Born in
Cologne Suthaus was a
stonemason's apprentice when his singing talent was first discovered. He subsequently started his voice studies at the age of seventeen in his hometown of Cologne. His teacher, Julius Lenz, originally mistook him for a
baritone, but in 1928 Suthaus debuted as a tenor in
Aachen in the role of
Walther von Stolzing in
Richard Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. From 1932 to 1941, he was engaged in
Stuttgart, but was fired in 1942 because he would not join the
Nazi party. Suthaus subsequently got a new contract at the
Berlin State Opera. After the war, in 1949, he switched from the State Opera - now based in
East Berlin - to the
"Städtische Oper" which was based in West Berlin, and remained a member of that company until the end of his career. Since the end of the forties, Suthaus appeared regularly at the
Vienna State Opera and as guest at the
Royal Opera House Covent Garden,
La Scala, in
Paris, Stuttgart, the
Bavarian State Opera in Munich, in
San Francisco and at
Hamburg State Opera. Beginning in 1943, he regularly appeared at the
Bayreuth Festival where he sang Loge in
Das Rheingold, Siegmund in
Die Walküre and Walther von Stolzing in
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, which was recorded (1943),
Hermann Abendroth conducting. Suthaus was one of
Wilhelm Furtwängler's favorite singers toward the end of Furtwängler's life. With Furtwängler, Suthaus sang (Berlin, 1947) and recorded
Tristan und Isolde (1952);
Der Ring des Nibelungen as Siegfried (1953); and
Die Walküre as Siegmund (1954) (Furtwängler's last opera recording). He had to quit his career suddenly after a car accident, and died in Berlin at 64 years of age. == Voice ==