Hermann Abendroth
Erb opened triumphantly (October 1908) in "Lohengrin". He maintained a sober existence, but gravitated to the social circle of Ida Boy-Ed, where he mixed with Hermann Abendroth, Wilhelm Furtwängler and others. He travelled to Hamburg to see Caruso and Edith Walker in Puccini's "Tosca". Greatly inspired, he added Lionel ("Martha"), Manrico ("Il trovatore"), Gomez ("Das Nachtlager in Granada" (Kreutzer)), Froh ("Das Rheingold"), Florestan ("Fidelio"), Alessandro Stradella in Friedrich von Flotow's opera, the Duke of Mantua ("Rigoletto"), Turiddu ("Cavalleria rusticana"), Fenton ("Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" (Carl Otto Nicolai)), Hoffmann in Jacques Offenbach's opera, and Alfred in "Die Fledermaus" to his repertoire. All these roles were sung in German.