Aksel Schitz

The famous Danish tenor, baritone, and pedagogue, Aksel (Hauch) Schiøtz, was born in Roskilde near Copenhagen. His father was an architect, and he urged Aksel to follow an academic career. Accordingly, he enrolled at the University of Copenhagen in modern languages studies, receiving M.A. in 1929, and became a teacher. Schiøtz had a fine tenor voice, which he loved to display at parties and in church. Mogens Wöldike, a choral conductor, made him a tenor member of the “Copenhagen Male Choir” and he was soon entrusted with oratorio solos. He studied singing, first at the Danish Royal Opera School in Copenhagen with Agnete Zacharias and Valdemar Lincke, and later in Stockholm with John Forsell, who was the teacher of Jussi Björling. Schiøtz married in 1931.