Karl Erb

Originally, he was a humble civil servant working for the city of Ravensburg, and sang in an amateur choir. When the Stuttgart State Opera gave a guest performance in Ravensburg in 1907, "his" choir took part – and the Stuttgart director discovered his voice. With hardly any vocal studies, Erb gave his debut as Matthias (Der Evangelimann by Kienzl) the same year in Stuttgart; he was 30 years old. 1908–10 in Lübeck, he returned to Stuttgart (1910–12), and went on to the Munich State Opera, where he stayed from 1912 to 1925. From 1930, he appeared only in concert (particularly in oratorio), until well after WWII, although his reputation had considerably suffered from the fact that he had been an avid Nazi.

As a lied and oratorio singer, he was perhaps even more important than in opera; he was the most famous evangelist of all times in Bach's Passions, and even Thomas Mann immortalized him in his novel Doktor Faustus (barely concealed as "Erbe"). But also on stage, he sang no less than 70 roles – a wide repertory from Belmonte and Ernesto to Tannhäuser and Siegfried in Götterdämmerung. He was Palestrina in the Munich world premiere on June 12th, 1917, and Palestrina became his most famous role. He also participated in other world premieres in Munich: Der Ring des Polykrates by Korngold (28 March 1916), Die Vögel by Walter Braunfels (4 December 1920), and Don Gil von den grünen Hosen, again by Braunfels (15 November 1924).

From 1921 to 1932, he was married to soprano Maria Ivogün.

Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens; reference 2

DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT AUBER
     Le domino noir (Massarena)
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
     Fidelio (Florestan) 
          Lübeck, Theater
          (also Erb's last opera appearance, Berlin-Charlottenburg, VI 1930)

WALTER BRAUNFELS
     Don Gil von den grünen Hosen (Don Manuel de Guzman) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper, 15 XI 1924 - WORLD PREMIERE
     Die Vögel (Hoffeguth) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

GAETANO DONIZETTI
     Don Pasquale (Ernesto) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

LEO FALL
     Die Dollarprinzessin (Freddy Wehrburg) 
          Lübeck, Theater

FRIEDRICH VON FLOTOW
     Martha (Lyonel)
          Lübeck, Theater 
     Alessandro Stradella (Alessandro Stradella)
          Lübeck, Theater

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK
     Iphigénie en Aulide (Achille)     
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater

CHARLES GOUNOD
     Faust (Faust) 
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater

WILHELM KIENZL
     Der Evangelimann (Evangelimann)
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater, 14 VI 1907

ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD
     Der Ring des Polykrates (?)
          München, Königliche Hofoper, III 1916

KONRADIN KREUTZER
     Das Nachtlager von Granada (Gomez) 
          Lübeck, Theater

ALBERT LORTZING
     Undine (Ritter Hugo)
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     Zar und Zimmermann (Chateauneuf) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

PIETRO MASCAGNI
     Cavalleria rusticana (Turiddu) 
          Lübeck, Theater

GIACOMO MEYERBEER
     Les huguenots (Raoul)
          Lübeck, Theater

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
     Die Zauberflöte (Tamino)
          Lübeck, Theater
     Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Belmonte) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     La finta giardiniera (Belfiore) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     Così fan tutte (Ferrando) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

OTTO NICOLAI
     Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Fenton) 
          Lübeck, Theater

JACQUES OFFENBACH
     Les contes d'Hoffmann (Hoffmann) 
          Lübeck, Theater

HANS PFITZNER
     Der arme Heinrich (Heinrich)
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater
     Palestrina (Palestrina) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper, 1914 - WORLD PREMIERE

GIACOMO PUCCINI
     Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     Tosca (Cavaradossi) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     La bohème (Rodolfo)
          München, Königliche Hofoper

GIACCHINO ROSSINI
     Il barbiere di Siviglia (Almaviva)
          Lübeck, Theater

MAX VON SCHILLINGS
     Der Pfeifertag (?)
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater

FRANZ SCHREKER
     Der ferne Klang (Fritz?)
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     Die Gezeichneten (Alviano)
          München, Königliche Hofoper

JOHANN STRAUSS JUN. 
     Die Fledermaus (Alfred)
          Lübeck, Theater

RICHARD STRAUSS
     Salome (Narraboth) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Ariadne auf Naxos (Bacchus)
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater, 1912

AMBROISE THOMAS
     Mignon (Wilhelm Meister) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

GIUSEPPE VERDI
     Il trovatore (Manrico) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Rigoletto (Duca) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Falstaff (Fenton) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

ADOLF VOGEL
     Maja (Buddha) 
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater

RICHARD WAGNER
     Lohengrin (Lohengrin)
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater
     Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Walther von Stolzing) 
          Stuttgart, Königliches Hoftheater
     Rheingold (Froh) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Rheingold (Loge) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     Tannhäuser (Tannhäuser) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Götterdämmerung (Siegfried) 
          Lübeck, Theater
     Parsifal (Parsifal)
          München, Königliche Hofoper, 1914 (Munich's first Parsifal)
     Der fliegende Holländer (Erik)
          München, Königliche Hofoper

CARL MARIA VON WEBER
     Oberon (Hüon)
          Wiesbaden (?)
     Euryanthe (Adolar) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper
     Der Freischütz (Max)
          München, Königliche Hofoper

HUGO WOLF
     Der Corregidor (Corregidor) 
          München, Königliche Hofoper

I wish to thank Daniele Godor for the pictures (Don Manuel, private).

I wish to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the picture (private 2) and recording.

I wish to thank Andreas Praefcke for providing the repertory of Karl Erb.

Reference: Maria Müller-Gögler: Karl Erb. Das Leben eines Sängers, 1948