Wilhelm Höffert
1886 (ca)
Karl Scheidemantel, German baritone

Cabinet card
Private collection of T. Max Hochstetler
Karl Scheidemantel (21 January, 1859 - 26 June, 1923)
 
Scheidemantel was born in Weimar and also died in that city. At age 19 he made debut as Wolfram at the Weimar Opera Theatre, in 1878, and was a part of that opera company through 1886. He next joined the opera company at Bayreuth singing there until 1892. He was quite popular on the opera stages at Munich, Dresden and Vienna, but also performed at Convent Garden, London and Lascala in Milan. He created the role of Urok from Paderewski's opera, "Manru," and the role of Kunrad from the Strauss opera, "Feuersnot." He also did much to interpret the role of Faninal in the Strauss opera, "Rosenkavalier." Scheidemantel translated two Italian operas, "Don Giovanni," and "Cosi fan tutte" into German for the audiences of his native country. He appeared at the Dresden Opera Theatre with Marcella Sembrich, Marie Wittich, Eva von der Osten, Anton Erl, Karl Perron, and Friedrich Plaschke. He also was a vocal teacher and his most famous student was Oskar Reinhold.
 
(Kindly contributed by T. Max Hochstetler, June 2007)
 
LL/19918