In fernem Land

Leo Slezak (b. 18 August 1873, Šumperk, Czech Republic; d. 1 June 1946, Rottach-Egern, Germany), tenor. Leo Slezak joined the Vienna Court Opera in 1901. He soon rose to become an audience favourite and one of the most sought-after members of the ensemble. Although the two men criticised each other on numerous occasions, the overall relationship between Slezak and Mahler during the latter’s tenure as director must have been very strong, because Mahler cast Slezak in several premieres. Slezak starred on many opening nights, including as Raoul in Giacomo Meyerbeer’s The Huguenots on 29 October 1902; as Eleazar in Jacques Fromental Halévy’s The Jewess on 13 October 1903 (a performance that also featured Förster-Lauterer, Hesch, Preuss and Elizza); as Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte on 24 November 1905 (alongside Hesch, Kurz, Hilgermann, Demuth, and Gutheil-Schoder) and Belmonte in Mozart’s Seraglio on 29 January 1906 (alongside Hesch, Kurz, Hilgermann, Demuth, and Gutheil-Schoder). Leo Slezak also dedicated a chapter to Gustav Mahler in his memoirs, which includes plenty of anecdotes, liberally sprinkled with humorous embellishments. “These Mozart cycles, Il Seraglio, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Fidelio, The Huguenots, The Jewess, all the restagings – they were the source of so many ideas in rehearsals! Every comment [Mahler made] was a gift for the rest of your life. […] His approach to work got absolutely everything out of the singer. The atmosphere was generally very jolly and cheerful, but when Hesch, Demuth and I were standing on stage performing Mozart, with Mahler on the podium, everyone went around in silence, completely preoccupied with the thought that things might not go exactly to plan. If everything worked out well, Mahler would be barely recognisable afterwards; he’d come up to us on the stage and hand out Zwanzigheller coins [a Heller was worth 1/100th of an Austro-Hungarian Krone].” Slezak was more than a little nervous at his first audition, too. As he put it, “Here I was, this chap from Brno, standing on the stage with my knees shaking [and I sang ...] Lohengrin – ‘Heil, König Heinrich...’ Before I had even started, a voice screamed at me from the darkened stalls: ‘Just to get one thing clear, if you mess me around, you will be out on your ear!’ These tender words of encouragement came from director Mahler himself. I blacked out at that point.” Despite this tough initiation into Mahler’s working methods, Slezak’s respect for him as a conductor and as an artist shone through, as the following extract shows: “In May [1911], when I came back from America, I went to visit [Mahler] in the Löw sanatorium in Vienna. It was too late. I was not allowed to see him by that point. He died that very night. If I was ever unfair towards him, I beg forgiveness. Today, only one feeling remains in my memory – that of the most heartfelt gratitude.”