Anton Arnold

Born in Weißkirchen, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, Arnold studied with Paul Greiff and Laura Hilgermann. His debut took place in 1909 at the Stadttheater in Olomouc. Further stations of his career were Teplitz-Schönau, Regensburg and Dortmund and from 1914 the Breslau Opera house. After an engagement at the k.k. priv. Carltheater in Vienna, he finally belonged to the Vienna Court Opera (later Vienna State Opera).

Arnold also performed in his hometown Bela Crkva. In return for his concert tours in the USA after the First World War, he provided the charity of the Viennese Swabian Society with 16 million Kronen[1] for children in need.[2] After the end of the war Arnold owned and directed the German-language theatre in Timișoara for a short time.

He appeared only once at the Salzburg Festival where he impersonated Balthasar Zorn in the 1938 performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. In the movie Unsterbliche Melodien[3] (1936), he took over the leading role of the waltz king Johann Strauss, but since Jerger also offered singing parts in it, the movie was not considered appropriate. In 1945 the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera provisionally made him artistic director. In 1947 he took over a professorship at the Vienna Music Academy.

In 1919 Arnold created the figure of the Hunchback in the world premiere of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten.[4]

Arnold had three children, including the physician and pianist Gottfried Eduard Arnold. Arnold died in Vienna at age 74.

• K. J. Kutsch, Leo Riemens: Großes Sängerlexikon. Unchanged edition. K. G. Saur, Bern, 1993, third supplementary volume, Sp. 31, ISBN 3-907820-70-3

• Performances with Anton Arnold on Wiener-staatsoper
• Anton Arnold discography at Discogs