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Although thoroughly trained as a musician, Viennese tenor Julius Patzak had little, if any, technical schooling in the vocal arts. Yet, he became a favorite among audiences in his native city and second only to Richard Tauber as a master stylist in the Central European repertory. His voice, though not large, was plangent and somewhat hard-edged, capable of encompassing both lyric and dramatic roles. His forays into Viennese operetta were exemplary, full of character and knowing gestures, and sung with an immaculate sense of both elegance and forcefulness. His famous recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with contralto Kathleen Ferrier and Bruno Walter directing the Vienna Philharmonic has achieved legendary status.

Patzak was born into a family whose heads of household had been schoolteachers for three generations. After schooling in Vienna, he served his military obligation in Serbia. Upon his return to Vienna, he entered a career as a civil servant, working for the city's Youth Council. By this means, he was able to finance his pursuit of music at the University of Vienna, undertaken to realize his dream of becoming a conductor. His studies brought him in contact with composer Franz Schmidt, musicologist Guido Adler, and Adler's accomplished student, composer, and musicologist Egon Wellesz.

During an amateur concert presented by the Vienna Schubert Society, Patzak's singing attracted the attention of several individuals with contacts in the operatic world. The result was a contract with Bohemia's Reichenberg Theater and in April, 1926, he made his stage debut in the demanding role of Radames. The following season found him in Brno, after which he was engaged by Munich and spent the next 17 years at the Bayerische Staatsoper performing leading roles. Following the death of his first wife shortly after his move to Munich, Patzak married Maria Walter, granddaughter of the famous Bohemian Wagner tenor, Gustav Walter.

Once WWII ended, Patzak returned to Vienna where he joined the Staatsoper, remaining there until his retirement in 1960. He became an important artist at the Salzburg Festival, taking part in several world premieres, Gottfried von Einem's Danton's Tod and Frank Martin's Le Vin Herbé in particular.

Patzak confined himself to primarily to Germany and Austria, although he sang in London in 1938. He returned with the Vienna Staatsoper company in 1947 to perform Herod and Florestan and was engaged directly by the Royal Opera House management for 1948, repeating Florestan and adding his fervid Hoffmann to London's production of Offenbach's opera. Patzak's pre-war Tamino, alternating with Richard Tauber's, was regarded as "manly," if slightly "reedy." In the post-war era, Patzak's London Herod was found "wonderfully characterized" and his Florestan was hailed as a great realization.

Only one engagement brought Patzak to America. He performed at the Cincinnati May Festival in 1954 when Joseph Krips was its director.

With his voice grown larger, Patzak was, in his Vienna years, able to do greater justice to roles wanting both expressive authority and sheer vocal power. Patzak became perhaps the greatest of all interpreters of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina. He was a superb Lohengrin, despite the absence of a truly sensuous sound. He was revered as the Evangelist in both of Bach's Passions and was the most celebrated of all singers who undertook the tenor part in Franz Schmidt's oratorio, Das Buch mit sieben Sielgen.

Patzak became a respected teacher at both Vienna's Music Academy and the Salzburg Mozarteum.

Regarded as a sensational Queen of the Night beginning in the late '40s, soprano Wilma Lipp won acclaim for that role in several major European venues. Studio recordings of Die Zauberflöte followed, with Karajan in 1950 and Böhm in 1955. By the 1960s, however, much of the focus and steadiness earlier evident had departed from her voice and adventures into the lyric repertory were less successful. In Vienna, Lipp studied with two famous singers: dramatic soprano Anna Bahr-Mildenburg (who achieved legendary status under Mahler's regime at the Vienna Staatsoper) and bass-baritone Alfred Jerger (a powerful singer/actor whose vocal production was decidedly unorthodox). Lipp made her debut in her native city as Rosina; two years later, at the tender age of 20, she was invited to join the Staatsoper at a time when the company was struggling to recover from wartime conditions. Her Queen of the Night in Vienna in 1948 was deemed spectacular. She performed it under Klemperer at La Scala and with Furtwängler at Salzburg with equal success. Covent Garden heard her for the first time in 1951 when her Gilda was found physically and vocally attractive but lightweight (she was one of five sopranos sharing the role); her Queen of the Night was regarded as more accomplished. Her Violetta in 1955 was less successful, lacking sufficient vocal substance for the third and fourth acts. Lipp sang Konstanze under Swiss conductor Paul Sacher at the 1957 Glyndebourne Festival, with Ernst Haefliger as Tamino. Lipp's American stage debut took place at San Francisco in 1962 when she undertook four roles, only one of which was comfortably within her fach. Unfortunately, her Sophie to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's elegant Marschallin was wobbly in the higher reaches of the role. Alice in Falstaff (she had sung Nannetta in earlier years) proved only curious and both Nedda and Micaëla were unidiomatic interpretations that lacked the right vocal coloration. Among Lipp's recordings, the 1950 Karajan Die Zauberflöte captures her art and voice at their freshest. A live performance from Salzburg in 1951 with Furtwängler leading a similar cast is also memorable; by the time Lipp recorded the Queen with Böhm in 1955, her performance was somewhat less secure. Lipp was awarded the title Kammersängerin in Vienna and taught for some years at the Salzburg Mozarteum.

The Vienna State Opera Chorus is generally ranked among the finest choral ensembles in the world. The VSOC consists of 92 members divided evenly among male and female singers. The chorus is structured as follows: for female singers there are 15 first sopranos, 10 second, 10 first altos, and 11 second; for male singers there are 12 first tenors; 11 second, 11 first basses, and 12 second. The VSOC perform most nights of the week from September 1 to June 30, owing to the busy opera schedule of the Vienna State Opera, which stages over 50 opera productions and 200 performances yearly. Despite these taxing demands, the chorus often performs at orchestral and choral concerts, makes occasional tours abroad, and appears on recordings. When performing away from the opera house, the VSOC sings under the name of the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus. Still, on recordings of non-operatic fare, the ensemble is usually listed as the Vienna State Opera Chorus. The VSOC has appeared on more than 400 recordings, spread over virtually every major and many minor labels.

The Vienna State Opera Chorus was founded in 1869, the year the construction of the Vienna Opera Court Building was finished. From 1923 the VSOC began making regular appearances at the Salzburg Festival.

In 1927 the VSOC, led by one of its members, Viktor Maiwald, created its non-operatic branch, the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus. In the ensuing years, a small schedule of concerts was arranged for the ensemble. Also, from 1927, the VSOC members began electing their own concert director. That individual is often the music director of the Vienna State Opera, as with Seiji Ozawa (2002-2010), who also serves as conductor of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. Bruno Walter (1936-1938), Karl Böhm (1954-1981), and Claudio Abbado (1987-2002) have been other illustrious past conductors of the VSOC.

In 1956 newly appointed music director of the Vienna State Opera, Herbert von Karajan, changed the German-language performance policy of the Vienna State Opera, declaring that all operas must thenceforth be sung in their original language. The VSOC, with much to relearn, smoothly made the abrupt transition. The VSOC continues to maintain its extremely busy schedule: at the 2008 Salzburg Festival the VSOC sang in six operas and four concert works, and its 2009 concert schedule included appearances in May in Taiwan and in November in South Korea.