Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld (2 July 1836 – 21 July 1865) was a German heldentenor. The son of painter Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, he was trained as a vocalist at the Kreuzschule in Dresden and the Leipzig Conservatory. He was a resident artist at the Karlsruhe Hofoper from 1854-1860, and the Semperoper in Dresden from 1860-1865.^[1]

Schnorr von Carolsfeld is best known for creating the role of Tristan in Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde at its 1865 world premiere at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich; portraying that role opposite his wife, the soprano Malvina Garrigues, as Isolde.^[2] He died tragically at the age of 29 just weeks after the premiere of this opera from a chill followed by rheumatic fever leading to an apoplexic event to which the overweight tenor succumbed.^[3] His early death created a mythos in the opera world with legend attributing his demise to the enormous exertions required of a Wagnerian heldentenor.^[4][5] While he possessed a strong voice especially suited to operatic works by Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi,^[2] he was also capable of performing repertoire more commonly associated with the lyric tenor fach.^[6]