The king of heldentenors, Lauritz Melchior was born in 1890 in Copenhagen and began his career in 1913 as a baritone. In 1918, having switched to the tenor repertoire, he made his debut as Tannhäuser. While singing in London, he was noticed by the novelist Sir Hugh Walpole, who wrote: “The joy of the evening was a Danish tenor, Melchior—quite superb. Just the voice for me.” The two met for lunch, and soon after began their great friendship. Walpole arranged for voice lessons, accompanying Melchior to Vienna and Munich. His coach Anna von Mildenburg foretold that soon he would have “the world at his feet.”

From 1924 to 1931 he sang at Bayreuth, from 1926 to 1939 at Covent Garden, and from 1926 to 1950 at the Metropolitan Opera, making his debut there as Tannhäuser. By 1935 he had sung all over the world, mostly in the Wagnerian repertoire. His powerful physique (he was 6’4” tall and weighed 250 pounds) and legendary stamina enabled him to enjoy all-night revels after a full evening’s performance of Siegfried or Tristan, only to sing again the next evening.

Affectionately called the Great Dane, he was described in the New York Times as “irreplaceable,” “a music immortal,” and “the greatest of all time.” He sang Tristan 230 times, Siegmund 181 times, Tannhäuser 141 times, the young Siegfried 128 times, the mature Siegfried 107 times, Lohengrin 104 times, and Parsifal 80 times. According to Siegfried Wagner, he also was the only singer whom Cosima applauded.

In his later years, he was featured in radio and television comedy and variety shows and in Hollywood films. His last role was Lohengrin in 1960 on his 70th birthday. The Norwegian Wagnerian singer Kirsten Flagstad, who was his frequent Isolde, telegraphed him on the occasion: “There was never anyone like you, Lauritz.”

-Dalia Geffen

Born in the Ukraine to desperately poor parents, Alexander Kipnis, who as a boy had a sweet soprano voice, was chosen by the local cantor to sing in a synagogue. In exchange for scrubbing the cantor’s boots, Kipnis received singing instruction. Thus began his incomparable singing career.

Later on, he developed a magnificent, powerful bass capable of tackling the most challenging roles, particularly in the Wagnerian repertoire. He also sang intimate lieder with great expressivity. Kipnis studied in Berlin and later sang with the Vienna and Berlin State Operas. He traveled widely and in 1931 became a U.S. citizen. Despite his Slavic accent, Kipnis’s burnished voice, even tone, and nobility of expression have never been surpassed, ensuring him an honored place in the pantheon of great singers. He may well be the best Wagnerian singer of the 20th century.

-Dalia Geffen

Ironically, the soprano Kirsten Flagstad, the most sought after Wagnerian soprano of the twentieth century, did not tackle heavy Wagnerian roles until she was 39. Until then, her repertoire consisted mostly of lyrical opera sung in Norway, her home country.

In 1933 her international career soared when the bass Alexander Kipnis recommended her to Bayreuth, which hired her to sing Ortlinde. Soon after, the Met asked her to sing Sieglinde in place of Frida Leider, who had decided not to return. This role was followed by Isolde and Brünnhilde, and by the end of that season Flagstad had won over the hearts of the American public. She was often paired with the Danish tenor Lauritz Melchior, whose pranks did not amuse her. In turn, some of her colleagues and critics found her rather dour.

In her later years her voice took on a matronly timbre, which some critics find objectionable. Nevertheless, her superb musicianship (she had grown up in a musical family), rich, full, and even tone, and dedication to her art won her rave reviews. After World War II, she was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and went on trial in Norway. Cleared of any wrongdoing, she nevertheless encountered serious opposition at her U.S. concerts.

In 1953, although she had retired from the stage, she sang Isolde in the famed EMI recording conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. Flagstad, who was not happy with the two high Cs in the “Liebes Nacht” (Love’s Night), agreed to have Elisabeth Schwarzkopf dub them for her.

In her later years she sang Fricka for the first time, conducted by Georg Solti. Until the end, Flagstad’s vocal technique never faltered, a remarkable feat. She will always be remembered as one of the great voices of the twentieth century, particularly by Wagnerians.

-Dalia Geffen

Max Lorenz was one of the finest exponents of the Heldentenor Fach during the period when Germany was undergoing the transition from a country with severe economic and social problems to submission to a megalomaniacal leader with dreams of world domination. Those were trying times for a young man with his own dreams—that of becoming a famous opera singer. Lorenz’s father was a butcher and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. The family name was Suelzenfuss, which means “pork foot.” How apt for someone in that line of work! Lorenz changed his name at the first opportunity.

Despite the protestations of his father (and without his knowledge at first), Lorenz studied singing, first with Professor Pauli in Cologne, and later with Professor Grenzebach in Berlin. Lauritz Melchior and Alexander Kipnis also studied with Herr Grenzebach, and young Lorenz would spend all day with his teacher, listening to every word he spoke and every sound that came from the other students, using them to improve his own status as a singer. At 25 Max entered a vocal contest and was offered a contract with the Dresden State Opera. His father’s resistance finally evaporated, and his obvious pride in his son’s accomplishment pleased Lorenz very much.

His first principal role in Dresden was as Menelas in the premiere of Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena, a daunting assignment to be sure. That was followed by Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner, all in leading roles. In 1931 he crossed the Atlantic, and in New York sang with the Metropolitan Opera. Although some critics found his voice not to their liking, he expressed great affection for America, and especially loved meeting his Metropolitan colleagues and hearing what he called “the greatest voices in the world.”

He sang in Milan, Florence, London, Vienna, Amsterdam, and, in 1933, Bayreuth. From 1933 to 1944 he appeared there every summer, singing everything from Lohengrin to Parsifal. The Austrian Marcel Prawy claimed at the time that Lorenz was “a prominent homosexual.” It was said that he married only to hide his orientation. In 1936, when further appearances at Bayreuth seemed in jeopardy, Winifred Wagner, granddaughter of Richard and Cosima, stepped in, and with the approval of Adolf Hitler, allowed him to continue. In fact, several writers have insisted that he was Hitler's “favorite” and “the Third Reich’s star tenor.”

After the war, he continued to sing with major companies. He was a Vienna regular until the arrival of Herbert von Karajan. He sang Tristan to Maria Callas’s Isolde and Tannhäuser to Renata Tebaldi’s Elisabeth. In later years, he sang roles in operetta and musicals, including Buffalo Bill in Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. After his farewell appearance in Vienna in 1962 as Herodes in Strauss’s Salome, he was appointed to a professorship at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He died on January 12, 1975.

–Angelo Mammano

Possessed of great majesty and intelligence, Hotter was like no other singer. Imposing on the stage and yet embodying exceptional humanity, he was the preeminent Wotan of the European stage (his “Leb wohl” [Act 3 of Die Walküre] is unrivaled). Hotter made a number of recordings, not only as Wotan but also in the role of the Holländer, Sachs, Gurnemanz, Amfortas, and many others. His “Wie aus der Ferne” (in Act 2 of Der fliegende Holländer) with Birgit Nilsson (on EMI’s 4-disc Les Introuvables du Chant Wagnérien) is searing in its intensity. Hotter’s woofy and sometimes unruly bass-baritone was not to everyone’s liking. The Met wanted to relegate him to secondary roles, to their detriment. He sang there for four seasons.

Hotter was also a superb interpreter of Schubert lieder, capable of conveying exquisite sensitivity and subtle artistry despite his large vocal endowment. In later years he developed an ominous wobble in his voice; with great effort, he was able to control it and continue singing.

When Hotter quit the stage, he taught in his native Germany and served as an inspiration for younger singers, coaching James Morris, the Met’s current Wotan, at the start of his Wagnerian career.

-Dalia Geffen

Astrid Varnay was the first soprano to sing Brünnhilde at the 1951 reopening of the Bayreuth Festival after a seven-year hiatus. In the fifties and sixties, she was a major figure at the Festspielhaus and sang every dramatic soprano role there.

The daughter of Hungarian singers, Varnay and her family emigrated from Sweden to the United States when she was two. The world of opera had always been a major part of her life, and to this day she is involved with the Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera) in Munich, where she resided until her death.

Thanks to her voluminous voice and lively acting skills, Varnay enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Her total immersion in her roles made her eminently suitable for the Wagnerian and Straussian repertoires. Under the baton of the famed conductor Erich Leinsdorf, she made her debut at the Met on December 6, 1941, when Lotte Lehmann, who was slated to sing Sieglinde, fell ill with a cold. Varnay was asked to step into Lehmann’s shoes at short notice, thrilling the audience with her expansive singing and confident manner. Noël Straus wrote in the New York Times, “Sieglinde, in Miss Varnay’s hands, was one of the most satisfying and convincing portrayals the season has brought forth.” She was only twenty-three.

Varnay was equally successful in the world of Lieder, modulating her voice for a more intimate setting and shaping each note with great care. She married the conductor and repetiteur Hermann Weigert, who served as her accompanist at recitals. In this repertoire, Varnay successfully tackled Wagner’s rarely performed early French Lieder: “Dors, mon enfant,” Attente,” and “Mignonne.”

In 2000, Varnay’s autobiography was published. See her Fifty-five Years in Five Acts: My Life in Opera (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2000), with a foreword by Wolfgang Wagner.

-Dalia Geffen

She is a wonderful lady. More to come.