Biography
Alfred Jerger (Brno, 9 June 1889 - Vienna, 18 Nov 1976) was an Austrian bass-baritone.
After studying musicology and conducting at the Vienna Music Academy under Albert Fuchs , Hermann Grädener and Gutheil, he joined the staff of the Zürich Opera in 1913 ; he conducted operetta performances, worked as an actor, and in 1917 sang Lothario in Mignon. That year he so impressed Richard Strauss with his performance as Baron Ochs that he was invited to join the Munich Hofoper (1919), and after two seasons moved to Vienna. In all, he sang some 150 roles with the Vienna Staatsoper from 1920 until he retired in 1964 , and in addition he was active as a producer (Vienna, Oslo, Spain and Covent Garden – Der Rosenkavalier, 1960 ) and as a reviser of librettos. For two decades Jerger was a remarkably versatile singer at Vienna (Don Giovanni and Leporello, Sachs and Beckmesser, Méphistophélès, Scarpia, the Grand Inquisitor and King Philip II ; he was also very successful in the title role of Ernst Krenek 's Jonny spielt auf, and for many years his Pizarro and his Mozart roles were familiar at the Salzburg Festival). In 1924 he created the Man in Arnold Schoenberg 's Die glückliche Hand. He was a renowned Strauss singer – Storch, Barak, John the Baptist, Orestes, Ochs and other parts; at Dresden in 1933 he created the role of Mandryka in Arabella, a part he sang at Covent Garden in 1934 . At the end of World War II Jerger was appointed temporary director of the Vienna Staatsoper and was largely responsible for its being able to perform Le nozze di Figaro as early as May 1945. In 1947 he became a professor at the Vienna Music Academy (among his pupils was Leonie Rysanek ), and at 80 he sang the Notary in Georg Solti's Der Rosenkavalier recording. Between the wars Jerger made a series of fine recordings.
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