Girardi, Alexander

Girardi, Alexander, famous Austrian tenor and actor; b. Graz, Dec. 5, 1850; d. Vienna, April 20, 1918. He made his stage debut at the Kurtheater in RohitschSauerbrunn in 1869. After appearing in Krems, Karlsbad, Ischl, and Salzburg, he went to Vienna in 1870 and joined the Strampfertheater. In 1874 he became a member of the Theater an der Wien, acquiring renown in 1881 when he created the role of Marchese Sebastiani in Johann Strauss’s Der lustige Krieg. In 1882 he had enormous success when he created the title role in Millocker’s Der Bettelstudent. After creating the role of Kalman Zsupan in Strauss’s Der Zigeunerbaron in 1885, he scored a resounding success in 1890 when he created the title role of Jonathan in Millocker’s Der arme Jonathan. Further acclaim came when he created the title role of Adam in Zeller’s Der Vogelhandler in 1891. In 1894 he joined the Carltheater. In 1896 he became a member of the Deutsches Volkstheater, where he was active as an actor. From 1899 he was once more a favorite on the musical stages of Vienna. In 1902 he rejoined the Theater an der Wien, where he had triumphs creating the title roles in Eysler’s Bruder Straubinger (1903) and Pufferl (1905). Returning to the Carltheater, his success continued as he created roles in Eysler’s Die Schiltzenliesel (1905) and Kunstlerblut (1906). In 1907 he went to Berlin as a member of the Thalia-Theater. In 1909 he returned to Vienna and joined the Raimundtheater. His last great success came at the Johann Strauss-Theater in 1912 when he created the role of Pali Racz in Kalman’s Der Zigeunerprimas. Girardi continued to make appearances until the end of his life, being duly recognized as the foremost singer of the golden era of Vienna operetta. He is honored in Graz with a street named after him and in Vienna by the Girardigasse near the Theater an der Wien.

Bibliography

K. Nowak, G. (Berlin, 1908); A. Wutzky, G. (Vienna, 1943).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire