Erwin Sembach
{{short description|Austrian opera singer}}
File:Erwin Sembach as Papageno.jpg]]
Erwin Schück (1879 – 1919), better known by his stage name Erwin Sembach, was an opera singer with the Vienna Volksoper during its earliest years of producing operas, immediately before and during World War I. His greatest roles there were Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni,[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19130205&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=5 Wiener Zeitung, 5 February 1913] Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute,[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19141104&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=3 Wiener Zeitung, 4 November 1914] and Krušina in Smetana's The Bartered Bride.[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19150402&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=5 Wiener Zeitung, 2 April 1915]
(There was a successful German opera singer using the stage name Johannes Sembach during this same period, which may lead to some confusion when newspaper articles simply refer to the singer as "Herr Sembach".)
Biography
File:Erwin Sembach in 1915.jpg
File:Erwin Sembach in the title role of Wagner's opera Siegfried.jpg]]
File:Erwin Sembach in operatic costume and wig.jpg
File:Erwin Sembach in costume.jpg
File:Erwin Sembach in operatic costume.jpg
Erwin Sembach was born on 18 October 1879 in Böhmisch Leipa (now Česká Lípa in the Czech Republic) to parents Adolf Schück and Katharina Schreiber[https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=5c532f13-1863-4c8d-b1a3-78989a9ff202&scan=ecf12b5cd78ccef0f873b4879626fd10 Birth record] who owned and operated a millinery and accessories shop in the town. Sembach was the oldest of eight siblings. He married Marie "Mietze" Klaus in 1902. They had a daughter Margarete Schück in 1903 and a son Wolfgang Schück (named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) in 1905.
Sembach's family was quite musical, and as a young man he trained to be a singer. He was naturally a baritone, but trained himself to also sing tenor, so that he could qualify for more roles such as Wagner's Lohengrin and Siegfried. By 1910 Sembach and his family were living in Vienna, the music capital of Europe, and Sembach was singing operatic roles. He was a member of the Vienna Volksoper opera house from at least 1912 through 1917. In addition to the Volksoper, Sembach also performed at the {{ill|Simplicissimus (cabaret)|de|Simpl (Wien)|lt=Simplicissimus}},[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19140221&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=29 Wiener Zeitung, 21 February 1914] a well known cabaret that still operates in Vienna.
Sembach died of uremia in 1919 at the age of 40, following a long illness.
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Operatic roles
- Dr. Grenvil (bass) in La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, Vienna, 1912–1913[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwg&datum=19130317&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=31 Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 17 March 1913]
- Brander in Faust by Charles Gounod, Vienna, 1913[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwj&datum=19130420&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=24 Neues Wiener Journal, 20 April 1913]
- Der Kuhreigen by Wilhelm Kienzl, Plzeň, 1913[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=pit&datum=19131203&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=4 Pilsner Tagblatt, 3 December 1913]
- Masetto (bass) in Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Mozart, Vienna, 1913
- Papageno (baritone) in The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Mozart, Vienna, 1914
- Fritz Kottner (baritone) in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner, Vienna, 1914[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19141105&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=11 Wiener Zeitung, 5 November 1914]
- Jean in Bei Sedan by Heinrich Zöllner, Vienna, 1914[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wrz&datum=19141121&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=14 Wiener Zeitung, 21 November 1914]
- Rodolphe in Der Überfall by Heinrich Zöllner, Vienna, 1914
- Count Liebnau (baritone) in Der Waffenschmied by Albert Lorzing, Vienna, 1914[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=dvb&datum=19141230&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=11 Deutsches Volksblatt, 30 December 1914]
- Count Ceprano (bass) in Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, Vienna, 1914–1915[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=dvb&datum=19150304&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=11 Deutsches Volksblatt, 4 March 1915]
- Krušina (baritone) in The Bartered Bride by Bedřich Smetana, Vienna, 1915
- Reinmar von Zweter (bass) in Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner, Vienna, 1913–1915[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=fdb&datum=19150317&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=20 Fremden-Blatt, 17 March 1915]
- Silvio (baritone) in Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Vienna, 1915[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwj&datum=19150328&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=23 Neues Wiener Journal, 28 March 1915]
- Fiorello (bass) in The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, Vienna, 1915[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=fdb&datum=19150329&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=8 Fremden-Blatt, 29 March 1915]
Recitals
- Ústí nad Labem, 9 April 1905[https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=lmz&datum=19050412&query=%22Erwin+Sch%c3%bcck%22~1&ref=anno-search&seite=4 Leitmeritzer Zeitung, 12 April 1905]
- Vienna, 2 November 1910[https://www.wienersymphoniker.at/en/events/sax-stilp-e-sembach-radnitzky-mandlick-w-mozart-0 Wiener Symphoniker events]
- Vienna, 8 January 1912[https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwg&datum=19120108&query=%22Erwin+Sch%c3%bcck%22~1&ref=anno-search&seite=14 Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 8 January 1912]
- Vienna, 15 November 1912[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwg&datum=19121115&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=17 Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 15 November 1912]
- Olomouc, 29 November 1913[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=mtb&datum=19131128&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=6 Mährisches Tagblatt, 28 November 1913]
- Vienna, 20 February 1914
- Vienna, June 1915[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwj&datum=19150606&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=14 Neues Wiener Journal, 6 June 1915]
- Česká Lípa, September 1918[http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nfp&datum=19180916&query=%22Sembach%22&ref=anno-search&seite=6 Neue Freie Presse, 16 September 1918]
References
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External links
- {{commons category-inline}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}}
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Category:Operatic bass-baritones
Category:Austrian operatic tenors
Category:German Bohemian people