Alfred Lange

Alfred Lange obviously never sang on stage, at least not as a soloist; I found references to him exclusively as a concert singer, and they're all from a very short period. On December 16th, 1921, he gave a lieder recital in Berlin at the Schwechtensaal, with Bruno Seidler-Winkler at the piano; it was less than favorably reviewed in the influential music magazine "Signale für die musikalische Welt":

Tenor Alfred Lange causes no surprise vocally, neither good nor bad. With his somewhat brittle voice, he achieves nonetheless quite respectable results. He resorts to the common vocal technique of using chest voice also in the upper register, as soon as forte notes are required. Logically, this involves considerable muscular tension and forceful pushing. Hence the throaty and palatal sounds of many voices, which often go as far as screaming the acuti. If with Alfred Lange and a few others, those shortcomings are less troubling, that's still no point in favor of that method of singing.

On January 23rd, 1922, Lange recorded his only two sides (see and hear above). On February 25th, his second lieder recital, again at the Schwechtensaal and again with Seidler-Winkler. On May 2nd, he performed Schubert's Schwanengesang at the Klindworth-Scharwenkasaal in Berlin, again with Seidler-Winkler at the piano. And at some unknown date in that same spring 1922, the "very promising artist" gave his successful first concert in Bielefeld.

And no more mentions of Lange are to be found – which would seem to make his one of the shortest careers ever.

Reference 1: Signale für die musikalische Welt, 21 December 1921; reference 2: Führer durch die Konzertsäle Berlins, 2. Jg./Nr. 24; reference 3: Führer durch die Konzertsäle Berlins, 2. Jg./Nr. 35; reference 4: Signale für die musikalische Welt, 27 September 1922

Many thanks to Anton Bieber for the recording and label scans.