Georg Becker

Little is known about Georg Becker. His name appears for the first time in 1905 in Halle, where he sang by the side of heldentenor Richard Banasch also lyrical roles. He was in Altenburg in 1906 as heldentenor, and went to Mainz in 1908. Die Musik commented in 1909:

Our opera house presented the complete Ring within 6 days. Outstanding was Hedwig Materna (Brühilde), while Georg Becker was not up to the roles of Siegmund and Siegfried.

Becker's development was faster than expected, because when he left Mainz after singing Lohengrin on April 3rd, 1910, complaints were heard that the respected tenor was going to Darmstadt.

He started in Darmstadt with his favorite role: Lohengrin. But for the public and the press, he was not a worthy successor of much respected Heinrich Spemann. In such a hostile environment, Becker could not feel at home. He was more successful when singing as a guest. In 1911 he was young Siegfried in Augsburg, received with much applause, while he had several successes in Northern Germany. A Breslau critic wrote:

Mr. Becker sang Tannhäuser. He is a worthy tenor with good acting and musical gifts. Unfortunately, his lyrical voice misses heldentenor sounds.

Becker was the successor of Alois Hadwiger in Bremen in 1915. Here he was at the high point of his career. In 1925, he went for his last season to Danzig and until 1927 was listed as a permanent guest and resident in Bremen. After 1927, we lose trace of him.

His best review was by Karl Seiffert in the Bremer Nachrichten in 1919:

The first opera performance of the season on September 1st was the 50th anniversary of Tristan und Isolde. Admirable was Georg Becker as Tristan, who was fresh until the end where he could both physically and psychologically grow in strength.
After several years, Wagner's swan song was revived in a new production. Parsifal was Georg Becker, who was in excellent voice and understood the character of the pure fool.
Georg Becker was an outstanding Tannhäuser on December 15th. The part is rarely sung so beautifully and heroically these days. The Rome narration was wisely started softly, and then brought to a highly charged emotional level.

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

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