Erich Kunz |

Eric Kunz

Austrian singer (bass-baritone). He made his debut in 1933 (Breslau). He sang from 1941 at the Vienna Opera, in 1942-60 he regularly performed at the Salzburg Festival, mainly in Mozart’s operas (parts of Figaro, Leporello, Guglielmo in “Everybody Does It So”, Papageno). He also performed at the Bayreuth Festival (Beckmesser’s part in Wagner’s Nuremberg Meistersingers). At Covent Garden since 1947, at the Metropolitan Opera since 1952 (debut as Leporello).

The singer’s career lasted an unusually long time, in 1976 he was a participant in the world premiere of Einem’s opera “Cunning and Love” in Vienna. Kunz possessed a comic gift that allowed him to become a master of buffoon parts. Note the outstanding recording of one of Kunz’s best parts, Papageno (1951, dir. Furtwängler, EMI).

E. Tsodokov