Background
Max Alvary was born on May 3, 1856, in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was the son of the painter Andreas Achenbach, over whose initial objections he pursued his singing career.
Max Alvary was born on May 3, 1856, in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was the son of the painter Andreas Achenbach, over whose initial objections he pursued his singing career.
He received his musical education in Frankfurt am Main with the famous teacher Julius Stockhausen and in Milan with the equally famous Francesco Lamperti.
He had a fine dramatic voice and a handsome stage presence and speedily made a reputation in Germany in the leading roles in Wagnerian opera.
From 1885 onwards he also appeared in America and England. On November 9, 1887, Alvary appeared as the title character in the United States premiere of Wagner's Siegfried at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Vividly embodying Siegfried's youth and fiery individualism, the tenor created a sensation and became an idol of New York operagoers until his departure in 1889. In 1892, his performances as Tristan and Siegfried at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, aroused great enthusiasm.
In October 1894, he was seriously injured in a fall while rehearsing Siegfried at Mannheim and never fully recovered; he retired from the stage in 1897. Alvary died in Großtabarz, Thuringia, Germany, in 1898.