Opera Scotland

Karl Terkal Suggest updates

Born Vienna, 7 October 1919.

Died Vienna, 12 August 1996.

Austrian tenor.

Karl Terkal worked as a carpenter before training at the Vienna Academy. He made his debut in 1950 with the Graz Opera. His first appearances at the Bayreuth Festival came in 1952, as Vogelgesang in Meistersinger and First Esquire in Parsifal.

From 1952 Terkal was a member of the Vienna State Opera, with a repertoire embracing major roles by Verdi (Duke of Mantua, Alfredo) and Puccini (Rodolfo, Pinkerton, Calaf). He also sang operetta regularly at the Volksoper. His career lasted around thirty years.

Terkal can be heard on disc in a number of operettas, perhaps most notably as Eisenstein in Otto Ackermann's 1960 Die Fledermaus. He also recorded brief parts in famous Richard Strauss recordings made in Vienna - the Youth in Karl Böhm's 1955 Die Frau ohne Schatten and the Innkeeper in three later recordings of Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Solti, Bernstein and Karajan. He also made recordings of several major roles in German, including Rodolfo and Alfredo.