Michael Bohnen: Vous qui faites l'endormie from Faust (Gounod)

The great German bass-baritone sings Mephisto's serenade in German (Scheinst zu schlafen du im Stübchen), grammophone recording made in 1930. Bohnen is the best Mephistofeles I have ever heard. He is a brilliant vocal actor. He is vulgar, nasty, very evil. The video clips of the great Emil Jannings in Murnau's Faust movie (1926) are a perfect match. Btw, Emil Jannings was the first person ever to win an Oscar for Best Actor.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Faust
• Gounod
• Margarethe
• Bohnen
• Scheinst zu schlafen
• Mephisto
• Mefistofele
• Jannings
• Murnau
• Lang
• opera
• bass
• devil
• Reizen
• Teufel
• diavolo
• diablo
• Chaliapin
• Christoff
• Tibbett
• Ramey
• Siepi
• Nazzareno de Angelis
• Tu
• che
• fai
• l'addormentata
• Journet
• Pol
• Plancon
• Vous
• qui
• faites
• l'endormie
• серенада
• Мефистофеля
• из
• оперы
• Фауст
• serenade

[stevevandien]

And thank you; 1930 sounds right to me. Thanks so much for posting some of this unique singer's work:) --

[Imogenn]

My pleasure :)

Have you listened to another great German singer, Gerhard Hüsch? I will post some of his singing soon.

[stevevandien]

Great stuff. Bohnen sounds a little extreme to our ears today, but he had a well-deserved reputation as a singing actor. This, however, is clearly an electrical recording, so it had to have been made no earlier than 1925 --

[Imogenn]

Thanks, I think it is 1930.

[vstasov]

Thanks for this rare opportunity to hear Bohnen. Why is he forgotten?

[podkivanok]

Thank you very much! I love this serenade very much (especially in German) and like to compare the interpretations. Bohnen is the most cynical Mephistopheles, assured of his power on his victim. Like a cat playing with the mouse.

[hashatz]

Bohnen is one of the most exciting of singers. He had a wonderfully expressive voice and his timbre is beautiful. Simply put, a great artist!

[ashbyjay]

A great singer - I read somewhere that during Hitler's reign of terror over Germany he gave up singing until it was over and became a postman. 

[igormorosow]

What an interesting and unusual interpretation. IIt's the first time I've heard Michael Bohlen: thank you very much for it! It's always a pleasure to discover something (or somebody) new!

[saiserieht]

Wow! One of my fav singers! I will tend to your quizzes in the near future, although they are ungodly difficult ,-)

[MaestroAmduscias]

Stupendo! Che video intenso, che interpretazione meravigliosa! Grazie mille per averlo caricato! Geniale!

[1duefoscari]

Artistry is lost today due to expectations of misinterpreted traditions. It dosent get more clear than this when it comes to using what the composer wrote an the vocal attrbutes nature gave you

[Chiliarches]

GOOD GRIEF! That was splendid - thank you so much for posting this!

[Turandot5]

Здорово!Браво!

[Dobrib]

Excellent ! Bravo! TY.

[nnsochedirti]

grazie per questo video è qualcosa di commovente e fantastico