Karel Burian

Karel Burian (also Carl Burrian) (12 January 1870 – 25 September 1924) was a Czech operatic tenor who had an active international career spanning the 1890s to the 1920s. A Heldentenor, Burian earned acclaim in Europe and America for his powerful performances of the heaviest Wagnerian roles. His voice is preserved on numerous recordings made for Pathé Records, the Gramophone Company, the Gramophone & Typewriter Company (and its successor HMV) and the Victor Recording Company.

Biography Born in Rousínov (now part of Slabce) near Rakovník, Burian was the older brother of operatic baritone Emil Burian and the uncle of composer Emil František Burian. Both brothers studied singing under in Prague. Inititially Burian had intended to become a lawyer and had attended Prague University for a year in pursuit of this goal. However, a professor at the university heard his voice and encouraged him to pursue an operatic career, putting him in touch with Pivoda for lessons. He later pursued further vocal studies with Felix von Kraus in Munich.

Burian made his professional opera debut as Jeník in Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride at the opera house in Brno on 28 March 1891. The very next day, he portrayed the title role in Smetana's Dalibor to such outstanding success that he was offered a long-term contract with the Brno Opera. However, he sang only one other major role with the company, Manrico in Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore, before joining the opera house in Reval for the 1892/1893 season. He sang at the opera house in Aachen during the 1893/1894 season, notably appearing in the world premiere of Leo Blech's first opera, Aglaja.

By the mid-1890s, Burian was beginning to build a substantial reputation in Germany for the quality of his performances of the heldentenor repertoire. From 1894 to 1896, he was the leading Wagnerian tenor at the Cologne Opera. While there, he sang (among other things) in the world premieres of Karl von Kaskel's Sjula (1895) and Arnold Mendelssohn's Elsi, die seltsame Magd (1896). He left Cologne to take up a commitment to sing at the Staatsoper Hannover in 1896 to 1898, followed by a three-year term at the Hamburg State Opera from 1898 to 1901. He was also active at the Berlin State Opera during the 1898/99 season. In 1908, he made his only appearance at the Bayreuth Festival in the title role of Parsifal. In 1920, Burian mistakenly drank bleach, believing it to be mineral water, and suffered severe burns to his mouth and larynx. The wounds eventually healed, but his voice never fully recovered. His last two performances at the National Theatre in Prague were in 1922, when he sang in Dalibor and Tannhäuser. Two years later, he died in Senomaty after a brief illness. He was 54. His death was marked by a black flag draped on the National Theatre. The Czech Philharmonic played Siegfried's funeral march from Götterdämmerung.