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The Austrian tenor, Erich Majkut, was trained at the Musikhochschule of Vienna.
After his studies Erich Majkut belonged from 1929 to 1944 to the choir of the Vienna State Opera. In 1945 he appeared as a soloist with the ensemble of this house, where he specialised particularly in character tenor roles (Comprimario roles). For more than 30 years until 1976 he appeared in these roles at the Opera of Vienna. During this period he sang there 83 different roles, including Jacquino in Fidelio, David in Balthasar, Zorn in Meistersingern, Goro in Madame Butterfly, Spoletta in Tosca, Borsa in Rigoletto, Rodrigo in Verdi’s Othello, Incredibile in Andrea Chénier by Giordano, Dr. Cajus in Falstaff by Verdi, Basilio and Don Curzio (this role alone 266 times in Vienna) in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.
At the Wiener Volksoper Erich Majkut could be heard in some operetta roles. He made guest appearances, often together with the Viennese ensemble, at Milan’s La Scala, in London, Berlin and Brussels. At the Salzburg Festival he sang in the premiere of the operas Romeo und Julia by Boris Blacher (August 1950), Die Liebe der Danaë by R. Strauss (August 1952) and Der Prozess by Gottfried von Einem (August 1953). Since 1946 he could be heard at this festival in numerous concerts and from 1950 to 1960 in a number of smaller stage roles, above all as Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro. At the Festival of Bayreuth he appeared in 1951 in the role of Kunz Vogelsang in Meistersingern. Solo appearances led him in 1952 to the Milan’s La Scala (Jacquino and Balthasar Zorn), to the Opera of Rome (1954 Wirt in Rosenkavalier, 1956 Kunz Vogelsang in Meistersingern, 1960 Heinrich der Schreiber in Tannhäuser), to the Opera of Monte Carlo (1957 Wirt in Rosenkavalier, 1959 Dr. Blind in Fledermaus, 1962 Don Curzio) and to the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels (1963 Don Curzio). Occasionally he appeared also in bigger roles (Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Lorenzo in Fra Diavolo by Auber), returning however again and again to his usual repertoire.
During his career Erich Majkut has also appeared as concert and oratorio singer. The importance of his recordings of these parts is even greater than his activity on the stage: Columbia (W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze de Figaro, W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Rosenkavalier), Philips (Salome by R. Strauss), Decca (Meistersinger), Vox (Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) by J.S. Bach, Missa Solemnis by L.v. Beethoven), Nixa (Idomeneo by W.A. Mozart). |
