Pataky Kálmán
voice - tenor, voice
Place of Birth
Alsólendva
Date of Birth
1896
14th November, 1896, Alsólendva - 3rd March, 1964, Los Angeles
Kálmán Pataky was born in Alsólendva in Zala County. As a child he was a promising violinist. After his secondary school training he became a professional artillery officer. At the end of World War I he was demobilized with the rank of a lieutenant and began to study singing seriously under József Gábor. He joined the Opera House company in 1921, where his first major part was the Duke of Mantua. His great successes attracted attention to him abroad, and in 1926 he became a member of the Vienna Staatsoper, where he remained for twelve seasons until the Nazi annexation of Austria. He meanwhile have guest performances in Dresden, Berlin, Munich, La Scala, Milan; and at the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. From the 1938-1939 seasin he again sang with the Hungarian Opera House. After the war he was invited to South America, but his illness prevented him repeating his earlier successes. By the end of his life he had settled in California. Pataky possessed a beautiful, soft, flexible lyric tenor voice which he projected with exceptionally sensitive, delicate shaping. His voice and character virtually predestined him for Mozart roles. Besides the parts of Belmonte, Don Ottavio, Ferrando and Tamino, he scored great success in other lyrical parts such as Lyonel, Faust, Massenet's Des Grieux, Nicolai's Fenton and Rodolfo. He also undertook some heroic roles such as Florestan, Radames, Alvaro, Cavaradossi and Turiddu, but these were somewhat foreign to his personality and the type of his voice. He was a Kammersänger of the Vienna Staatsoper and a honorary member of the Hungarian Opera House.
Kálmán Pataky was born in Alsólendva in Zala County. As a child he was a promising violinist. After his secondary school training he became a professional artillery officer. At the end of World War I he was demobilized with the rank of a lieutenant and began to study singing seriously under József Gábor. He joined the Opera House company in 1921, where his first major part was the Duke of Mantua. His great successes attracted attention to him abroad, and in 1926 he became a member of the Vienna Staatsoper, where he remained for twelve seasons until the Nazi annexation of Austria. He meanwhile have guest performances in Dresden, Berlin, Munich, La Scala, Milan; and at the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. From the 1938-1939 seasin he again sang with the Hungarian Opera House. After the war he was invited to South America, but his illness prevented him repeating his earlier successes. By the end of his life he had settled in California. Pataky possessed a beautiful, soft, flexible lyric tenor voice which he projected with exceptionally sensitive, delicate shaping. His voice and character virtually predestined him for Mozart roles. Besides the parts of Belmonte, Don Ottavio, Ferrando and Tamino, he scored great success in other lyrical parts such as Lyonel, Faust, Massenet's Des Grieux, Nicolai's Fenton and Rodolfo. He also undertook some heroic roles such as Florestan, Radames, Alvaro, Cavaradossi and Turiddu, but these were somewhat foreign to his personality and the type of his voice. He was a Kammersänger of the Vienna Staatsoper and a honorary member of the Hungarian Opera House.