Karel Burian

Karel Burian was a Czech tenor who abandoned law studies in Prague to train as a singer, and made his stage debut at Brno in 1891 as Jeník in Smetana's The Bartered Bride. He became a leading Wagnerian Heldentenor across German houses before joining the Dresden Opera, where in 1905 he created Herod in the world premiere of Strauss's Salome, singing under the stage name Carl Burrian, and repeated the role at the opera's first American and French productions in 1907. He sang seven seasons at the Metropolitan Opera and appeared at Bayreuth in 1908. A 1920 accident, drinking lye in mistake for water, ruined his voice, and he gave his last performances in 1922.