Friedrich Grußendorf

A reviewer of a Lohengrin performance in 1875 in Kiel wrote

Mr. Grußendorf introduced himself nicely with a soft and deeply felt Nun sei bedankt, mein lieber Schwan. He knew how to keep up the house's positive sentiment until the end. However, it seemed to us that in some instances, like in the third act during the narration In fernem Land, he saved his strength to some extent, in order to be more brilliant in the finale.

Grußendorf had good reasons to sing that way: he had stepped in for the announced Rudolf Engelhardt on such short notice that his name was not even spelled right on the playbill. Also, he had started singing Lohengrin only a few months back in Danzig. Grußendorf was already well-known as a helden and buffo tenor, when he arrived in Freiburg in 1879 to sing in the local premiere of Rienzi on 18 March 1880. In 1881 he was back in Danzig (where he came from), he went to Zürich in 1883, then in 1884 to the Court Theater of Neustrelitz. After an heldentenor career of 17 years, he retired in 1892 in Trier.

Source: Einhard Luther, So viel der Helden. Biographie eines Stimmfaches, Teil 3: Wagnertenöre der Kaiserzeit (1871–1918), Berlin 2006