Jerger, Alfred

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(b Brno, 9 June 1889; d Vienna, 18 Nov 1976). Austrian bass-baritone. After studying musicology and conducting at the Vienna Music Academy under Fuchs, Graedener and Gutheil he joined the staff of the Zürich Opera in 1913; he conducted operetta performances, worked as an actor, and in 1917 sang Lothario in Mignon. That year he so impressed Strauss with his performance as Baron Ochs that he was invited to join the Munich Hofoper (1919), and after two seasons moved to Vienna. In all, he sang some 150 roles with the Vienna Staatsoper from 1920 until he retired in 1964, and in addition he was active as a producer (Vienna, Oslo, Spain and Covent Garden – Der Rosenkavalier, 1960) and as a reviser of librettos. For two decades Jerger was a remarkably versatile singer at Vienna (Don Giovanni and Leporello, Sachs and Beckmesser, Méphistophélès, Scarpia, the Grand Inquisitor and King Philip II; he was also very successful in the title role of Krenek’s ...