Hans Hotter was born on January 19, 1909, and died on December 6, 2003. He was a German opera singer known as a bass-baritone. He was 6 feet 4 inches tall (1.93 meters), and his appearance was very noticeable. His voice and the way he spoke were also very recognizable.
Early life and career
Born in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, Hotter studied with Matthäus Roemer in Munich. He worked as an organist and choirmaster before making his operatic debut in Opava in 1930.
He performed in Germany and Austria under the Nazi regime, avoiding pressure to join the Nazi Party. He also performed outside the country, including concerts in Amsterdam led by Bruno Walter, who told him that if Hotter could not leave his family, he would have little choice but to stay in Germany. Hotter could not pursue an international career until his debut at Covent Garden in 1947. After that, he sang in all the major opera houses in Europe. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the title character in Der fliegende Holländer in 1950. During four seasons at the Met, he performed 35 times in 13 roles, most of which were Wagnerian.
Probably Hotter's best-known vocal achievement was his portrayal of Wotan in Der Ring des Nibelungen, beginning with Rheingold and ending with Siegfried Wanderer. He first sang these roles in his early 20s in German provinces and later added Walküre at a theatre in Prague. He performed these roles until the mid-1960s, when his voice briefly suffered due to severe asthma, causing him to miss the first post-war Bayreuth Festival in 1951. However, he sang there again starting in 1952. His interpretation of Wotan was first recorded in a 1930s studio version of Act II of Die Walküre. In Die Walküre and Siegfried, he was recorded in Decca's famous Ring Cycle in the early 1960s, conducted by Georg Solti and produced by John Culshaw. His portrayal of Wotan was also captured in live recordings at the Bayreuth Festival conducted by Clemens Krauss and Joseph Keilberth in the mid-1950s. He also directed a complete Ring at Covent Garden from 1961 to 1964. His performances as Amfortas and Gurnemanz in Parsifal were preserved in several live recordings from Bayreuth conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch.
Hotter was admired for his portrayal of Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. However, he later preferred to sing the smaller, lower-pitched role of Pogner because it suited his voice better. In later years, he also suffered from a chronic back injury. Similarly, he sang in Parsifal first as the baritone Amfortas when he was younger, then switched to the bass Gurnemanz later, and finally to the even lower bass Titurel. He was also celebrated for his performance as Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio, with a live 1960s recording from Covent Garden released in 2005 under the Testament label.
Hotter had a close working relationship with Richard Strauss. He performed in the premieres of Strauss’s late operas: as the commandant in Friedenstag (1938), as Olivier in Capriccio (1942), and as Jupiter in a private dress rehearsal of Die Liebe der Danae (1944). After the war, he sang Sir Morosus in Die Schweigsame Frau with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Karl Böhm. Strauss dedicated his song "Erschaffen und beleben" to Hotter, who also recorded many of Strauss’s songs. Hotter’s daughter, Gabriele, married Strauss’s grandson, Richard, in 1962.
Although his international fame was mostly in the German repertoire, in Germany and Austria, he was also known for performing Verdi in the vernacular. For example, he was a popular Falstaff and performed the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, a role he also performed in Italian at several theatres, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He performed and recorded several non-German opera roles in German translation, including Count Almaviva (Mozart), Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky), and Don Basilio (Rossini).
Hotter was also known as a lieder singer. He left recordings of Schubert’s lieder, including Winterreise and Schwanengesang, as well as other songs. He also sang sacred music and recorded Bach cantatas and one recording of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, in which he sang both the low bass role of Archangel Raphael and the high baritone role of Adam.
A passionate anti-Nazi, Hotter made fun of Hitler at parties and refused to participate in the Bayreuth Festival during the Third Reich because of its association with Hitler and his politics. According to Hotter’s obituary in The Times, Hitler kept Hotter’s records in his private collection. When Hotter was questioned about this during a postwar denazification hearing, he said the Pope also had some of them.
Hotter never completely retired from the stage. He made his final public appearance in his nineties after several seasons performing significant character roles, such as Schigolch in Alban Berg’s Lulu. He was also a notable narrator in Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, a role he continued to take well into his eighties.
Anecdotes
During a performance of Walküre at Covent Garden in 1961, an unexpected incident happened during the final scene. Wotan was supposed to leave the stage slowly and silently. After striking Brünnhild's rock to summon Loge, Hotter was blinded by the bright lights and lost his balance, falling off the stage with a loud crash. Because he was wearing heavy armor, the fall was very forceful, like a heavy object hitting a metal building. However, this was not how the opera was meant to end. Hotter did not want the audience to believe he had jumped from the mountain out of regret after taking away Brünnhild's divine status and putting her to sleep. So, as the music continued, Hotter bravely climbed back on stage, showing the audience he was unharmed. The music then played until the final note.
At an earlier performance of Walküre in 1956, also at Covent Garden, Hotter experienced a harmless but amusing incident. He was late for his entrance in Act III and rushed backstage, quickly putting on a large cloak before entering the stage with his angry line, "Wo ist Brünnhild?" The audience laughed at his appearance, but Hotter did not understand why until the end of the opera. He sang for over an hour without realizing that a fluffy, pink coat-hanger was still attached to his cloak, hanging above his head. As Ernest Newman wrote in his review, Hotter was "the only man in the world who can actually step on stage and persuade you that he is God."