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A tenor with a voice of dramatic size and strength, Franz Völker wisely avoided the most heroic roles of Richard Wagner where he could not compete in sheer volume with such a phenomenon as Lauritz Melchior. Yet, as Lohengrin, he was the only artist to rival the Danish tenor for beauty of sound and adherence to legato tone production. With or without such imposing competition, the German tenor still would have been celebrated as a superior singer, not lacking intensity, but holding first and last to full-throated, polished vocalism: proof that a bel canto approach did indeed exist among the best German artists.

After studies in Frankfurt, Völker made his debut in that city with Florestan in a 1926 production of Fidelio. He had been heard by conductor Clemens Krauss who, then and later, took a solicitous interest in his career and whose support hastened his rise to the top among Central European dramatic tenors. Although Völker's instrument had substantial heft from the very beginning, he had the easy production to sing Mozart with surpassing elegance and several studio recordings as confirmation.

Völker remained at Frankfurt until he moved to Vienna in 1931. Berlin heard him from 1933 to 1943. After several pre-WWII appearances in Munich, Völker sang there regularly from 1945 to 1952. In 1931, he began a fruitful association with Salzburg, making many celebrated appearances there. Völker's Bayreuth debut took place in 1933; his performances there during the 1930s have assumed the mantle of legend. Excerpts from two of these productions in particular, Die Walküre and Lohengrin, are preserved on disc and support critical claims that he invariably matched in live performance the gleaming tone and uncommon suppleness of his studio recordings.

While Völker's career was confined almost exclusively to the Continent, he did sing during two seasons in London. His Covent Garden debut took place in the infamous 1934 season-opening performance of Fidelio that found conductor Thomas Beecham turning around during the overture to shout at noisy late-comers. (Beecham's resounding "Shut up, you...!" was heard not only by audience members, but also by listeners to a nationwide broadcast of the event.) In the company of Lotte Lehmann, Alexander Kipnis, Erna Berger, and Herbert Janssen, Völker was found exemplary in both voice and style. In Die Walküre three nights after that April 30 opening, Völker's Siegmund was hailed as outstanding even surrounded by such luminaries as Frida Leider, Rudolf Bockelmann and, once again, Lehmann and Kipnis. Völker's success was felt to have roused Lauritz Melchior to a new level of vocal control and intensity when he appeared as the younger Siegfried two nights later. When Völker returned to London during the 1937 Coronation season, his Siegmund was paired with his Bayreuth partner Maria Müller as Sieglinde. The tenor was once more deemed outstanding, "a German tenor fit to sing Lohengrin."

Völker's quick rise to success brought opportunities to record just a year after his debut and he continued throughout the next two decades to be one of the most completely documented of singers. Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Smetana, Strauss, and Verdi were among the composers featured on his recordings. A complete 1942 Lohengrin merits special mention. Also respected as a recitalist and much valued for his insinuating performances of operetta excerpts, Völker is represented by numerous excellent recordings in both categories.

The Staatskapelle Berlin, or Berlin State Orchestra, has an extraordinarily long history the reflects much of the central European history of music in its relationship to the state. Since the ascension of international superstar conductor Daniel Barenboim to the podium in 1992, the group has emerged as a major force on the international concert and recording scene. Several dates may be given for the founding of what became the Staatskapelle Berlin, but it took shape in the middle and late 16th century as the court of the Elector of Brandenburg developed new musical ensembles and began to forge close ties with the Prussian monarchy. In 1701 it became the Royal Prussian Court Orchestra, and as such attracted top musicians including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Joachim Quantz. In 1783 the orchestra gave one of the first modern symphonic concerts, independently of the court, at the Hotel Paris, and through the 19th century it was a giant of European musical life, with conductors including Spontini, Meyerbeer, and, from 1899 to 1913, Richard Strauss. For all of this period, and down to the present day, the orchestra also served as the house orchestra of the Royal Court Opera, established in 1742 by Frederick the Great and in modern times renamed the Berlin State Opera. The same conductor serves as Staatskapellmeister or state music director of both ensembles. During World War II, Herbert von Karajan served as music director. After the war, due to its location in East Berlin, the orchestra came under the control of what would become East Germany. It maintained some connections with the non-Communist West; its conductor from 1964 to 1990 was the Austrian Otmar Suitner, who was able to travel fairly freely between East and West. After German reunification, Daniel Barenboim became the orchestra's first non-German conductor in modern times and has been successful in bringing the orchestra's international profile to a new level. The orchestra made its first appearance at the BBC Proms in 2013 (in a cycle of Wagner's Ring operas), and in 2017 performed a complete cycle of Bruckner's symphonies at Carnegie Hall in New York (the first-ever such cycle mounted in the U.S.). The orchestra has recorded prolifically for Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Teldec, Denon, Berlin Classics, and Warner Classics, among other labels, releasing a set of Brahms' four symphonies with Barenboim conducting in 2018. ~ James Manheim