Goritz was born in 1872 in Berlin, Germany. Trained only by his mother, Olga Neilitz Goritz, Goritz debuted as Matteo in
"Fra Diavolo" in 1895 at the Court Theatre in
Neustrelitz, then sang at opera houses in
Breslau and
Hamburg. In 1903, Goritz immigrated to the United States, where he sang with the
Metropolitan Opera in
New York City from 1903 to 1917. He performed in 25 roles at the Metropolitan, 24 of them in German and 1 in Italian. After the USA entered
World War I in 1917, the Metropolitan Opera suspended performances of works from the German repertory. Goritz was either fired or forced to resign from the Met after having been rumored to have sung a parody celebrating the 1915 sinking of the at a New Year's Eve party hosted by Met soprano
Johanna Gadski in 1916 (Gadski also was forced out of the Met around the same time due to the war and her German links). Goritz nevertheless remained in New York City. In late 1919, he organized the Star Opera Company and tried to stage German operas in German at the Lexington Opera House in New York City. After the American Legion gathered 23,000 signatures in protest and a riot broke out on opening night, the company was forced to disband. In 1920, Goritz returned to Germany, where he continued to sing with the
Hamburg State Opera. He died on April 13, 1929, in
Hamburg. ==Recordings==