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Born: February 3, 1928, Kleve (Niederrhein), Germany
The German tenor, Helmut Kretschmar, studied first in Frankfurt a.M. with Kurt Thomas and Hans Emge, then at the Musikhochschule of Detmold with Fred Husler. In 1953 he received the 1st Prize with the singing competition of the Deutschen Musikhochschulen (German Colleges of Music), and in 1958 the Big Art Prize of the Country North-Westphalia.
In 1954 Helmut Kretschmar worked in Hamburg Broadcast in the premiere of A. Schoenberg’s Moses and Aron. In 1960 he became lecturer at the Musikhochschule Detmold, since 1961 served there as a Professor. In 1953 he began his career as concert and oratorio singer, which led soon to beautiful successes. At the Berlin Festival Weeks and at the Bach Festivals of Lüneburg and Heidelberg of the years 1960-1962 he showed himself as a great Bach interpreter. He participated in the Göttingen Händel Festival and undertook concert tours all over the world. Thus he could be heard in concert halls in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Köln, Paris, Madrid, London, Bombay, in cities of India, Korea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Helmut Kretschmar concentrated his artistic work primarily on the work of J.S. Bach, but was successful in oratorios of Händel, Mendelssohn, J. Haydn and in works of modern masters. He became a Lieder singer by his wife, the pianist Renate Fischer, who likewise was a Professor at the Musikhochschule Detmold, and accompanied him in Lieder recitals. They performed, among other things, Lieder of Schubert, R. Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Debussy.
Helmut Kretschmar was admired for his rich tenor voice, the artistic expression and the fine intimate style. He can be heard on numerous records of Marken Columbia, Decca, DGG, L'Oiseau Lyre, Vox, Philips, Discophiles Français and Edition Schwann. Among them are also some opera recordings (Fidelio, Moses and Aron by Schoenberg), although he did not make an operatic career. In the first place however stand works stand like Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) and the Mass in B minor (BWV 232) by J.S. Bach, Missa Solemnis by Beethoven, Die Jahreszeiten by Haydn and the Mass in A flat major by Schubert.
Source: Operissimo Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (April 2004)
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Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works |
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Conductor |
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Friedrich Bihn |
Tenor |
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Fritz Münch |
Tenor |
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Tenor |
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Links to other Sites |
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Short Biographies: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Explanation | Acronyms |
Last update: ýMay 2, 2004 ý00:38:52