Hans Hotter
- Hans Hotter
In 1988 I was lucky enough to have Hans Hotter as my houseguest for a few days, and what wonderful days those were!
I was still a smoker at the time, but of course on the hour-plus drive to my home with Hans in the car I didn't even dream of smoking. I'd never smoked while near a singer, and I certainly wasn't going to start then. When we arrived at home, I fixed him something to eat and then finally sneaked outside a couple of times to light up. As I walked back in the second time, Hans asked if by any chance I had some cigarettes! While we both sat back and indulged in our mutual vice, he told me that most of the singers in his circle in Europe did indeed smoke.
During the next few days we spent numerous glorious hours talking, while he also enjoyed swimming in the pool and relaxing in a home instead of dealing [End Page 712] with the inconveniences of a hotel. My mind often reeled with thoughts of "Wotan ate here," "Wotan slept here," "Wotan swam here," and so on. One day I walked by the bathroom at a crucial time, not knowing that Hans had left the door open as he removed his swimsuit to put on his walking shorts. My first thought was "Wotan stood naked here"—and then I realized that would have been very much in character for Wotan.
Probably the best part of having Hans here were the countless stories he told that so vividly brought history alive. Because he had worked closely with Richard Strauss, he was filled with marvelous anecdotes about that genius composer. My favorite, though, is more personal, not directly opera-related. One night Hans was having dinner with the Strausses, and Pauline asked him if he'd like seconds. He thanked her and accepted another portion. At that point Richard said he too would like more, but Pauline hit his hand with the serving spoon, said no, and hollered that there was a war on and he knew darn well that food was rationed!
Stories like this make people I've so greatly admired seem more real, more human. Those days with Hans truly were among the most wondrous and fascinating I've ever experienced.
Irene Sloan, founding editor, The Opera Quarterly
Notes
1. Jeffrey L. Buller, "Ellen Faull: A Life in Song," The Opera Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 3 (fall 2000), pp. 427–43.
2. Famed for his Wagnerian roles, the Hungarian American bass-baritone Friedrich Schorr (1888–1953) sang his final role at the Met in March 1943. He then served as director of the Manhattan School of Music in New York, directed productions at the City Center Opera, and worked as a vocal coach. Not long before his death, Schorr coached Faull in her role as Eva. The Hans Sachs in this production was Faull’s fellow cast member from Don Giovanni, James Pease. While she sang other selections from Wagner in concert performances, Eva would be the only Wagnerian role that Faull ever sang in a complete, staged production.
3. Bruce Burroughs, "Star of Romania," Opera News, vol. 54, no. 12 (3 March 1990), p. 35.
4. Opera News, vol. 29, no. 15 (20 February 1965), p. 5.
5. Liù is one of seven roles for which Amara holds the record for most performances by any soprano in Metropolitan Opera history. The others are Antonia, Donna Elvira, Ellen Orford, Micaëla, Nedda, and Tatyana.
6. J. B. Steane, The Grand Tradition (London: Scribner’s, 1974), p. 547.
7. Lucine Amara, conversation with the author, 22 March 1990.
8. Teresa Stratas, conversation with the author, 15 January 1991.
9. Steber proudly claimed her only teacher was "Mr. [William] Whitney" at NEC in 1933–38.
10. Steber had been convinced, ill-advised perhaps, to come out of retirement in 1973 for her "core audience" by appearing at a famous gay bathhouse in New York, the event announced in advance as "black towel only." Most record collectors are at least vaguely familiar with the live LP, now out...
