Hopf, Hans

Hans Hopf (August 2, 1916, Nuremberg – June 25, 1993, Munich) was a German operatic tenor, one of the leading heldentenors of the immediate postwar period. He sang Walther von Stolzing in the Bayreuth Festival's Die Meistersinger, in 1951 and again in 1952. He would also sing Siegfried at Bayreuth from 1960–1963. He studied in Munich with Paul Bender, and made his stage debut with a touring opera ensemble, as Pinkerton, in 1936. He then sang in Augsburg (1939–42), Dresden (1942–43), and Oslo (1943–44). He joined the Berlin State Opera in 1946, and the Munich State Opera, in 1949. He appeared in Bayreuth in 1951, as Walther, returning as Siegmund, Siegfried (in 1960), Tannhäuser, and Parsifal (in 1952). At Bayreuth in 1951 he took part in a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. He sang Max at the Salzburg Festival in 1954. He made guest appearances in Milan, London, New York, and Buenos Aires. He sang both Siegfrieds in the early 1960s at Bayreuth, the Met, and elsewhere, recording Tannhäuser twice in 1960. A singer with a sturdy and reliable voice, Hopf also won acclaim in a number of non-Wagnerian operas notably Verdi's Otello, and the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten.