's Das Spiel von Liebe und Tod. In 1989 in Munich he sang again Pfeifer des Grafen in Mathis der Maler by Paul Hindemith.
In 1981 Fritz Uhl became a professor at the Vienna Conservatory.
Recordings: on Decca (complete Tristan), Philips (Fliegender Holländer), DGG (Elektra, Antigonae by C. Orff), Westminster (Loge in Rheingold), MRF (Notre Dame by F. Schmidt). Also recordings on Vox. |
