Lauritz Melchior

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lauritz Melchior (right) with Elisabeth Rethberg and Michael Bohnen on their way to New York in 1932

Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel Melchior (born March 20, 1890 in Copenhagen , † March 19, 1973 in Santa Monica , California ) was a Danish opera singer ( hero tenor ). Along with Max Lorenz, he is considered to be the greatest Wagner tenor of the first half of the 20th century.

Life

Melchior made his debut after studying at the Royal Opera School in Copenhagen in 1913, first in the baritone role of Silvio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci and then took singing lessons with Vilhelm Herold, a Danish Wagner - tenor , the umschulte him to the tenor. The recommendation to change subjects came from the alto and mezzo-soprano Mme. Charles Cahier . In 1918 he sang one of the great Wagner roles as Tannhäuser for the first time, although he continued to take on baritone roles if necessary. It was not until 1921 that he decided on a pure tenor career and left Denmark. In Munich, Melchior was trained by the Wagner interpreter Anna Bahr-Mildenburg .

Lauritz Melchior's unique career as a Wagner interpreter began on May 14, 1924 in Covent Garden , London, in the role of Siegmund in Die Walküre . In the same year he made his first appearance at the Bayreuth Festival , and a year later he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera . On February 17, 1926, Tannhauser began a triumphant career at the Met in New York , which he remained loyal to until February 2, 1950. He remained particularly friendly with Siegfried Wagner , the son of Richard Wagner , for whom he sang all major tenor roles (except for Lohengrin ) from 1924 until his death in 1930 (and at the Bayreuth Festival in 1931) . Lauritz Melchior shaped the Wagner operas with his powerful and clear, always baritonal voice.

With Kirsten Flagstad he formed the undisputed best Tristan and Isolde couple of the 1930s: the two sang the title roles in all 48 performances of this opera at the New York Met between 1935 and 1941.

It is still unclear why Melchior ended his stage career abruptly in February 1950. Reports that his voice had clearly lost its radiance are apparently due to a targeted disinformation by the then Met director Rudolf Bing . The penultimate Lohengrin performance is recorded on phonograms - the voice of the 59-year-old tenor sounds fresh and radiant there. Melchior himself writes about this in his memoirs:

"After a Lohengrin performance, I said very simply: Now the swan is going all the way home."

Melchior is buried in the Assistens cemetery in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen .

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jens Malte Fischer : Big Voices , JB Metzler 1993 ISBN 3-476-00893-2 , p. 265 ( preview on Google Books ).

Web links

Audio samples

personal data
SURNAME Melchior, Lauritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melchior, Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish opera singer (hero tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1973
Place of death Santa Monica , California