Anton Schittenhelm

Anton Schittenhelm was an Austrian tenor who spent twenty-eight years in the Vienna Court Opera ensemble from 1875, the year he created Heinrich der Schreiber in the house's Tannhäuser. Trained by Heinrich Ruff and Friedrich Schmitt after singing as a boy alto, he made his first public appearance as a soloist in Liszt's Faust Symphony that January. Across more than 2,500 performances he ranged over comic opera, operetta and drama in four languages, and took part in the 1892 premiere of Johann Strauss's only opera, Ritter Pásmán. Pensioned in 1903, he served as a violinist in the Vienna Court Chapel.