Profile of Joseph Schmidt on Famous Like Me

Joseph Schmidt (March 4, 1904 – November 16, 1942) was a tenor and actor. He was born in Davideny, a small town in Austria-Hungary, later Romania and now part of Ukraine.

As a child of musical parents, young Joseph was influenced by many cultures. He learned to speak fluent Romanian, German, French and English. His first vocal training was as a classical Hebrew singer in the synagogue of nearby Czernowitz. His talents were quickly recognised and by 1924 he was featured in his first solo recital in Czernowitz singing traditional Jewish songs and arias by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Bizet. Soon he moved to Berlin and took piano and singing lessons from Professor Hermann Weissenborn. He returned to Romania for his military service and became cantor of the Czernowitz synagogue.

In 1929 he went back to Berlin, where Cornelis Bronsgeest, a famous Dutch baritone, engaged him for a radio broadcast as Vasco da Gama in Meyerbeer's L'Africaine. This was the beginning of a successful international career. Due to his diminuitive stature (he was just over 1,50 m) a stage career was impossible, however his voice was extremely well suited for radio. He made many records, especially for Odeon/Parlophone, was featured in many radio broadcasts, and acted in several movies, in both German and English.

Ironically, Joseph Schmidt enjoyed his greatest successes during the rise of the German Nazis, who subsequently prohibited Jewish artists and writers to work. In 1937, he toured the United States and performed in the Carnegie Hall together with other prominent singers such as Grace Moore. The Nazis banned him from performing in Germany and Austria, but he was still very much welcome in The Netherlands and Belgium, where he was immensely popular.

In 1939, he visited his mother in Czernowitz for the last time, and when the war broke out that year, he attempted to escape to the United States. Unfortunately, this failed and he was interned in a Swiss refugee camp in Gyrenbad in 1940. His feeble health and the harsh camp life caused his death on 16 November 1942, when he was only 38 years old.

Famous for his phenomenal high register, Joseph Schmidt could easily sing A's, B's, C's and even a high D. His warm lyrical voice was perfectly suited for the melodies of Schubert and Léhar. (Based on article by Kathryn E. Cole on Tenorland.com)

Filmography

• Joseph Schmidt Filmography from Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

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