In 1906, aged 29, he started an unpaid probationary year at Stuttgart (beginning January 1907, which led to a five-year paid contract.
He then appeared as Lohengrin (in which the shimmering brightness of his voice was especially effective), as Buddha (in Adolf Vogel's Maja ), as Little Massarena in Le domino noir, Achilles(Iphigenia in Aulis), Walter (Meistersinger) and as Faust in the title role of Gounod's opera.