Melchior

Summary

Dominique Pagani regards Lauritz Melchior as the greatest Wagnerian tenor, a judgement he repeats several times in 202112. He describes a velvet voice of phenomenal power and relates that the singer was discovered while singing on a staircase3. What he chiefly retains is the combination of strength and gentleness: a masculine, powerful singing that nonetheless dares every tenderness and every vulnerability, particularly under Bruno Walter's baton4. He links this gentleness to an Italian manner, which he finds remarkable in a Danish singer. He cites Melchior in connection with Wagnerian conductors and casts, mentioning a Tristan sung with Frida Leider under Furtwängler5. In his sessions on Götterdämmerung, he states that no tenor has reached his level in the role of Siegfried, and that he remains unequalled in the scene of Siegfried's death62.

1. 1#10 The two Klemperers and Bruno Walter in Wagner18 Jan 2021 · 39:58
2. 2#9.19 Twilight of the Gods, or from repetition to liberation (part 2)14 Apr 2021 · 1:20:27
3. 3Wagner and his interpreters, approaching Clouscard, Marx = Theseus?31 Mar 2021 · 19:42
4. 4Wagner and his interpreters, approaching Clouscard, Marx = Theseus?31 Mar 2021 · 41:21
5. 5Wagner and his interpreters, approaching Clouscard, Marx = Theseus?31 Mar 2021 · 33:50
6. 6#9.18 Twilight of the Gods, or from repetition to liberation3 Apr 2021 · 1:26:42

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.