Born: Holland

The actual name of the Dutch tenor Marius van Altena was Marius Hendrikus Schweppe. His musical education took place at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

Primarily he was active as concert and oratorio singer, whereby vocal works from the Baroque period formed the focal point of his repertoire. Expanded concert tours took him to Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Mexico and the USA. He appeared occasionally also in performances of Baroque operas, such as at the Holland Festival in 1974 in Eumelio by Agostino Agazzari, in 1974 at the same Festival in Seelewig by Sigmund Gottlieb Staden, and in 1980 in Gluck’s L'Isle de Merlin. From 1980 to 1984 he participated in opera performances of the group Spectaculum in Vienna, which presented stage works by Johann Joseph Fux, Kaiser Leopold I. von Österreich, and Francesco Bartolomeo Conti. At the same time he was active as a pedagogue in consevatories in the Hague and in Tilburg; Since mid 1980’s he also acted actually as a conductor.

Recordings: EMI/Telefunken (Cantatas of J.S. Bach, Thamos, König von Ägypten by Mozart), Christophorus-Verlag (Il figliuol prodigo by Kaiser Leopold I.), RCA (Madrigals of Monteverdi), TIS (Vocal works of Monteverdi), Accent (Oratorios of Carissimi), Channel Classics (Cantatas of Buxtehude).

Source: Operissimo Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (July 2001)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2001)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Gerard Akkerhuis

Tenor

BWV 245

Christian Grube

Tenor

BWV 106

Gustav Leonhardt

Tenor

BWV 14, BWV 16, BWV 23, BWV 33, BWV 40, BWV 106, BWV 132, BWV 133, BWV 134, BWV 135, BWV 172, BWV 175

Johan van der Meer

Tenor

BWV 232, BWV 244, BWV 245

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