Otakar Kraus

Otakar Kraus was born in Prague in December 1909 and studied at the Prague Conservatory and in Milan with Fernando Carpi. He made his début at the Brno State Opera in 1935 and held appointments at the Bratislava and Brno opera houses through the late 1930s until the German occupation of Czechoslovakia forced his emigration to England in 1940.

He joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1941, became a founding member of the Glyndebourne Festival’s post-war reopening in 1946, and was appointed a principal baritone at Covent Garden in 1951 — a position he held for over twenty years. His central roles were the comic and character baritone parts of the standard Italian, Mozart and Strauss repertoire — Beckmesser in *Die Meistersinger*, the Music Master in *Ariadne auf Naxos*, Alberich in the *Ring* cycle (a role for which he was particularly admired and which he sang regularly at Covent Garden, Bayreuth and Vienna), the Doctor in *Wozzeck*, and Nick Shadow in the world premiere of Stravinsky’s *The Rake’s Progress* at La Fenice in 1951. He also created the role of King Fisher in the world premiere of Tippett’s *The Midsummer Marriage* (1955) and parts in works by Britten and Maw. He taught extensively at the Royal Opera House, with John Tomlinson, Donald McIntyre and Stafford Dean among his pupils.

Kraus was appointed CBE in 1973 and died in London in July 1980. Music Preserved’s archive includes a range of his Wagner and contemporary work at Covent Garden.