Josip Gostic was born in Stara Loka near Skofja Loka, Slovenia, on 5 March 2000. Soon afterwards he moved to Homec near Ljubljana, where his father worked as an organist in the parish church. Having completed his secondary schooling in the Organ school in Ljubljana, he worked for two years as an organist in Homec. In 1921 he enrolled in the State Conservatoire in Ljubljana, singing at the same time in the choir of the Ljubljana Opera and occasionally appearing in some small roles. His debut as Lenski in YEVGENY ONYEGIN on 5 September 1929 revealed the enormous potencial of the young tenor. He possessed all the qualities indispensable for a first-class opera singer, viz. a nice, strong, well-balanced voice of great volume, excellent musicality and musical proficiency, as well as a good figure and a talent for a convincing musical interpretation of the role on stage. In 1930 he graduated with honours from the Ljubljana Conservatoire. As a member of the Ljubljana Opera he appeared in more than 40 opera and operetta roles, ranging from Ferrando in COSI FAN TUTTE, Almaviva in IL BARBIERE  DI  SIVIGLIA (THE BARBER OF SEVILLE) and Eisenstein in DIE FLEDERMAUS to Rodolpho in LA BOHEME, WERTHER, Des Grieux in MANON and Riccardo in A MASKED BALL. Sometimes he had to appear in as many as a hundred performances per season. He also had private tutoring with Marie Rado-Danielli in Vienna and attained a masterful singing technique. He became a permanent

member of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in 1937. From his first guest appearance in the role of Janko in THE BARTERED BRIDE in 1932 until his last performance of Manrico in IL TROVATORE on 12 October 1963 he had been an adored favourite of the Zagreb audience, who best expressed their enthusiasm on the 30th anniversary of his artistic work, when he appeared as ANDREA CHENIER on 6 June 1959. Indeed, it was in Zagreb that Gostic's artistic personalitay fully evolved. In Zagreb Opera he appeared in 54 roles for about thousand times. In 1942 his guest appearances in Vienna began; first at the Volksoper where he sang Canio in I PAGLIACCI, Wagner's LOHENGRIN and Bacchus in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS by Richard Strauss. In 1951. he became a permanent member of the Vienna State Opera, appearing 260 times in 16 different roles in ten seasons.
        Sticking to the rule to sing only the roles suited to your age, he began to expand his repertoire with heroic roles. The light color of his voice and a soft mezzavoce lent exceptional dramatic feeling and deep human warmth to his rendition of PARSIFAL, PORIN by the Croatian composer Vatroslav Lisinski (1819-1854), Cavaradossi in TOSCA, Don Jose in CARMEN, Herman in THE QUEEN OF SPADES, DON CARLOS, Radames in AIDA, Manrico, Florestan in FIDELIO, and above all to OTELLO. This, along with great musicianship, made him one of the most

complete artists in both musical and scenical therms, a perfectly reliable partner to singers and conductors alike. Gostic also appeared in first performances of several Croatian operas and was an unsurpassed interpreter of a cult figure of Croatian music - Mica in ERO THE JOKER by Jakov Gotovac (1895-1982).
        Gostic's international fame began as early as 1951 when he appeared in the premiere of LOHENGRIN in Vienna under the baton of Clemens Krauss in Rudolf Hartmann's production. He was compared with Leo Slezak, the best compliment a singer interpreting Lohengrin could have received. Impressed by Gostic's masterful performance, Krauss engaged him to sing Midas at the first world performance of DIE LIEBE DER DANAE (THE LOVE OF DANAE) by Richard Strauss at the Salzburg Festival on 14 August 1952. He also sang Midas at the premiere of the opera in Vienna, the Milan Scala as well as in the guest performance sang by the Vienna Opera  ensemble in the Grand Opera in Paris. In the Vienna State Opera he also appeared as Don Jose, Cavaradossi, Florestan, Manrico, Turiddu in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA, Radames, Otello, Herman, Riccardo, Andrea Chenier, First man in Armour in DIE ZAUBERFLOTE (THE MAGIC FLUTE) and rendered Dick Johnson at the very successful premiere of Puccini's LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST (THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST) and a splendid Bacchus at the premiere of ARIADNE AUF NAXOS.

Guest appearances in other european countries followed, most frequently in the role of Lohengrin in Spain and Italy. His interpretation of Lohengrin, exceptionally powerful in its harmony of the material and immaterial, of the human and divine, immanent to Wagner's hero, was entustiastically acclaimed by the audience of Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona, where he received the highest recognition for his rendition of the role. In 1957 he interpreted role of Siegfried in GOTTERDAMMERUNG in Wolfgang Wagner's production in Venice. In 1958 he appeared at the premiere of BORIS GODUNOV in Covent Garden in London, and in 1961 he delivered the 115th role of his repertoire - Pierre Bezuhov at the Croatian premiere of Prokofjev's WAR AND PIECE in Zagreb. He also sang in Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Athens and other European cities. Gostic was also a concert singer. He appeared in Verdi's and Mozart's REQUIEM, Beethoven's SYMPHONY No. 9 and Mahler's THE SONG OF THE EARTH (DAS LIED VON DER ERDE).
         Gostic died in Ljubljana on 25 December 1963. His appearance in 115 main roles in about two thousand times, his enormous talent and highest standards of performance throughout his career made him a pivotal figure and mainstay of the splendid days of the Zagreb Opera. According to the great conductor Karl Bohm, Josip Gostic ..was a singer of the kind that does not exist nowadays. 

Vatroslav Lisinski: PORIN - izbor - Frano Lovric, Mirka Klaric, Dragutin Bernardic, Mira Stor, Zbor i orkestar Zagrebacke opere - Mladen Basic 
JUGOTON, LPY - 793

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: DIE ZAUBERFLOTE - Hilde Guden, Wilma Lipp, Emmy Loose, Leopold Simoneau, Kurt Bohme, Walter Berry, Paul Schoffler, August Jaresch, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper, Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Bohm
DECCA-LXT 5085-5087

Jakov Gotovac: ERO S ONOGA SVIJETA - Drago Bernardic, Marijana Radev, Branka Oblak-Stilinovic, Vladimir Ruzdjak, Solisti, zbor i orkestar Hrvatskog narodnog kazalista u Zagrebu - Jakov Gotovac 
JUGOTON LPY - V - 94-96 

JOSIP GOSTIC - tenor (AIDA, FAUST, LOHENGRIN, PORIN, CARMEN, OTELLO, LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST, TURANDOT, TOSCA, ANDREA CHENIER, ERO S ONOGA SVIJETA, IL TROVATORE,  BOSA POJDIVA, SAMO EN CVET, DA JO LJUBIM, AVE MARIA)
HRT 30 ORFEJ (2 CD)