Heldentenor sing-off - Siegmund's Valse cry from Walkure - 13 tenors

Thirteen heldentenors of the last hundred years sing Siegmund's tortured cry during the first act of Die Walküre:

Wälse! Wälse!
Wo ist dein Schwert?
Das starke Schwert,
das im Sturm ich schwänge,
bricht mir hervor aus der Brust,
was wütend das Herz noch hegt?

Your tenors are in chronological order:

1. Lauritz Melchior - Metropolitan Opera, 1940, c. Erich Leinsdorf
2. Max Lorenz - Berlin, 1941
3. Set Svanholm - Met 1954, c. Fritz Stiedry
4. Ramón Vinay - Covent Garden, 1957, c. Rudolf Kempe
5. Wolfgang Windgassen - Bayreuthe 1960, c. Rudolf Kempe
6. Mario del Monaco - Stuttgart 1966, c. Ferdinand Leitner
7. Jon Vickers - Salzburg Festival 1967, c. Herbert von Karajan
8. James King - Bayreuth 1969, c. Lorin Maazel
9. Jess Thomas - San Francisco Opera 1972, c. Otmar Suitner
10. Peter Hofmann - Bayreuth 1978, c. Pierre Boulez
11. Siegfried Jerusalem - Bayreuth 1983, c. Georg Solti
12. Plácido Domingo - Metropolitan Opera 1997, c. James Levine
13. Robert Dean Smith - Bayreuth 2001, c. Adam Fischer

And some theatrical magic brings us to the end of Act 1!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Richard
• Wagner
• Bayreuther
• Festspiele
• Die
• Walkure
• Ramon
• Vinay
• Melchior
• heldentenor
• heroic
• tenor
• Placido
• Domingo
• Max
• Lorenz
• James
• King
• Jon
• Vickers

[BetterMario]

Mario Del Monaco, di gran lunga sopra tutti....

[Aetion]

Although I don’t like this sort of “competitions”, mainly because the recordings are not always of the same quality, I would also go for Mario del Monaco. IMHO, the difference is obvious. And here we are again: MATTER OF TASTE!

[FacePaster]

If we're just judging the quality of the "Waelse"s alone I think the winners are in no particular order:

Mario del Monaco, James King, Max Lorenz and Peter Hofmann (though I wish he had sustained them a bit longer). Obviously massive credit to Melchior for longness of breath. And honorable mention to Placido Domingo.

[Isolde227]

One should say Melchior, and his Wälse is the most prelongend and therefore the most impressive I guess. But my favourites are James King, Jon Vickers, Peter Hofmann and Siegfried Jerusalem, not necessarily in that order. And I was disappointed that there wasn't a recording of René Kollo among these giants, because I think he belongs among them as well.

[56mikeo]

Do yourselves a favor and find Ludwig Suthaus singing this.

[FunkMan53]

I was at the performance in 1969!

[FunkMan53]

05:31 James King!

[mremile72]

love the 4.02 version :)

[Tilantelcontar]

I thought he would never come to an end ;)

[TheCoolSoprano]

There's something good to be said for every one of them, but after Melchior, everyone else sounded like an out-of-breath pansy.

[Pitagoriko17]

The best: Melchior.