Lauritz Melchior

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Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel Melchior -often misspelled Melchoir- (March 20, 1890 – March 18, 1973) was a Danish, later American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian tenor of the late 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type.

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the young Melchior was a boy soprano and amateur singer before starting his first operatic vocal studies under Paul Bang at the Royal Opera School, Copenhagen, at age 18 in 1908.

In 1913 Melchior made his debut in the baritone role of Silvio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci at the Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater) in Copenhagen. He sang mostly secondary baritone and bass roles for the Royal Danish Opera and provincial Scandianavian opera companies for the next few years.

One night, while on tour, Melchior helped an ailing soprano in Il Trovatore by singing a high C in the Act IV Leonora-Di Luna duet. The Azucena of that performance, the American contralto Mme Charles Cahier, impressed by the tone she had heard, gave her young colleague sound advice: he was no baritone, but a tenor "with the lid on". She even wrote to the Royal Opera pleading that Melchior be given a sabbatical and a stipend to restudy his voice. This he did between 1917 to 1918, taking lessons from the noted Danish tenor Vilhelm Herold (1865-1937) who had sung Wagnerian rôles in Covent Garden, Chicago and elsewhere from 1900 to 1915. This proved to be a turning point in Melchior's career. His high baritone voice was recast into that of a low tenor, but with a strong high extension. His second debut was on 8 October 1918 in the title rôle of Tannhäuser, also at the Royal Opera, Copenhagen.

In 1920, Melchior visited England, singing in an experimental radio broadcast to the Scandinavian capital cities from the Marconi Station in Chelmsford. From 1920, Melchior was a frequent performer in London, appearing at Sir Henry Joseph Wood's Promenade Concerts in Queens Hall. While at London he met the popular novelist and passionate Wagnerite Hugh Walpole, who provided the fledgling heldentenor with financial aid. Additional studies under Victor Beigel, Ernst Grenzebach and the legendary dramatic soprano of the Vienna Court Opera, Anna Bahr von Mildenburg, kept Melchior occupied until 1923. Word of his talent spread and was heard of by Cosima and Siegfried Wagner at Bayreuth. There the re-opening of the Festival for 1924 was under preparation. Melchior was engaged to sing Siegmund and Parsifal. This prestigious contract opened the way to several other appearances, e.g. a Wagner concert with Frida Leider in Berlin, 1923. Around this time several acoustic records were made for Polydor.

On 14 May 1924 Lauritz Melchior made his debut, as Siegmund, at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, London. The result was a smashing success. Some weeks later Melchior made his debut on the stage of the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth in the rôles of Siegmund and Parsifal. On 17 February 1926 his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, New York took place. He sang Tannhäuser opposite Maria Jeritza, Friedrich Schorr, Karin Branzell and Michael Bohnen (!), Artur Bodanzky conducting. Although he was not adversely criticized, there was not much enthusiasm elicited by this debut. In his first season at the Met Melchior sang only 8 times. His second season brought only one appearance. To build up his repertory and gain more stage experience, he accepted an engagement at the Hamburg State Opera, where he appeared as Lohengrin, Otello, Rhadamès and Jean van Leyden in Meyerbeer's Le prophète. He also sung regularly at other major German music theaters, like the State Operas of Berlin and Munich.

Although Melchior sang at most of the theatres and concert halls of the Western world during his long career, he is perhaps best remembered as a member of the Metropolitan Opera company, where he sang 519 performances of his Wagnerian roles between 1926 and 1950. Melchior's breakthrough at the Met finally arrived with his performance of Tristan on 20 March, 1929. From this moment he went from success to success. It was Lohengrin's Farewell which served as Melchior's "Swan Song" in his last stage performance, on 2 February, 1950.

Melchior appeared at Covent Garden from 1924 to 1939, also as Otello and Florestan, besides the Wagnerian repertory. Other important stations of his career were Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón) (1931-1943), San Francisco Opera (1934-1945) and Chicago Opera (1934-1945).

Melchior made very many recordings, first as a baritone on Danish HMV, then as a tenor for Deutsche Grammophon—Polydor (1923-1930), English and German HMV (1927-1935), RCA Victor (1938-1941) American Columbia (1942-1950) and lastly Warner Brothers. His final apperance with Danish radio in 1960, a performance of the First Act of Die Walküre to celebrate his 70th birthday, was recorded and constitutes a terrific souvenir of the indestructible, indeed almost supernatural Melchior in full flight.

Some of Melchior's most notable colleagues in the opera houses of the world included the sopranos Frida Leider, Kirsten Flagstad, Lotte Lehmann, Helen Traubel, Marjorie Lawrence and Elisabeth Rethberg and the conductors Felix Weingartner, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Fritz Reiner, Thomas Beecham, Arturo Toscanini, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, and Otto Klemperer.

Between 1944 and 1952, Melchior performed in 5 Hollywood musical films for Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer and Paramount Pictures and made numerous US television appearances. In 1947, he put his hand and footprints in cement in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood.

Following his unofficial retirement around 1955, Melchior made sporadic singing appearances. In the late 1960s, he set up a fund through Juilliard for the training of potential heldentenors called "The Lauritz Melchior Heldentenor Foundation."

An American citizen since 1947, Melchior died in Santa Monica, California in 1973. He is buried in the famous Assistens Kirkegaard cemetery in Copenhagen.

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