Gustáv Papp
Encyclopedia
Gustáv Papp was a Slovak opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 who had an active international career during the 1940s through the 1980s. He was notably a leading artist at the Slovak National Theatre
Slovak National Theatre
The Slovak National Theatre denotes:* the oldest Slovak professional theatre consisting of 3 ensembles ,* a Neo-Renaissance theatre building in the Old Town of Bratislava, Slovakia, which formerly housed two of the theatre's ensembles , and* the theatre's large modern theatre building in...

 in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

 from 1948 through 1987. He made a number of recordings made on the Supraphon
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...

 label and also worked for many years as a medical doctor.

Biography

Born in Čierny Balog
Cierny Balog
Čierny Balog is a municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.-History:The village arose after 1882 by a merge of 13 villages...

, Papp studied medicine at the University of Bratislava and passed his medical exams, becoming a Doctor of Medicine in 1944. For many years he worked as a doctor in addition to performing. While specializing in general surgery
General surgery
General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g., intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland . They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft...

 he became increasingly interested in opera and eventually entered the Bratislava Conservatory in 1940 where he studied singing with D. Žuravlevová through 1947. He later pursued further studies at the Vienna Music Academy.

Papp made his professional opera decut in 1948 at the Slovak National Theatre
Slovak National Theatre
The Slovak National Theatre denotes:* the oldest Slovak professional theatre consisting of 3 ensembles ,* a Neo-Renaissance theatre building in the Old Town of Bratislava, Slovakia, which formerly housed two of the theatre's ensembles , and* the theatre's large modern theatre building in...

 (SNT) as Don José in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...

's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

. He returned frequently to the theatre through 1955 as a guest artist and then was a member at the house from 1955 through 1987. His extensive stage repertoire at the SNT encompassed mainly heroic tenor roles from the Italian and German repertories and a total of 21 Slovak opera roles. He notably created roles in the world premieres of several operas by composer Ján Cikker
Ján Cikker
Ján Cikker was a Slovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovak classical music. He was awarded the title National Artist in Slovakia, the Herder Prize and the UNESCO Prize .-Life:...

, including the title roles in Juro Jánošík (1954) and Beg Bajazid (1957) and parts in Vzkriesenie (1962) and Zo života hmyzu (1987). Some of his other stage roles included Básnik in Peter Zvon's Tanec nad plačom, Ondrej Zimoň in Eugen Suchoň
Eugen Suchon
Eugen Suchoň was one of the greatest Slovak composers of the 20th century.-Early life:...

's Krútňava
Krútnava
Krútňava is an opera in six scenes by Eugen Suchoň written in the 1940s to a libretto by the composer and Štefan Hoza, based on a novella, Za vyšným mlynom by Milo Urban...

, Prince Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuysky in Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...

's Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...

, and the title role Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...

's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....

.

On the international stage Papp was a member at the opera house in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany from 1960-1966. He also portrayed a number Wagnerian
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 heroes as a guest artist at the Semperoper
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...

 in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

. He was highly esteemed concert singer and gave successful concert tours throughout Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

. In 1966 he was awarded the USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....

 and in 1968 he was named a Meritorious Artist
Meritorious Artist
Meritorious Artist , also translated as Merited Artist, Deserved Artist or Distinguished Artist or Honorary Artist or Honorable Actor) is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Russian Federation, Union republics, and Autonomous republics, also in some other Eastern bloc states, as well as in a...

. In 1991 he was decorated with the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk by the State of Czechoslovakia.

After his retirement from the stage in 1987, Papp worked as a voice teacher in Bratislava for many years. He was married to Eva Pappová. He died in Bratislava.
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