Alfred Pfeifle (Tenor)

Born: May 22, 1916 - Stuttgart, Germany
Died: April 9, 1986 - Stuttgart, Germany

The German tenor, Alfred Pfeifle, studied singing with Max Roth in Stuttgart.

Alfred Pfeifle made his debut in 1938 at the Stadttheater of Freiburg. In 1941-1942 he was engaged at the Opera House of Düsseldorf; here he participated in 1941 in the premiere of the opera Die Hexe von Passau by O. Gerster. From 1942 to 1949 he was a member of the Staatsoper of Hamburg, in which he participated in 1947 in the German first performance of the opera Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten. In 1949 he was appointed to the Staatsoper of Stuttgart, to whose most popular singers he belonged until 1976. He dedicated himself particularly to character and play tenor roles, as Monostatos in Zauberflöte, Pedrillo in Entführung aus dem Serail, Mime in Ring des Nibelungen, Jacquino in Fidelio (which he sang also in 1956 with an appearance of the Stuttgart Opera at the Grand Opéra Paris), and the tenor roles in the operas of Lortzing. He was not least estimated as eminent play-actor talent. In 1955 he appeared as a guest with the Stuttgart Opera at the Covent Garden Opera in London, in 1956 he appeared at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. He sang small roles in Parsifal in 1955-1956 at the Bayreuth Festival, in 1966-1968 at the Salzburg Festival as Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro. On May 9, 1957 he participated at the Festival of Schwetzingen in the premiere of the opera Der Revisor by Werner Egk, and on June 2, 1966 in Stuttgart in Siebzehn Tage und vier Minuten by the same composer.

Recordings: DGG (complete Zar und Zimmermann), Nixa (complete opera La finta giardiniera by Mozart), EJS (Pedrillo in scenes from the Entführung aus dem Serail).

Source: Großes Sängerlexikon (Authors: K. J. Kutsch / Leo Riemens; Expanded 3^rd edition 1999/2000; K. G. Saur Verlag, Munich), English translation by Aryeh Oron (June 2006)
Contributed by Thomas Braatz (June 2006); Manfred Krugmann (Photos 01-02, July 2011)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Hans Grischkat

Tenor

BWV 201

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