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Emil Burian

Czech actor and opera singer (1876–1926)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 15, 2025
Entity authorityQ3511424
Source-derived summary

Emil Burian (12 December 1876 – 9 October 1926) was a Czech operatic baritone. He was the father of poet and composer Emil František Burian and the grandfather of Czech songwriter and poet Jan Burian.

Born in Rakovník, he was the younger brother of the famous Czech tenor Karel Burian, and, like his brother, was a pupil of singing teacher František Pivoda in Prague. Burian made his professional opera debut in 1895 at the Cologne Opera. He sang then at the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava and the National Theatre Brno. From 1899 until 1901 he performed at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and from 1902 until 1904 he worked at the Divadlo Josefa Kajetána Tyla in Plzeň. From 1904 to 1906 he was on the roster of singers at the theatres of Nuremberg and Freiburg im Breisgau. He sang alongside his brother at the Semperoper in Dresden from 1906 until 1907, and then performed at the Hamburg State Opera from 1908 to 1910.

In 1910 Burian joined the roster of singers at the National Theatre in Prague. He was one of the most important singers at that house up until his death at the age of 49 in 1926 in Prague.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Emil Burian” as czech actor and opera singer (1876–1926). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Emil, Burian and Czech.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1876, 1926, 1895, 1899—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1876-12-12. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Emil, Burian and Czech providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Emil Burian”, the useful work is to connect “czech actor and opera singer (1876–1926)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3511424. VIAF identifies the subject as 72550564. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1926, 1895 and 1899.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Emil Burian”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Emil Burian primary sources, Emil Burian archive and Emil research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Emil Burian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.