Wagner: Tristan Death Scene with Claude Heater

Herbert von Karajan engaged Claude in '58 at the Vienna Staatsoper as a baritone and took him to La Scala to sing in his Tristan and Isolde with Birgit Nilsson. Claude later sang the same role with Birgit at Bayreuth Festspiel Haus Claude also debuted at the same time in 1966 as Siegmund to Gwyneth Jones Sieglinde in Wagners Die Walkurie. His first Tristan was in Hannover, Germany where after the grueling 5 hour opera he bowed for another 26 minutes of applause! He prepared the role in Munich and Salzburg under the guidance of Max Lorenz who was the favorite Tristan in Europe while Lauritz Melchoir sang it at the Metropolitan Opera......www.claudeheater.com is Claude's web site, please visit.

After his debut as Tristan Claude sang it in eight different productions in one year including The Festival of Two Worlds with Giancarlo Menotti at Spoletto and Trieste, as well as the Lyceo in Barcelona and the Hamburg Opera with Birgit Nilsson followed by the Dresden Opera with Astrid Varnay.

He finished his Boston Otello with Renata Tebaldi and Ramon Vinay as Iago and took a midnight plane to Italy where he had a staged orchestra rehearsal of Tristan in Genoa the next day. Both his Bayreuth and La Scala debuts came in 1966 as Siegmund with Gwyneth Jones and Erik with Leonie Rysanek.

He had five seasons at Barcelonas Lyceo singing Tristan, Tannhauser, Siegmund, Siegfried that he staged as well. Montserrat Caballe stepped in for an ailing Anja Silja to sing the Elizabeth as a favor to Claude who sang with her in her first Tosca, Nedda in Pagliacci and Marta in Tiefland in Basel, Switzerland.

This Tristan is the first full length film Claude Heater has done since the 1958 Academy Award film Ben Hur where William Wyler cast him in the role of The Christ. Charlton Heston spoke highly of his performance in his book An Actors Life. Chuck and Claude appeared together in 2003 at the Academy of Arts in Los Angeles in Ben Hur's last showing as the last two remaining actors in the film. See Youtube's, Ben Hur meets Jesus. The role of Jesus had special meaning for Claude having been a former Mormon Missionary at 19.

Mormons worship a Jesus Christ but it is not the Bible Jesus who forgave all and while dying on the cross, said to the thief in Luke 23:43 Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Mark 8:12 says so likewise shall the Son of man be buried [three days] in the bowels of the earth. In contrast, Joseph Smiths Jesus Christ called by the same name and title, left the cross to personally slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children in North and South America during the 3 days before resurrection. At least that is what Smith says in his Book of Mormon. See 3 Nephi Chapters 8-9 and 9:15! (Read also 'Fatal flaws of The Most Correct Book on Earth' by Claude Heater. Amazon.com)

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[Sieglinde84]

Whoa! Great singing and also super-realistic set. The grass looks perfectly real.

[tantris3]

@Sieglinde84 Not sure what 84 is to you, but I just turned 84. The grass looks real because it is. We did the whole film in 1968 on location in Belgium. I am glad you liked the singing. Where did you sing your last Sieglinde? I sang Siegmund with Gwyneth Jones at Bayreuth in 1966. I am working on chapters for the whole film and hope to make it available. Claude

[GERMANYFrankie]

One of the best voices I ever heard. Beautiful timbre and power! Such voices are so rare to find! I'm really impressed! Thank you so much for this posting!

[tantris3]

@GERMANYFrankie Thank you Frankie for your kind remarks. I sang this 42 years ago, I am now 83 and can still make sounds like 40 yrs ago. I heard many of your recordings. You have a remarkable voice some arias sound like a young Melchoir I heard live. You've listened to the best recordings and managed to do very well without a teacher. I started my voice from scratch and only worked with a teacher 6 months at age 18. Your Esultate has amazing breath control. Overall, pay more attention to pitch

[tenorschofield]

Bravooo!!! he is wonderful!!!!. It is true that baritones with high notes can make into Heldentenors, but then, you have to have the talent to perform and mantain a healthy vocal emision in a higher tessiture... I guess that also having the "physic du role" helps a lot!!!. I don't know, probably been a dramatic tenor or heldentenor is a "natural vocal category" that has been misunderstood, due to "zanzara tenors" of this days, that cannot afford to sing this heavy roles. Heater is Wunderbar!!

[tantris3]

@tenorschofield Thank you so much and happy New Year.

[tenorschofield]

@tantris3 Dear maestro it is an honor for me to hear you and to learn from you!!!...Vielen Dank für dir Ratschlag!!!...ein gutes neues Jahr!!!!

[TheTristan1954]

@tantris3 

[tantris3]

@witness124 Just so you know I couldn't even sing in the choir when young, but have developed a method to create such a voice in any 'musical' singer male or female if they can follow instructions!

[witness124]

@tantris3 Then, Sir, I must say that you have the most remarkable voice i've ever heard.