Arti musices, Vol. 42 No. 2, 2011.
Pregledni rad
Franjo Stazić (1824-1911) - The First Professional Croatian Opera Singer? On the 100th Anniversary of His Death
Marija Barbieri
; Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Franz Steger, whose name Dimitrija Demeter Croatianised into Franjo Stazić (for the German der Steg is translated as staza in Croatian and in English as pathway), was born on December 3, 1824 in Szentendre (Hungary). At the age of 20 he came to Zagreb and to Vatroslav Lisinski. The first-ever performance of the first Croatian opera Love and Malice by Lisinski, on March 28, 1846, marked the beginning of the great career of the first professional Croatian opera singer, Franjo Stazić. He had in fact already made his debut on January 10, 1846, as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
Stazić left for Vienna, where he began to perform in public and to learn singing professionally. Subsequently he went to Pest and changed his name to Ferenc Stéger, or, as later cited, Xavér Ferenc Stéger. From 1848 until 1874, when he retired from the stage, he made regular appearances in Budapest, either as guest or as a regular member of the company, in the National Theatre there or in the German Theatre. After four years he went to Prague, where he became František Steger. In 1853, now Franz Steger, he became a member and one of the principals of the Court Opera in Vienna, taking the most difficult roles in the tenor repertoire. He remained there until 1871, either as a permanent member of the company or guest singer. With his wonderful voice that had the power and lustre of the heroic tenor, with brilliant high notes — he sang the high C in his chest voice, and with a sure vocal technique and suggestive interpretation he was easily able to master a very broad and diverse repertoire, from the lyrical Elvino in La Sonnambula to the dramatic Eleazar in La Juive. He was a master of all the possible embellishments, his intonation was pure, diction exemplary and vocal intelligence well developed. He was thus able to impart conviction on the stage to all his characters. In Zagreb in 1858, now with a European reputation, Stazić sang with enormous success in Ernani, Il Trovatore and Lucia di Lammermoor.
He made guest appearance in many great European theatres, and was the first Croatian singer to appear at La Scala, where he was known as Francesco Steger. He died in his native Szentendre on March 1, 1911.
It is clear from Stazić’s memoirs that he was of German descent; but it is also very obvious that he spoke Croatian from childhood and felt himself a Croat. Ludwig Eisenberg’s Great Biographical Lexicon of the German Stage in the 19th century considers him a Croat and Croatia his homeland, even claiming that Stazić is his real surname.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
85694
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.11.2011.
Posjeta: 1.868 *