Hans Hopf was a German heldentenor who was born on August 2, 1916, in Nürnberg, Germany, and died on June 25, 1993, in München. Hopf debuted in 1936 as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Bayerische Landesbühne. He sang as a lyric tenor with the Augsburg Bühnen from 1939 to 1942 before transitioning to a heldentenor in Dresden. He subsequently joined the Staatsoper Berlin from 1946 to 1949 and the Bayerische Staatsoper, while also performing regularly at the Wiener Staatsoper. Hopf performed regularly at Bayreuth starting in 1951, debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1952, and sang at other major houses such as Teatro alla Scala and Covent Garden. At the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival in 1951, he performed the tenor part in Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Hopf was celebrated for roles such as Max in Der Freischütz at the Salzburg Festival in 1954, as well as lead roles in Tannhäuser, Der Ring des Nibelungen, and Tristan und Isolde. Hopf received the Merit Cross First Class of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983. After retiring in 1988, he taught in München until his death.
