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Born: January 12, 1904 - Revere, Massachusetts, USA
Died: June 8, 1971 - Rochester, New York, USA |
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The American bass-baritone, Julius Huehn, studied at the Carnegie Institute and Juilliard School of Music in New York, and with several teachers in New York. Among his teachers were Louis Bachner and Anne Schoen-Rene.
In October 1934, Julius Huehn made his debut at the Opera of Philadelphia as Kurwenal in the Tristan. On December 21, 1935, he made his Metropolitan Opera New York debut as Kothner in the Meistersinger, and remained at this opera house until 1942. He was noted for his Wagner and R. Strauss roles, particularly for his portrayals of Wolfram in Tannhäuse, Telramund in Lohengrin, Wotan and Gunther in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Amfortas in Parsifal, Orestes in Elektra and Jochanaan (John the Baptist) in Salome, as well as title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Escamillo in Carmen. In 1937 he sang at the opera in San Francisco as Kurwenal in the Tristan.
In 1942 Julius Huehn enlisting in the US Army Air Corps, where was a captain (served in Europe as a bomber pilot). He performed at the Metropolitan Opera until March 14, 1944, returning for only one performance at the Met in 1946. He sang there ten seasons, and rang about 12 roles with 224 performances in both staged operas and concerts. He also performed as soloist with the Rochester Oratorio Society, the Worcester Fesival, the Chautauqua Opera Company, the Philadelphia Opera, and the Chicago Grand Opera.
Julius Huehn served as professor of voice and chair of the voice department at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester from 1952 until his death in 1971. Among his pupils was Philip Booth.
There are only a few recordings of his powerful, expressive voice; most of them are private recordings from the Metropolitan Opera, including a complete performance of the opera Elektra by R. Strauss, in which he sings Orestes. In a similar recording of Fidelio from 1941 on Accord, he sings the Minister; on EJS Kurwenal in Tristan, Telramund in Lohengrin and Donner in Rheingold; on UORC Telramund; on Walhall Escamillo in Carmen. None of those are currently available. |
