Friedrich Schorr was born on September 2, 1888, in the Hungarian city of Nagyvarád, which at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. He spent his childhood in Vienna, where his father served as cantor at the Polish Synagogue. In 1912, Schorr made his debut in Graz, in the role of Wotan. From 1916 until 1918 he was engaged at the German Theater in Prague. Engaged in Cologne in 1918 at the instigation of Otto Klemperer, Schorr went to the Berlin State Opera in 1923 and appeared regularly as a guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Covent Garden Opera in London. Between 1925 and 1931, audiences at the Bayreuth Festival saw Schorr in the role of Wotan, though his Jewish ancestry was met with disapproval even then. Winifred Wagner later recalled that Hitler himself canceled his plans to attend the festival in 1927, considering it an affront that, as he put it, “a member of the race that is causing our racial, political, moral, and artistic downfall is here singing Wotan.”
Schorr stopped performing in Germany after the Nazis came to power in 1933, instead going to the German Theater in Prague and the State Opera in Vienna, both common destinations for exiled Jewish artists. But the annexation of Austria soon made this impossible as well, and so the singer fled to the United States in 1938. He knew early on from the vitriolic reviews what awaited him. In June of 1933, the Zeitschrift für Musik wrote the following: “In a new guest appearance in the role of Hans Sachs, Friedrich Schorr proves to be a deft performer, effective through pointed diction and sophisticated, yet almost cliché piano singing. Alongside such a naturally genuine and poetic Evchen, as embodied by Lotte Lehmann, the exaggerated artificiality of his manner is alienating.”
Schorr celebrated a series of triumphant successes in exile at the New York Metropolitan Opera, giving 356 performances in 18 roles, including Jochanaan, Orest, Pizarro, Gunther, Telramund, Amfortas, Wotan, and Hans Sachs. He retired from the stage in 1943 and was named director of the Manhattan School of Music. Friedrich Schorr died on August 14, 1953, in Farmington, Connecticut.
1888 Nagyvarád
1953 Farmington, Connecticut