Hans Buff-Gießen

Hans Buff-Gießen was a German tenor from a Hessian family that included Lotte Buff, the model for the heroine of Goethe's Werther. After briefly studying law, he trained as a singer in Dresden and took a beginner's contract at the Dresden Court Opera in 1887. He sang at the Weimar Court Theatre from 1888 to 1894, creating the Duke's Jester in the premiere of Strauss's Guntram in 1894, then moved to Wiesbaden and the Vienna Court Opera before returning to Dresden from 1899. He gave Germany's first performance of Massenet's Werther in 1892, and sang a wide repertoire from Rossini's Almaviva to Verdi's Manrico and Radamès. He died by suicide near Dresden in 1907.