Gustav Hölzel [SEP] voice type
Gustav Hölzel
Gustav Hölzel (2 September 1813 – 3 December 1883) was an Austro-Hungarian bass-baritone and composer who sang in the opera-houses of Austria, Germany and elsewhere for nearly fifty years. He is principally remembered as the first Beckmesser in Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg".
Early life.
He was born in Pest, Hungary, the son of the actor, singer and theatre director Nikolaus Alois Hölzel (1785–1848) who managed the Landestheater in Linz, 1819–24. His
mother Elisabeth Hölzel (née Umlauf) was an operatic contralto, daughter of composer Ignaz Umlauf, and sister of composer Michael Umlauf. At the age of sixteen, Gustav made his operatic debut in Sopron, and his career continued in Graz (1830–1832), the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna (1833–1837), and the Königstädtischen Theater in Berlin (1837–1838). He pursued further training in Paris in 1838 before joining the Stadttheater Zurich where he was committed from 1838-1840. In 1840, he joined the Hofoper at