Wagner Tristan Act 2 duet last part Claude Heater

The Jesus of the film 'Ben Hur' 10 years later sings the most romantic love duet ever! Isolde, Jacqueline van Quaile shot at the 11th Century Castle in Ghent, Belgium. In '58 Herbert von Karajan engaged Claude 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 and 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. Visit Claude's website at www.claudeheater.com

See Claude's web site at www.claudeheater.com
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, Italy 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, first Nedda in Pagliacci and Marta in Tiefland in Basel, Switzerland, a role also sung by Maria Callas

This is the first full length film Claude has done since the 1958 Academy Award film Ben Hur where William Wyler cast him as 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. See his Web Site http://web.me.com/claudeheater/www.claudeheater.com/Welcome.html

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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[tantris3]

Thanks you for your lovely comment. You are right, there are some important scenes missing. I am working on making chapters for a DVD, but at 84 and 44 years since I made the film, I am not as productive as I was then. I have tried to contact Jacqueline but without success.

[klavierspieler72]

Simply extraordinary singing, Mr. Heater. Thank you and God bless.

[tantris3]

@klavierspieler72 Thank you for your kind comment...I just wish that today you could find productions that created the visual the composer intended. It was from watching this film that Giancarlo Menotti hired me to sing the role for his Festival of Two Worlds at Spoletto, Italy in 1968, a CD was made from the Trieste production.

[Aussiejabuh]

Very beautiful, very moving, and very captivating. I can't wait to see this on DVD when it comes out. There are two scenes missing from the videos in YouTube. They are Isolde's Curse Song and Liebestod sung by Jacqueline van Quaile.

[HachiHaruChika101]

Such voices...such expression! Top hole.

[evstreet]

Beautiful! So full of emotion and fantastic voices. What a spectacular duet. Thanks so much for sharing it.

[spottalemt]

Just googled Claude Heater and we finally see the face of the Ben Hur Jesus. He seems no less sensitive as Tristan. Bravo.

[JSJ1121]

It is wonderful to listen and watch one of the most romantic music with great couple with convincing acting.

We rarely see this type of ideal looking Opera Singers with very convincing acting with great voices in Wagner repertoire. Heater and Van Quaile are superb! It is really a treaure. It is very beautiful scene. Thank you.