Schwarz, Joseph, 1880-1926

Joseph M. Schwarz (10 October 1880 – 10 November 1926) was a Russian-born German baritone. He pursued a performance career against the wishes of his parents, running away from home as a teenager to join a band of traveling minstrels. He later trained at the Vienna Conservatory and had an active international performance career in operas and concerts during the first quarter of the twentieth century. After making his professional opera debut as Amonasro in Verdi's Aida at the Linz State Theatre in 1900, Schwarz worked as a resident artist at first the Rigaer Stadttheater and then the Graz Opera and Mariinsky Theatre. In 1906 he returned to Vienna to join the roster of artists at the Vienna Volksoper before being committed to the Vienna State Opera from 1909 to 1915. From 1915 to 1921 he was a principal artist at the Berlin State Opera, and from 1921 to 1925 he sang with the Chicago Opera Association and its predecessor the Chicago Civic Opera. He also appeared as a guest artist with several opera houses, including the Paris Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Royal Opera House in London. Alcoholism impacted Schwarz's voice during the latter part of his career and he died in Berlin in 1926. His voice is preserved on several recordings made during the first two decades of the twentieth century for a variety of record labels, including Zonophone, Pathé Records, and Deutsche Grammophon. He should not be confused with bass Joseph E. Schwarz who had a career at the Prague State Opera.