Mann, Josef (1883 - 1921)

Tenor (Austria-Hungary)

Josef Mann in Tannhäuser from Wagner (Motisi collection)

While working in a law firm, Josef Mann took singing lessons, hobnobbed with opera singers, gave concerts and amateur performances, and dreamed of a career on the stage. amateur performances, and dreamed of a career on the stage.

He finally made his official tenor debut in Lviv on October 25, 1909 as "Jontek" in Stanisław Moniuszko's Halka. By 1912, he was engaged at the Volksoper in Vienna, and several other European stages were soon holding out their arms to him. As the ultimate accolade, the Metropolitan Opera of New York offered him a contract to replace Caruso, who had retired from the stage due to serious illness. But fate decided otherwise. Six weeks before leaving for America, Mann collapsed on stage after the second act of Aida, suffering a heart attack.

Josef Mann's recordings, despite the incipient technology of the early ^20th century, allow us to measure the talent of this forgotten tenor.

Discover the artist's world through various documents: each image opens the door to one of his interpretations, his portraits in civilian clothes, his autographs or press articles about him from the period