Hans Erl


Hans Tobias Erl was a German operatic bass.

Professional career

He began his actual career in the theatre during the 1908-1909 season at the Raimund-Theater in Vienna, after already having sung in the world premiere performance of Oscar Straus' operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen at the Wiener Carl-Theater in 1904. Further engagements were at the Stadttheater Augsburg, the Stadttheater Elberfeld, and the Stadttheater Chemnitz. In 1918 he began a fifteen-year engagement with the Frankfurt Opera as the first bass, where he became one of the ensemble's best known singers. He was dismissed from the Opera on 11 June 1933.
His repertoire included the major basso profondo roles, and the major Wagner bass roles. He sang the role of the King in the world premiere performance of Franz Schreker's Der Schatzgräber.

Holocaust

Being a Jew, he was fired from the Frankfurt Opera in 1933. The Jews were forced to gather in the Festhalle Frankfurt and Erl was forced to sing "In Diesen Heilgen Hallen". He was deported in 1942 and died in Auschwitz.