Lawrence Tibbett sings "Leb wohl du kühnes herrliches Kind" Part I

To my ears Lawrence Tibbett and George London remain the supreme interpreters of this magnificient "aria". Power, grace and emotional expression remain unequaled.The illustrious Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra (recorded 1934 in Camden).

It is unfortunate that Tibbett never sang any other Wagner roles besides Wolfram and Kothner (Die Meistersinger). He did sing Hans Sachs, which he considered his dream role, in a gala evening, but only the 3rd act and also in English. There are recordings (although not in my possession) of him singing both monologues in studio (and also in English). I have heard the "Was duftet doch der Flieder" and it is magnificient! I have the only existing recording of him as Wolfram from 1936 with Lauritz Melchior as Tannhäuser, Kirsten Flagstad as Elisabeth and Margarete Halstead as Venus. What a cast! Although the sound quality is at times terribly poor it is to me perhaps the greatest recording of this opera on record.

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Music

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• Primobaritono

[etucker82]

I don't know about supreme - Tibbett's voice strikes me as too light for the more powerful passages (George London on the other hand is as close to ideal as I've ever heard). But the softness he brings to the second half is wonderful.

The real miracle here strikes me as Stokowski, who gets the Philadelphians to sound like Bayreuthers (especially the strings).

[primobaritono]

Well in Tibbett's defense: I have read that the recording microphone was placed quite far away from him when they made this record. In my opinion Tibbett's voice was certainly not too light in any case. His colleagues said that his voice was huge, larger than John Charles Thomas. One can get a feel for the expansiveness of his voice very well in the live broadcasts from the Met.

[stevevandien]

Given the majesty of Tibbett's voice at its best (buttressed by superb technique, again in his prime) AND his acting skill, he could well have been a Wotan for the ages:) --

[eugenenikitin]

there are not bad ore good singers, all are different. wagners musik is immortal

[FlintDeep]

Do you hear Thomas Stewart and Von Karajan???;) the best for me

[inter215]

@primobaritono You are correct. For example in the live 1936 MET Tannhauser when he sang Wolfram with Melchior Tibbett's voice sounds about the same size as Melchior's during the scenes they shared. Tibbett always sounds completely at home in his Wagner recordings. Never pushed or overparted. So I also feel he probably could have sung Wotan easily on stage. Herbert Janssen, whose voice was even lighter than Tibbett's sang Wotan and Sachs at the MET during the 1940s.

[vstasov]

Thank you, Florida!

[sagalat]

The Great State of Florida SECONDS Herr Vstasov's motion.