Aksel Schiøtz

Aksel Schiøtz (1 September 1906 – 19 April 1975) was a Danish tenor and later baritone, who was considered one of Europe's leading lieder singers of the post-World War II period.

In October 1936, he gave his first lieder recital, and he made his opera début at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, in Mozart's Così fan tutte in 1939.

In Our Schubert, David Schroeder writes that the surgery "should have put an end to his career in 1945, since it left him paralyzed on one side of his face and neck; but with the encouragement of friends and loved ones he relearned how to sing, becoming a baritone instead of a tenor."

During the Nazi occupation of Denmark (1940–1945), he achieved great popularity for his recording of traditional Danish songs of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Schiøtz died in Copenhagen in 1975, aged 68, and is buried in the churchyard of the Raabjerg Church, near Skiveren, Denmark, with his wife Gerd.

Schiøtz’s signature, 1951