Paul Bender (bass)

Born in Driedorf, Westerwald, as the son of a Protestant minister, Bender began his vocal training while studying medicine in Berlin.

Other premieres were Die Gespenstersonate by Julius Weismann (1930), Das Herz by Hans Pfitzner (1931) and Der Mond by Carl Orff (1939).

The extent of his mimetic gift can be judged from his playing of a principal role in one of the most significant expressionistic silent films, 1919's Nerven by Robert Reinert.

In the 1930s and 40s he was primarily busy as a professor at the Münchner Akademie der Tonkunst (now part of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater).

[2][3][4] Throughout nearly five decades on stage he made the most important bass roles his own, always knowing how to subordinate vocal virtuosity to the higher commandments of a unified artistic goal.