#heldentenor

On June 3, 1936, the "Tannhäuser" opera was presented in the "Académie Nationale de Musique et de Danse" Paris.

The famous Lauritz Melchior sung the Titlerole, Marguerite Soyer as Venus and was Elisabeth.

On conductor's stand loop Philippe Gaubert .

Get it? Because Wagnerians are known for being somewhere within the dramatic fach, but having a bigger/heavier voice! :D

A Parsnip-fal

Richard Schubert as “Tannhäuser” R. Wagner.

Wilhelm Grüning (1858-1942) German tenor.

He made his debut (1881) in Danzig. He spent most of his career at the Hannover Opera and the Berlin Imperial Opera.

He was the son of a Berlin jeweller. He studied singing in Berlin under Julius Stern and Jenny Meyer and made his debut in 1881 at the Stadttheater in Gdansk as a lyric tenor, however, his voice changed about 1885 to the heroic tenor. From Gdansk he joined in the 1883-1885 seasons to the Opernhaus in Dusseldorf, then sang in the 1885-1887 seasons at the Deutschen Theater in Rotterdam. From 1888 to 1895 he appeared at the Hoftheater in Hannover, in the 1895-1898 seasons at the Stadttheater in Hamburg. In 1898 he joined to to the Hofoper in Berlin, where he  remained till 1911. From 1891 to 1897 he appeared at the Bayreuth festival as Parsifal, Tannhäuser, Siegfried and Walther von Stolzing in ‘’Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’’. His creation of the title role in R. Wagner’s ‘’Rienzi’’ counted at his time as an incomparable achievement. In 1899 he appeared at the Berlin Hofoper in the premiere of the (posthumous) operas ‘’Briseïs’’ of E. Chabrier, ‘’Cain’’ (1900) by E. d’Albert, ‘’Samson et Dalila’’ (1901) of C. Saint-Saëns, ‘’Der Pfeifertag’’ (1902) by M. von Schillings (after premiere in 1899 at the Hoftheater in Schwerin). He appeared as Faust in C. Gounod’s ‘’Faust’’ in a performance in which Geraldine Farrar made her debut at Berlin as Marguerite (15. 10. 1901). On 13. 12. 1904 he performed at the Berlin  Hofoper in the unsuccessful premiere of the opera ‘’Der Roland von Berlin’’ by R. Leoncavallo. On 21. 3. 1899 he sang there also in the premiere of A. Lortzing’s opera ‘’Regina’’ (48 years after the death of the composer!). He made guest appearances in London and Amsterdam and in the 1895-1896 season sang with the Damrosch Opera Company in the USA. Probably he retired from the stage in 1911 and was active in Berlin as vocal pedagogue. Married to the known dramatic soprano Antonie Mielke (1856-1907).

A Birthday salute to Paul Franz (1876-1950).

A very fine French tenor born in 1876 was Paul Franz, a direct successor to Affre and Escalis and France’s leading dramatic tenor. He had a very unusual beginning because he was at 32 years of age, when he took first prize in a singing competition organised by a music magazine, which eventually secured him his operatic debut in Nau in Lohengrin, at the age of 33, a very late starter indeed. Consider for example, that Anselmi had been singing for 13 years by the time he was 33. However, such was his initial success, that within a month, he had secured a contract at the Paris opera, for the same part as Lohengrin.

It was the beginning of an illustrious career at the opera, and in performances of Segued, Faust, Dan Houser, Sigmund, Radames and in particular, Samson & Delilah, he was often compared, not only to Affre but to Deresce himself, who had been idolised above all others at the Paris opera.

He first appeared in London in 1910 and despite strong competition from Dalmores in particular, he established himself at Covent Garden as leading French tenor until the war. His debut was in Samson & Delilah, with Ruiz Courbellun, and he was to repeat his success in this opera during his Covent Garden seasons.

So, let’s hear him then, in his Covent Garden debut role of Samson in the aria Arêtes O Mes Freres.

In Paris, he had also become the leading vigneron interpreter in succession to Ernest van Dijk. Making a great success in master singer, Tristan, and Siegfried and in 1913 he was the first pathe fal at the opera. In addition, he received acclaim in other operas, such as Le Cede, Profit, Herodiade by Jeuive, the damnation of Faust, Helene, and the Trojans. As well as many contemporary works no longer in repertoire.

His fore’s abroad were not particularly frequent. In 1915 he appeared at La Scala in Milan. Inevitably as Samson. And in 1918, he was at the Cologne in Buenos Aires. In 1923 he was engaged by Ginzburg at the Monte Carlo opera to create a tenor lead in Ginzburgs own composition by Christopher. But from then on, he preferred to remain at his beloved Paris opera, where he made his farewell in 1938, at a benefit gala for the Paris Conservatoire.

Here he is in a beautiful version of the Flower Song from Carmen, where after some lovely opening phrases, the voice builds up to a splendid ringing climax.

He recorded for three companies, HMV, Pathe and Colombia. The selections already heard, were from HMV records. Choosing two final records, I suppose, I should have included a Wagner selection, because of his fame as a vigneron singer. But of course, he sings the items in French, and this never sounds right to me, no matter how well sung.