I remember as a child my mum used to listen to Gert Potgieter’s music and I enjoyed it too…these two songs…A star fell from heaven and Yellow bird… were my favourites.
POTGIETER, GERHARDUS PETRUS (Gert), tenor, born 14 November 1929 in Johannesburg, died 2 July 1977 in a car accident
Gert Potgieter had the encouragement of his father, a printer and a dairy farmer, when he started taking singing lessons with Alberto Terassi and Beatrice Lovegrove at the age of fourteen. After matriculation he joined Die Transvaler to be trained as a type-setter, though he continued singing in broadcasts and at Eisteddfodau and won a variety of prizes. He sang in Lilac Time and Desert Song in 1950 and became a popular choice for operetta productions. But after his interpretation of the title role in John Joubert’s Die Droogte (The Drought) in 1958, he began to interpret parts in serious opera. During the Festival of Union in 1960 he sang the part of the Duke in Rigoletto. In the same year he was awarded the Mimi Coertse bursary which enabled him to study in Vienna. There he attended opera classes at the State Academy and was taught by Maria Hittorff. While still an Academy student, he sang in a production of Iphigenie auf Tauris (Gluck).
Back in South Africa (1962) he at first performed with the Opera Federation of South Africa. When the Regional Councils for the Performing Arts were created he was engaged to sing in The Marriage of Figaro, Die Fledermaus, Nabucco, The Bartered Bride, Madama Butterfly, and Don Pasquale. Two peaks of his singing career were his interpretations of the title roles in the radio productions of Henk Bading’s Asterion (1958) and Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes (1969).
Apart from his success in opera, Gert Potgieter occasionally sang in oratorio performances, while his acting ability resulted in film contracts. In 1969-70 he sang the leading role in Lied van my Hart (Song of my Heart) and acted in Forgotten Song of Summer. Commercial recordings by him have been released by Gallos, and the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) have a number of transcription recordings.
Source HERE …
Please click here to listen to Gert Potgieter singing Verdi: Macbeth “O figli, o figli miei” –Recorded 1968 The link will open in a new window.
Video 1…Yellow Bird…my favourite…and the second..”A star fell from heaven”..
Image: pdphoto.org/jons/pictures2/zoo_4_bg_090202.jpg
This is a South African bird, the weaver.
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Image: his-forever.com/wormwood_DL.jpg
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My ouma was ‘n groot Gert Potgieter “fan”
Yellow bird is vir my mooi!
Ek het een ouma oorgehad na ek my “verstand” gekry het…:) my ander ouma is oorlede toe ek bitter klein was. My ouma het in die Kaap gebly in die ouetehuis en ons het haar min te siene gekry. Sy was goed met hekel, het altyd bestellings gekry vir bedspreie ens ens, darem af en toe vir ons klein kinders iets kleins gehekel en gepos, maar ek het briewe geskryf vir haar, nog al haar briewe in my besit. Sy’s oorlede op 92! ek was besig met my studies…weet sy was lief vir klassieke musiek, maar het geen idee of sy ‘n Gert Potgieter fan was nie. Ek glo sy sou van hom gehou het as sy van klassieke musiek gehou het, maar ek kan onthou dat ek nie gehou het van die ander snitte op die plaat van hom nie…te opera-rig…en nie my smaak nie, opera is “snaaks”…sekeres hou ek van en ander nie…:)