Völker,Franz

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Völker,Franz

Völker,Franz, gifted German tenor; b. Neu-Isenburg, March 31, 1899; d. Darmstadt, Dec. 5, 1965. He studied in Frankfurt am Main. He made his operatic debut at the Frankfurt am Main Opera as Florestan in 1926, and he continued on its roster until 1935. Völker also sang at the Vienna State Opera (1931-36; 1939-0; 1949-50), the Berlin State Opera (1933-43), and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1936-37; 1945-52); he also made guest appearances at London’s Covent Gar-

den and in Salzburg and Bayreuth. After his retirement in 1952, he taught voice in Neu-Isenburg, and he was a prof, at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik from 1958. Among his finest roles were Parsifal, Lohengrin, Sieg-mund, Florestan, the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten,Otello, and Max in Der Freischütz.

—-Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire