Laubenthal, Rudolf

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Laubenthal, Rudolf

Laubenthal, Rudolf, German tenor; b.Dusseldorf, March 18, 1886; d. Pöcking, Starnberger See, Oct. 2, 1971. At first he studied medicine in Munich and Berlin; simultaneously took vocal lessons with Lilli Lehmann. In 1913 he made his debut in Berlin at the Deutsches Opernhaus, and sang there regularly; from 1919 to 1923 he also was engaged by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on Nov. 9, 1923; continued on the company’s roster until 1933; he also sang with the Covent Garden Opera in London (1926–30) and made guest appearances in Chicago and San Francisco. In 1937 he retired from the operatic stage. He was primarily noted as a Wagnerian.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire