Family Card - Person Sheet
Notes for Wilhelm Wymetal
{geni:occupation} opera producer in Austria and in the US
{geni:about_me} http://guides.library.cmu.edu/wymetal
Wilhelm Wymetal Senior, also known as Baron von Wymetal, was born in Austria in 1862. From 1909 to 1921 (est.) he was a producer at the Vienna Opera, where he worked with opera luminaries like conductor Gustav Mahler and set designer Alfred Roller. In the early 1920’s, Wymetal Senior moved to America and to the New York Metropolitan Opera, where between 1922 and 1931 he premiered 49 operas. He also taught a course at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and had previously (?) taught dramatic arts in Vienna and worked as stage manager at opera houses Prague and Leipzig. He died in Austria on Nov. 11, 1937 at the age of 75, after an initially unsuccessful attempt to poisonhimself.
Wilhelm von Wymetal Junior, also known as William von Wymetal, was born on April 18, 1890 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. After attending military school (probably the Austrian National Defense Academy, in Vienna) and a brief stint inthe Austrian army as a major of cavalry during WWI and later as a member of the Austrian General Staff, post-war Wymetal Junior attended the Vienna Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art and joined his father at the Vienna Opera.In the late1920s he came to America where he followed in his father’s footsteps as a stage director, including working at the Met, where between 1930 (33?) and 1935 he premiered 19 operas. While at the Met, Wymetal Jr. worked with his fellow Viennese scene designer Joseph Urban.
Wymetal Junior also served as director of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera, director of the Curtis Institute of Music (1927), Mexico City Opera, the Royal Opera of Stockholm, City Center Opera in New York, San Francisco Opera Company,Chicago Light Opera, Houston Opera and New Orleans Opera and finally as the director of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera from 1947-68.
Furthermore, Jr. had a career in the film industry, and worked for MGM in the 1940s on some of the Janette McDonald-Nelson Eddy musicals (May Time, Rose Marie), and also San Francisco with Clark Gable, I’ll take Romance with GraceMoore and The Phantom of the Opera with Claude Rains. Shortly before his death he was awarded the Grand Cross of Austria, the highest award a civilian can receive. He died of a heart attack in Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1970, at the age of 80.
Sr. also had a second son, Erich von Wymetal (1892-1968), who worked as a director (producer?) at the Vienna Staatsoper starting in 1937 for an as-yet undetermined period of time. Official records for Erich are held at the Music Sammlung in Austria, and include his birth and baptism certificate and marriage certificate. No other information about Erich has yet come to light.
Other Biographical notes: Jnr. had a dueling scar, and wore jodhpurs, riding boots and carried a riding crop at rehearsals. He also spoke seven languages. The “von” in the family name indicates that they were of the noble classes,and documents at the Music Sammlung in Austria suggest that they may have been newcomers to the nobility; knighthood was granted to Franz Wymetal in 1876, when Senior would have been only fourteen years old. Jr. dropped the “von”professionally in Pittsburgh (and possibly elsewhere), except for his social register listing. [From card catalogs from Musik Sammlung and Pittsuburgh Civic Light Opera: How Dreams Came True, by Mary Brignano, Pittsburgh: Civic Light Opera, 1996.]
{geni:about_me} http://guides.library.cmu.edu/wymetal
Wilhelm Wymetal Senior, also known as Baron von Wymetal, was born in Austria in 1862. From 1909 to 1921 (est.) he was a producer at the Vienna Opera, where he worked with opera luminaries like conductor Gustav Mahler and set designer Alfred Roller. In the early 1920’s, Wymetal Senior moved to America and to the New York Metropolitan Opera, where between 1922 and 1931 he premiered 49 operas. He also taught a course at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and had previously (?) taught dramatic arts in Vienna and worked as stage manager at opera houses Prague and Leipzig. He died in Austria on Nov. 11, 1937 at the age of 75, after an initially unsuccessful attempt to poisonhimself.
Wilhelm von Wymetal Junior, also known as William von Wymetal, was born on April 18, 1890 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. After attending military school (probably the Austrian National Defense Academy, in Vienna) and a brief stint inthe Austrian army as a major of cavalry during WWI and later as a member of the Austrian General Staff, post-war Wymetal Junior attended the Vienna Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art and joined his father at the Vienna Opera.In the late1920s he came to America where he followed in his father’s footsteps as a stage director, including working at the Met, where between 1930 (33?) and 1935 he premiered 19 operas. While at the Met, Wymetal Jr. worked with his fellow Viennese scene designer Joseph Urban.
Wymetal Junior also served as director of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera, director of the Curtis Institute of Music (1927), Mexico City Opera, the Royal Opera of Stockholm, City Center Opera in New York, San Francisco Opera Company,Chicago Light Opera, Houston Opera and New Orleans Opera and finally as the director of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera from 1947-68.
Furthermore, Jr. had a career in the film industry, and worked for MGM in the 1940s on some of the Janette McDonald-Nelson Eddy musicals (May Time, Rose Marie), and also San Francisco with Clark Gable, I’ll take Romance with GraceMoore and The Phantom of the Opera with Claude Rains. Shortly before his death he was awarded the Grand Cross of Austria, the highest award a civilian can receive. He died of a heart attack in Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1970, at the age of 80.
Sr. also had a second son, Erich von Wymetal (1892-1968), who worked as a director (producer?) at the Vienna Staatsoper starting in 1937 for an as-yet undetermined period of time. Official records for Erich are held at the Music Sammlung in Austria, and include his birth and baptism certificate and marriage certificate. No other information about Erich has yet come to light.
Other Biographical notes: Jnr. had a dueling scar, and wore jodhpurs, riding boots and carried a riding crop at rehearsals. He also spoke seven languages. The “von” in the family name indicates that they were of the noble classes,and documents at the Music Sammlung in Austria suggest that they may have been newcomers to the nobility; knighthood was granted to Franz Wymetal in 1876, when Senior would have been only fourteen years old. Jr. dropped the “von”professionally in Pittsburgh (and possibly elsewhere), except for his social register listing. [From card catalogs from Musik Sammlung and Pittsuburgh Civic Light Opera: How Dreams Came True, by Mary Brignano, Pittsburgh: Civic Light Opera, 1996.]