Gustav Scharfe

Gustav Scharfe (11 September 1835 – 25 June 1892)^[1] was a German operatic baritone and voice teacher.

Life

Born in Grimma, Saxony,^[1] Scharfe was originally an assistant teacher (1854) at the Freiherrlich von Fletchersches Lehrerseminar [de] and in 1856 at the Leipzig Institute for the Deaf and Dumb.^[2] However, because of his outstanding musical and vocal talents, he took on a successful engagement as an opera singer at the Dresden Court Opera for several years.^[1][3]

He later went to England and trained there for the higher demands of singing.^[4] Returning to Dresden, he devoted himself very successfully to teaching singing, most recently at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden (along, among others, Felix Draeseke, Aglaja Orgeni^[5]). He was awarded the title Professor of Music by the King of Saxony for his services as a teacher in 1880.^[1][6]

Scharfe published an excellent singing school: Die methodische Entwicklung der Stimme (The Methodical Development of the Voice).^[1]

Scharfe died in Dresden, aged 56.^[1]

Students

• Hans Buff-Giessen, Walther Falkenstein,^[7] Richard Gutzschbach,^[8] Erika Wedekind,^[9] Emil Goetze^[1][10]