Leo Slezak

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Leo Slezak

Leo Slezak , 1873-1946, Czech tenor, pupil of Jean de Reszke. After his debut as Lohengrin at Brno in 1896, he sang in Vienna, Berlin, and later at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City (1909-12). He was famous for his robust voice and physique, and he had a flamboyant sense of humor.

Bibliography: See his memoirs (1928, tr. 1937); biography by his son, the actor Walter Slezak (1962).

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Slezak, Leo

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Slezak, Leo (b Krásná Hora, 1873; d Egern am Tegernsee, 1946). Austro-Cz. tenor. Sang in ch. of Brno Opera, making début there 1896 as Lohengrin. Berlin Royal Opera 1898–9. Engaged by Mahler for Vienna Opera 1901, remaining until 1927. Débuts: CG 1900; La Scala 1905; NY Met 1909. Sang Herman in Amer. première of Queen of Spades under Mahler, 1910. Fine Lieder singer. On retirement wrote several books (incl. autobiography Songs of Motley, NY 1938) and appeared in Austrian films as comedian.

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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Slezak, Leo." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 23 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Slezak, Leo." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (December 23, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-SlezakLeo.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Slezak, Leo." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved December 23, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-SlezakLeo.html

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	Classical.(Features) Newspaper article from: Daily Post (Liverpool, England); 3/4/2005; 700+ words ; ...feature Caruso, Gigli, Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber, Leo Slezak and Joseph Schmidt. Friends and colleagues recall the...big success after the second world war. The avuncular Leo Slezak turned to operetta in his later life, to the dismay...
	RECORDINGS; Great Voices for Christmas: Enrico Caruso in Toto Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 12/2/1990; ; 700+ words ; ...The Art of Frida Leider" (89301, three CDs) and "Leo Slezak" (89020). Both were noted Wagnerians, but Preiser shows other dimensions of their art as well: Slezak is very impressive in Verdi and other music of the early...
	Opera has something for everybodytragedy, drama and the odd swan Newspaper article from: The Sunday Telegraph London; 2/1/2009; ; 700+ words ; ...disaster. There is a wonderful story about the tenor Leo Slezak who during a performance of Wagner's Lohengrin missed...early. As he watched the bird disappear into the wings Slezak turned to the audience and asked, 'When does the next...
	Confessions of an Opera Lover Magazine article from: Opera News; 2/1/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...eminence Mary Ellis Peltz. My favorite quiz, on a Meistersinger matinee, featured actor Walter Slezak, son of the famous Wagnerian tenor Leo Slezak. Professionally a comic player, Junior was an outright zany when off script, and he tore the...
	An Opera Miscellany Magazine article from: Musical Opinion; 3/1/2008; ; 534 words ; ...dip in and out at leisure. My favourite tells of tenor Leo Slezak in Lohengrin. He watches aghast as the swan boat in which...the instigation of an over-enthusiastic stagehand. Slezak's legendary response was to sing, in German, "What...
	From the absurd to the supreme Magazine article from: The Spectator; 10/21/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...speak for themselves: Michael O'Kelly, who sang for Mozart and worshipped `the little man', as he called him, Leo Slezak and Galina Vishnevskaya of the Bolshoi. The itch to rejig someone else's anthology is a well-known psychological...
	In review: Vienna Magazine article from: Opera News; 3/1/1999; ; 700+ words ; ...Court) Opera, Rossini's Guillaume Tell was a favorite with Viennese audiences -- especially when such tenors as Leo Slezak could cope with the heights of Arnold. (Even Karl Terkal was able to provide the requisite animal thrill at the last...
	LILLI LEHMANN Magazine article from: Fanfare; 1/1/2009; ; 700+ words ; ...acoustic era with equal enthusiasm. Now I only have seven in my collection: Caruso (who doesn't?), Emma Calv, Leo Slezak, Lehmann, Johanna Gadski, Mattia Battistini, and John Forsell; and of them all, it is Lehma
	Singing Saved His Life... Magazine article from: Opera News; 2/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...is such a big sound.' Instead, you hear the music." Botha is forthcoming when questioned about looking more like Leo Slezak or Lauritz Melchior than some of today's matinee-idol tenors. "Sometimes I feel I am fighting a losing batde...
	German Brno.(theme) Magazine article from: Czech Music; 4/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...was under his auspices that the Ring cycle was first staged as a whole in Brno. Aman also discovered the famous tenor Leo Slezak and the baritone Rudolf Berger. The core of the opera repertoire continued to consist of German music. Only at the...