John Macurdy

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John Macurdy , real name John Edward McCurdy , (born March 18, 1929 in Detroit , Michigan , † May 7, 2020 in Stamford , Connecticut ) was an American opera singer ( bass ).

Life

Family and education

John Macurdy, whose ancestors were Scottish and German , was born the eldest of three children. He had two sisters. His father Blanchard Archibald McCurdy was an engineer , his mother Dorothea McCurdy, née Radtke , worked for many years as a secretary at Wayne State University . Macurdys parents spoke at home sometimes even German , he learned German but only during his school days.

After graduating from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, he studied at Wayne State University College of Engineering from 1947 to 1949 and then went to a training program at General Motors in Detroit, where he was employed as a model maker in the design department. With the outbreak of the Korean War , he joined the United States Air Force (USAF) and was stationed for a total of four years at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi , Mississippi , where he worked with the rank of sergeant in radar electronics instruction. After his military service, he returned to General Motors, where he made original models in wood and metal, completed his training as a die cutter with a diploma and then worked as a toolmaker and modeller for various Detroit industrial companies.

Macurdy's musical talent and voice were discovered early on. As a boy he sang in the church choir . The director of the church choir encouraged him to take singing lessons and, at the age of 16, put Macurdy in touch with the well-known Detroit singing teacher Avery Crew, a tenor who had been Macurdy's teacher and mentor for many years. He also took singing lessons with the contralist Elizabeth Wood in New Orleans , attended the opera workshops of the conductor and pianist Boris Goldovsky (1908-2001) in Oglebay Park (in West Virginia ), Pittsburgh and Tanglewood during the summer months and later studied with the mezzo-soprano Thelma Votipka (1906–1972) in New York .

Beginnings

Macurdy made his official stage debut under the musical direction of Walter Herbert (1898–1975) in the opening performance of the 1952/53 season at the New Orleans Opera as "Old Hebrew" in Samson et Dalila at the side of Ramon Vinay and Blanche Thebom . He sang at the New Orleans Opera until 1959, but during this time he made guest appearances relatively quickly at the leading opera houses in the United States. a. in Baltimore , Houston , Philadelphia and San Francisco .

At the Santa Fé Opera House he sang the role of Mr. Earnshaw in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's opera Wuthering Heights in July 1958 . In 1959 he made his New York City Opera debut as Dr. Wilson in Street Scene by Kurt Weill . He was then a permanent member of the New York City Opera until 1962.

Career at the MET

In 1962 Macurdy was engaged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he was part of the ensemble without interruption until 1997. There he sang over 60 different roles in a total of 1001 performances. Macurdy made his MET debut in December 1962 in the role of the conspirator Tom in the Verdi opera Un ballo in maschera . In his first season at the MET he continued to sing numerous " Comprimario " roles until he stepped in for Giorgio Tozzi at short notice in December 1963 as Conto Rodolfo in La sonnambula at the side of Joan Sutherland . This was followed by engagements for medium and large roles such as Il re and Timur . He also appeared there in two world premieres . In 1966, on the occasion of the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera house in New York's Lincoln Center , he took on the role of Agrippa in the world premiere of Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra . In March 1967 he sang the role of Ezra Mannon on the side of Evelyn Lear in the world premiere of the opera Mourning Becomes Electra by Marvin David Levy . In the 1973/74 season he sang Narbal in the MET premiere of Berlioz ' Les Troyens .

Macurdy's leading roles at the MET included a. Commander in Don Giovanni , Sarastro , Rocco , Daland , King Heinrich , Landgraf , Hunding (with Jon Vickers as Siegmund) and Gremin . There he also sang numerous roles in the Italian field ( Raimondo alongside Renata Scotto , Ferrando , Sparafucile , Conte Walter with Montserrat Caballé as a partner, Ramphis ).

His last role at the Metropolitan Opera was in May 2000 as Hagen in Wagner's Götterdämmerung under the musical direction of James Levine .

Guest performances

Macurdy has appeared in numerous other major international opera houses and music festivals throughout his career. In 1979 he made another guest appearance at the New York City Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor in the United States . from 1984 to 1986 he sang the roles of Hunding and Hagen at the cyclical Ring performances in Seattle . In 1990 he appeared again at the San Francisco Opera as Hunding in Die Walküre .

In 1992 he performed as Daland at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires . In 1993 the Commander-in-Chief in Don Giovanni followed .

He made his European debut in 1965 as Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin at the Marseille Opera House . He later performed in Europe a. a. several times at the Grand Opéra Paris (debut in 1973, when Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande ), at the Teatro alla Scala (debut in 1974 when Rocco in Fidelio , 1984 as Landgraf with Dunja Vejzović as Venus), at the Scottish Opera in Glasgow , further to at the Bonn Opera (as Mephisto in Faust's Damnation in the production by Jean-Claude Riber , at the premiere in 1983 and when the production was resumed in the 1990/91 season), in Geneva , Strasbourg , Lyon , several times in Marseille (1989, as Zaccaria in Nabucco ; 1992, as Don Pédro in L'Africaine ; 1996, as Fafner in Das Rheingold ), in Montpellier (1990, as Marcel in Die Huguenots at the opening of the Salle Berlioz in the newly built event center Corum; 1992, as Fiesco in Simone Boccanegra ), at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège (1995, as Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette ) and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (1976, as Arkel; 1992, as Trulove in The Rake's Progress ) and Orange (1976 , as King Henry).

At the Salzburg Festival in 1977 and 1978 he also appeared as Commander in Don Giovanni .

Private

John Macurdy was married to Justine May Votipka since 1958. His wife, who had studied piano at the University of Michigan , came from Detroit like him. The couple met during the summer months of 1955 at an opera workshop with Boris Goldovsky, where Votipka worked as a pianist and piano accompanist. The marriage had two children, a son and a daughter. For many years he lived in his partly self-built house in Santa Barbara ( California ). His hobbies included gardening and home improvement . Macurdy died in Stamford, Connecticut, aged 91.

Repertoire and sound recordings

John Macurdy, who had a "powerful, voluminous bass voice" (Kutsch / Riemens), sang a very extensive repertoire on stage, which included in particular the great bass roles in the operas of Mozart , Verdi and Wagner . With the exception of Rienzi, he sang all of Wagner's great bass parts (Daland, Landgraf, König Heinrich, Pogner , König Marke, Fasolt, Fafner, Hunding, Hagen and Gurnemanz ). According to him, his favorite roles were Gurnemanz and Father Guardian in The Force of Fate . He also appeared as a concert singer and sang a. a. under Sir Georg Solti in Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony .

Macurdy took part in numerous complete opera recordings. The studio recordings were u. a. Don Giovanni (CBS 1978, conductor: Lorin Maazel ), Béatrice et Bénédict ( DGG 1981, conductor: Daniel Barenboim ) and Otello (EMI 1985, conductor: Lorin Maazel). There are also numerous live recordings from the Metropolitan Opera.

In April 1960, Macurdy was a Commander in Don Giovanni in an NBC Opera Theater production alongside Leontyne Price and Cesare Siepi for the cast of one of the early live TV broadcasts of color operas . He also sang Commander in the opera adaptation of Don Giovanni (1979) by Joseph Losey .

literature

  • Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Volume 4: Kainz – Menkes. Fourth, enlarged and updated edition. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-11598-9 , pp. 2838/2839.
  • Karl Martyniak (Ed.): OPERAdat. Interpreter lexicon. Singer lexicon. Maass - Mazzucato. 2nd edition, Düsseldorf 1998, p. 2 (with list of roles).
  • Felicitas Zink: In conversation: JOHN MACURDY . In: Opernglas , September 1991 edition, pages 35/36.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f American bass John Macurdy has died . Death report and obituary. Klassik.com from May 15, 2020; accessed on May 27, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Francisco Salazar: Obituary: Metropolitan Opera Bass John Macurdy Dies at 91 . Obituary. In: Operawire of May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Ronald Blum: John Macurdy, bass who sang 1,001 times at Met, dies at 91 .AP News from May 14, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  4. ↑ Macurdy, John Bass . List of performances (selection). Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  5. ↑ Macurdy, John Bass . List of performances (complete). Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  6. ↑ Un Ballo in Maschera Metropolitan Opera House: 12/8/1962 . Occupation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  7. ^ Antony and Cleopatra (World Premiere) . Occupation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  8. ^ Mourning Becomes Electra (World Premiere) . Occupation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  9. ^ Les Troyens (Metropolitan Opera Premiere) . Occupation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  10. ↑ Götterdämmerung . Occupation. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  11. ^ Wolfgang A. Mozart Don Giovanni . Occupation 1977. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  12. ^ Wolfgang A. Mozart Don Giovanni . Occupation 1978. Accessed May 27, 2020.
  13. ↑ George, Collins: Detroit Singer Ahead of Schedule . In: Detroit Free Press, May 25, 1963. Page 12.
personal data
SURNAME Macurdy, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McCurdy, John Edward (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (bass)
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 2020
Place of death Stamford , Connecticut , United States