Opera Scotland

Peter Anders Suggest updates

Born Essen, 1 July 1908.

Died Hamburg, 10 September 1954.

German tenor.

While Mozart and other lyric roles dominated the early stages of his career, in the post-war period Anders began to give attractively lyrical and well-acted performances of more dramatic music, and quickly became a favourite at the Edinburgh Festival. His premature death following a road accident was seen as a great loss to the art.

Anders studied with Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, and made his debut in 1931 at the Berlin State Opera in a production of La Belle Hélène directed by Max Reinhardt. Through the thirties he worked at Heidelberg, Darmstadt, Cologne, Hanover and Berlin.

After the war, Anders added Munich, Düsseldorf and Vienna. By 1949 he was singing heavier roles, including Walther von Stolzing. His work with Beecham included his British debut in Ariadne at Edinburgh, and, in 1951, performances of Die Meistersinger at Covent Garden, where he also sang Florestan.

At the time of his death Anders was a member of the Hamburg company, and had recently had great success as Siegmund, Andrea Chénier and Otello as well as in the first German performances of Aroldo.