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Heinrich Bensing

German singer and opera singer (1911-1955)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ1596710
Source-derived summary

Heinrich Bensing (26 July 1911 – 30 December 1955) was a German opera singer.

Life

Bensing was born in Metz. After the Second World War, he had guest contracts with the Hamburg State Opera (1947-1955), with the Vienna State Opera (1949-1954) and with the Cologne Opera House. After 1945 he sang Don José in Carmen, the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Radames in Aida, the title role in Don Carlos and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

Bensing died in Frankfurt at age 44.

Repertoire

Bensing was especially considered a valued singer in the Italian repertoire. He belonged to the "small circle of German tenors who possessed vocal brilliance and power for the great parts of Italian opera."

Recordings

On the occasion of the re-release of this radio production of Die Frau ohne Schatten from the year 1950 (Symphonie-Orchester des Hessischen Rundfunks, conductor: Winfried Zillig) on CD, Bensing's "experience in the Italian sector", his "largely effortless mastery of the unpleasant tessitura" and his " easily understandable youthful heroic tenor" were particularly praised.

Sources

Karl-Josef Kutsch, Leo Riemens: Großes Sängerlexikon. Third, extended edition. Munich 1999.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Heinrich Bensing” as german singer and opera singer (1911-1955). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Heinrich, Bensing and German.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1911, 1955, 1947, 1949—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1911-07-26. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Heinrich, Bensing and German providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Heinrich Bensing”, the useful work is to connect “german singer and opera singer (1911-1955)” 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 Jun 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1596710. VIAF identifies the subject as 56239636. The Library of Congress control number is no98133819. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 1955, 1947 and 1949.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. 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.

How to read it

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

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Heinrich Bensing”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Heinrich Bensing primary sources, Heinrich Bensing archive and Heinrich 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

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Heinrich Bensing”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Heinrich Bensing” 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.