Opera Singer. A bass, he shall be remembered primarily for his Wagnerian interpretations. Born at Wipperfurth he was raised in the Rhine region of Germany, received his musical training at Wiesbaden and Cologne, and won several local competitions prior to his 1954 professional bows at Krefeld and in the chorus of Wagner's Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Crass became a company member at Hannover in 1956 and was gradually to build his repertoire of Wagnerian roles including Heinrich der Vogler on "Lohengrin", Fasolt from "Das Rheingold", King Marke in "Tristan und Isolde", Gurnemanz from "Parsifal", and the title lead of "The Flying Dutchman", as well as Sarastro in Mozart's "The Magic Flute", the four villains of Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann", Rocco in Beethoven's "Fidelio", and the Commendatore who comes back from the hereafter to take the lead of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" to hell. He made his 'formal' bow at Bayreuth in 1959 as Heinrich, appeared at Cologne in the early 1960s, and over the following two decades was designated Kammersanger and earned praise at Hamburg, Vienna, Covent Garden London, Munich, La Scala Milano, Tokyo, and elsewhere. Not confining himself to opera he was a noted oratorio singer in such pieces as Bach's Mass in B-minor, Handel's "Messiah", and the Brahms and Mozart Requiems. His time onstage ended by the sudden onset of hearing problems in 1981, Crass was to begin a second long career as a respected teacher. At his death much of his quite large recorded legacy remained available.
Opera Singer. A bass, he shall be remembered primarily for his Wagnerian interpretations. Born at Wipperfurth he was raised in the Rhine region of Germany, received his musical training at Wiesbaden and Cologne, and won several local competitions prior to his 1954 professional bows at Krefeld and in the chorus of Wagner's Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Crass became a company member at Hannover in 1956 and was gradually to build his repertoire of Wagnerian roles including Heinrich der Vogler on "Lohengrin", Fasolt from "Das Rheingold", King Marke in "Tristan und Isolde", Gurnemanz from "Parsifal", and the title lead of "The Flying Dutchman", as well as Sarastro in Mozart's "The Magic Flute", the four villains of Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann", Rocco in Beethoven's "Fidelio", and the Commendatore who comes back from the hereafter to take the lead of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" to hell. He made his 'formal' bow at Bayreuth in 1959 as Heinrich, appeared at Cologne in the early 1960s, and over the following two decades was designated Kammersanger and earned praise at Hamburg, Vienna, Covent Garden London, Munich, La Scala Milano, Tokyo, and elsewhere. Not confining himself to opera he was a noted oratorio singer in such pieces as Bach's Mass in B-minor, Handel's "Messiah", and the Brahms and Mozart Requiems. His time onstage ended by the sudden onset of hearing problems in 1981, Crass was to begin a second long career as a respected teacher. At his death much of his quite large recorded legacy remained available.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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