Born 1904, Davydivka, Ukraine
Died 1942, Girenbad Internment Camp, Zurich, Switzerland
Romantic leading roles in opera are most often played by tenors. Now picture a Rodolfo who comes up to a little above Mimi’s waist! That was the problem for Joseph Schmidt, whose height at 4’11” made a stage career all but impossible. However, his compelling voice was ideal for radio, the new technology of the 1930s and 40s. On radio he could sing heroic roles and be convincing.
Vocally trained at a synagogue, he gave his first recital in 1924. In 1929 in Germany, he sang the lead role of Vasco da Gama in a radio broadcast of Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine and made a great impression in the medium which was to be his path to fame.
Schmidt sang frequently in operas and recitals on the radio, recorded widely, acted and sang in several films, toured the U.S. in 1937, and amassed a large audience for his masterful singing. He was a lyric tenor with a great top (up to D-natural above high C):
distinctive timbre, remarkable trill:
fine legato, and dazzling coloratura.
As a Jew caught in France by the German Occupation, Schmidt ran for the Swiss border and was interned in a refugee camp. His health had long been fragile, and while recovering from a throat infection, he had a heart attack and died at age 38 in 1942. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Zürich with a headstone bearing the inscription “EIN STERN FÄLLT” (A STAR FELL).