James King "Morgenlicht leuchtend im rosigen Schein"

[1155north]

I had the great honor/pleasure to sing with Jimmy at my late teacher's (Walter Cassel) memorial concert at IU in 2000. He sang a beautiful farewell and I led the standing ovation - he deserved it for the singing and for his magnificent career. He paid me a wonderful compliment - "Boy, I hope you're at the Met! If not, you SHOULD be!" Made my millenium. This is the bravest, most beautiful singing of this piece I've ever heard. Thank you for posting it.

[dg6da]

Wow, great, one of the best versions of this aria. james King is a powerhouse, a heroic singer with a glamorous voic, a lot of squillo. Great german diction. Today, there is no singer who can sing it like this!

[TedinNY]

Love this recording. Thank you so much for posting.

Also: I first heard of this great tenor through his recording of Otello. Yet there is no trace of it on YouTube. This is a terrible shame. Could you please post some excerpts? Thanks so much. And congratulations once again. What a man!!! What an artist!!!!

[coryisawake]

Classy interpretation without sounding sentimental. Thanks!

[aviryd]

goose bumps oh ! every heroic piece of music king touches with his warm deep stable voic-colour , heavenly sound.so so beautiful.

[DaveMuc]

I claim Jimmy also as a friend...A wonderful heldentenor, and the most lovely man....Miss him very much, but these recordings are here to enojoy and shed a tear or two. R I P

[56mikeo]

I was at a concert at Tanglewood in which he performed excerpts of "Tristan und Isolde" under Bernstein with Rita Hunter singing Isolde (this was sometime in the late 70s). Unfortunately, Bernstein announced halfway through that King couldn't continue as he had been struggling with laryngitis that week. It's too bad as he has always been my favorite Wagnerian tenor.

[Canuckoperafan]

A great singer! Bravo!!! What a bright, true tenor sound, and very different from the baritenors that sometimes sing this role.  What year was this recorded?

[baritoneortenor]

From the very first phrase, I am swept away in wonder at maestro King's phenomenal singing and voice. This literally took my breath away. And to think I only missed him at Indiana University by just a couple years!

[supxor]

Aas a voice faculty member at Indiana University, where the great James King taught, I, each day when passing by his former house in Bloomington, am reminded by this truth: James King was the greatest helden tenor that America has ever produced.

[Pywacket2]

America's greatest heldentenor. A long career and the most generous, nurturing teacher. How wonderful these recordings are accessible through YouTube.

[opera1232010]

He's a reference for all herique tenors all around the world. We are not a lot in these time.

Very very good recording from him...Thanks to share it with us.

God bless you

Pierre

[cenerentolinetta]

dear uploader, do you happen to know if the picture at 1:15 was taken at the salzburger festspiele? if yes, and you know when (i hope approximately 30-35 years ago...), i really would appreciate if you could tell me so. i wondered if a strangely familiar lady happens to be a friend of mine. yours sincerely, c.

[aidavdbrake]

your title: morgenlich, not morgenlicht (adverb, not noun)

[canzonettasullaria]

@aidavdbrake

it does mean: morgendlich

[Tirreno1954]

I heard him at La Scala, dec 1974, as Florestan in Fidelio. Never heard a so wonderful and majestic voice singing "Gott! Welch dunkel hier" like that... UNFORGETTABLE KING

[tenorschofield]

Bravooo!!! Thanks for posting. What a great heldentenor was this gentleman. Is he alive?,does he teaches?. Woww !!!!Great!!!!

[operacrasher]

Definitely one of the great heldentenors of the 20th century. He definitely deserves to be mentioned "in the same breath" as Melchior,Vickers,Vinay,Wingass­en,etc.

[orson15]

I first heard this recording on a radio show in about '95.

I was immediately taken with the heroic majesty of it all!

What a great singer!

[oresteus]

I think that both this and the Rienzi Aria are a part of the same Album, famous Wagner Aria's conducted by Solti.

[montestone]

What a beautiful tribute. I studied with him. Wonderful man!

[ramqen951]

This is lovely. I know he does a sensational Rienzi's Prayer which i hope you might have.

[JamesKingArchive]

@ramqen951 I have Rienzi's Prayer somewhere. I'll post it as soon as I can.

[ironfuscia]

to sound beautiful and to sound just right for wagner, at the same time, is quite a feat. most heldentenors sound like they just got kicked in the nuts but it doesn't bother them in the least. "go ahead, kick me again." *kick!* "waaaaaaaaaaaaalse!"

[3tristan]

I love his voice and saw him in Bayreuth 1965 and 1966 as Siegmund (with Leonie Rysanek as Sieglinde) and in 1970 as Parsifal.(with Gwyneth Jones as Kundry). I shall never forget his voice and always recognize the sound of it directly. Majestic like Vickers and Windgassen. I never heard King as Tristan. Did he ever sing Tristan??

[JamesKingArchive]

I remember my father saying that he sang Tristan in concert somewhere but as far as I know, he never sang the Opera live as he was worried about his voice.

[Obaysch]

@JamesKingArchive He sang Act 2 with the Boston Symphony in 1869, prepared it in 1984-5 for a series of concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker with Jessye Norman and Lothar Zagrozek. These were to have been recorded, but were cancelled due to the withdrawal of Miss Norman. There are bootleg discs of the Act 2 performance with dreadful sound, if I find them, I'll send them to you.

[baritoneortenor]

Thank you so much for posting this-- YouTube has been dreadfully short on James King clips in the last few years.

[jschultz4]

This is so great - I am so happy you're posting hist singing. I wish I had gotten to meet him.

[jeromelisette]

I knew James King personally and I last time I heard him, he was singing in "Elektra" and sounded great. He told me that his secret was the 18th and 19th century Italian songs. I think he has one of the most magnificent voices I have ever heard and so much longevity. He was 73 at the time. He outlasted most of the great "Heldentenöre. Of course, no one could outdo Melchior, a genuine god in my opinion, but Jimmy sings better!

[Vairguy09]

As a Doctoral student, I studied with Mr. King in the late 1980's, and agree that he firmly believes in the Italian art songs as being critical to vocal technique and production. And, he, of course, was the perfect example. Over 70 years old, belting out high A's and B's. He was devoted to his students and any student who took singing seriously. To me, he was a "Meistersinger"!!!