Josef Tichatschek

Josef AloysTichatschek (11 July 1807 – 18 January 1886), originally Ticháček, was a Bohemian opera singer highly regarded by Richard Wagner. He created the title roles in Wagner's operas Rienzi and Tannhäuser.

As the first of the great Wagnerian tenors, he effectively was the original Heldentenor, although it is unlikely that his voice was as powerful as that of 20th-century Heldentenors such as Lauritz Melchior or Jon Vickers, given the smaller volume of sound produced by orchestras in his heyday.

Born in Weckelsdorf (now part of Teplice nad Metují, Náchod District, Bohemia), Tichatschek originally studied medicine, but he abandoned this career path for professional singing. He received voice lessons in Vienna from the Italian tenor Giuseppe Ciccimarra (1790–1836) and joined the chorus of the Kärntnertortheater in 1830. He advanced to chorus-inspector, and began to take small solo roles. Rising to the status of principal tenor, he worked first at Graz before returning to Vienna. In 1837, he became principal tenor at Dresden, a major music centre, where he remained until 1870. He sang in London, at Drury Lane, in 1841, performing the roles of Adolar in Weber's Euryanthe and as Meyerbeer's Robert le diable. At Dresden, he was coached by his famous colleague Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, and there created the roles of Rienzi in 1842 and of Tannhäuser in 1845.

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