Ivar F. Andresen
Ivar Frithiof Andresen (Kristiania, July 27 1896 - Stockholm, November 6, 1940) was a Norwegian opera singer who pursued a successful international career.
By some called "the voice of the [20th] century", Andresen was the first Norwegian to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A bass, he is considered by music critics to be one of the best Wagner interpreters of the past 100 years. He also appeared successfully in operas composed by Mozart and Verdi.
After making his debut in Stockholm in 1919, Andresen worked at Kungliga Teatern (now Kungliga Operan, or Royal Swedish Opera), from 1921 to 1926. He then performed at the Dresden Opera Dresden. (1926-31), the Deutsche Opernhaus, Berlin (1931-35), and also appeared as a guest singer at the New York Met (1930-32) and the Bayreuth (1927-31). In England, he appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1928-31 and at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1935.
Regrettably, he developed a drinking problem and died in Sweden at the age of 44.
He left a legacy of 78-rpm gramophone recordings which have been re-issued on CD and which display the power, resonance and dark timbre of his voice to impressive effect. Today, in Norway, he is probably best known for adorning the box of the cough-drop brand "IFA", produced by the Nidar company. Since the 1930s, Andresen's face has been seen on the package, along with a quote recommending the product to "singers, public speakers, smokers and athletes".
References
- Rosenthal, Harold and John Warrack. (1979, 2nd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN 0-19-311318-X.
- Sadie, Stanley and Christina Bashford. (1992). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 129. ISBN 0-935859-92-6.
- Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell. (2001).The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 1, p. 630. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.