Hensel, Heinrich

Opera singer (tenor)

Born: 29.10.1874 in Haardt (Neustadt/Weinstraße)

died: 23.02.1935 in Hamburg

Hensel received his training in Vienna and Frankfurt am Main, made his debut in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1897 and, after an engagement in Frankfurt (1900), joined the theater in Wiesbaden in 1907. He left the city in 1912 to become the leading heldentenor in Hamburg (1912-29).

Jens Malte Fischer writes in his book "Große Stimmen" about the tenor Hensel: "Heinrich Hensel's recordings of the Grail Narrative and the Farewell to the Swan from "Lohengrin" can be heard, and one can enjoy an effortlessly flowing, nobly timbred, youthful Heldentenor. (...) There is no doubt that Hensel would make a world career today, in his time he did not get beyond Wiesbaden and Hamburg". Although Hensel was not a permanent member of the ensembles of the Berlin or Vienna opera houses, he was a regular guest at these theaters as well as at Covent Garden London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and in Bayreuth.

He was unable to gain a foothold on the major stages; this may have been due to the fact that he was not an easy-care ensemble member. Engaged as a lyric tenor in Wiesbaden in 1907, he soon demanded to be used only as a heldentenor, which led to constant disputes with the artistic director. He even dared not take on the role of the Baron in Lortzing's "Wildschütz" in a "Kaiservorstellung", and requests for leave were not granted due to his commitments here. As a result, he sued the artistic director Kurt von Mutzenbecher. When this claim was rejected, he sued the Emperor, arguing that he had not been hired by the artistic director as a person, but by the directorate, which was directly subordinate to the imperial cultural authorities. The latter therefore had to decide.

When he was not granted leave to Amsterdam, he asked to be dismissed. However, after some amicable persuasion from Mutzenbecher, he remained with the Wiesbaden audience, who adored him, until 1912. In 1914, after the work was released in Wiesbaden, he was the first Parsifal that he had already sung in Bayreuth, London and Brussels.