Obituary, Theo Adam (1926-2019)

The great German bass Theo Adam, particularly renowned for his Strauss and Wagner roles, has died in Dresden aged 92.

Born in Dresden on 1st August 1926, Adam began singing as a boy chorister in the Dresdner Kreuzchor and trained with Rudolf Dietrich after serving in World War II; he made his professional debut in a small role in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (in which he would go on to sing the title-role) in 1949, and began a long association with the Bayreuth Festival (where his roles would include Titurel, Pogner, the Dutchman and Wotan) in the early 1950s. By the early 1970s he was appearing regularly at Covent Garden (where he debuted as Wotan in 1967) and the Metropolitan Opera in roles such as Hans Sachs, Pizarro and Wozzeck; he also enjoyed a close relationship with the Wiener Staatsoper, where he continued to appear in smaller roles until his early seventies.

In addition to his core repertoire, Adam was active in contemporary music, creating Prospero in Berio’s 1984 opera Un re in ascolto, and the title-roles in Friedrich Cerha’s Baal and Paul Dessau’s Einstein. After retiring from stage work, he devoted himself to teaching (chiefly at the Musikhochschule in Dresden) and writing, publishing numerous books on his career and the roles which he had sung, and contributing to volumes including The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopaedia and The New Grove Dictionary of Opera throughout the 1980s and 90s.

Adam recorded most of his Wagner roles at least once (often with the Staatskapelle Dresden); his extensive discography also includes Kaspar in Carlos Kleiber’s recording of Der Freischütz, Herr Morosus on Marek Janowski’s Die schweigsame Frau and Baron Ochs on Karl Böhm’s Der Rosenkavalier, as well as numerous oratorio recordings.

Theo Adam - a selected discography