Ferdinand Wiedey

Ferdinand Wiedey was a German bass who trained as a mechanical engineer in Karlsruhe before the court conductor there encouraged him toward music; from 1878 he studied at the Grand Ducal Music School in Weimar under Feodor von Milde and Jocza Savits. He joined the Weimar Court Theatre in 1879, making his debut as the Hermit in Der Freischütz, and remained there for more than forty years, becoming opera director from 1890. He sang the broom-maker in the world premiere of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, conducted by Strauss, in 1893, and the following year created Friedhold in the premiere of Strauss's own Guntram. He also appeared as a Grail Knight in Parsifal at Bayreuth in 1888 and 1889.