He had his first contract in Bielsko/Bielitz in 1909/10; the next two seasons, he was at the Volksoper of his native Vienna.
At the
Stadttheater Hamburg since 1912, he was the foremost comprimario there, though he
occasionally sang main roles like Manrico and Tannhäuser. He sang 145 parts in Hamburg
(Domingo, beware!), in more than 4,000 performances.
Born Jewish, he was (though long converted to catholicism) forced to
retire in 1933, and sang with the Jüdischer Kulturbund (the association where the Nazis allowed Jewish artists and Jewish
spectators to continue cultural life, albeit on a very small scale) in Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt. Later on, he lived in
Berlin and had to do forced labor in a carpenter shop; he wasn't deported because his wife was not Jewish, so he survived the
Nazi reign although he stayed in Berlin all the time.
After WWII ended, he worked for the Berlin radio as a presenter and singer. Eventually, he went back to Hamburg
and appeared again at the Hamburg opera in 1948 and 1949.
Reference and picture source
