Wow, that is a looooong "Wälse!" cry that you linked! :D
:) Lauritz Melchior holds some kind of record for this. He was THE Wagnerian Heldentenor of his generation. To make you like him: he actually started out as a baritone and would still do baritone stuff now and then in between wowing people as a tenor. To quote from his life description:
By this time, Melchior was an apprentice artist with Copenhagen’s Royal Opera. It was here that the 23 year old singer made his official debut as Silvio in Pagliacci on April 2, 1913. Other roles followed, most of them comprimario parts, including Morales in Carmen, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, and Brander in Faust. It was while singing di Luna during a 1916 tour of Il Trovatore, however, that Melchior gave a hint of his capabilities. To accommodate an anxious soprano, Melchior interpolated a high C at the end of the Leonora/di Luna duet. Celebrated contralto Sarah Cahier, who was singing Azucena, pulled the young man aside after the performance and quipped, “You’re no baritone. You’re a tenor with the lid on!” With Cahier’s help, Melchior received a paid sabbatical from the Royal Opera and began retraining his voice with famed Danish tenor Vilhelm Herold. On October 8, 1918, Melchior made his tenor debut as Tannhäuser with the Royal Opera. After this single performance, however, the young tenor was sent back to the comprimario ranks. Luckily, Melchior’s fortunes would soon change in a big way.
During a series of London performances in the fall of 1920, Melchior was introduced to the British novelist, Hugh Walpole. So impressed was Walpole that he agreed to underwrite the tenor’s career. Melchior relocated to London in 1922 and began working toward developing into a genuine Heldentenor. Things moved rather quickly after that, with Melchior contracted to sing Siegmund in Die Walküre at Covent Garden. Upon arriving in London on the day of the performance, the tenor revealed to conductor Bruno Walter that he had never sung the role with orchestra! So, in spite of no rehearsal and only having sung the role with piano, Melchior scored a tremendous success in his Covent Garden debut on May 14, 1924. On July 23 of the same year, he made his Bayreuth debut as Parsifal. Melchior’s Met debut took place on February 17, 1926 as Tannhäuser. During his 24 year tenure there, the tenor sang 519 performances of only seven roles…all of them Wagner.
Now, that many Wagner parts would have destroyed the voices of lesser men.* But not of the mighty Dane. Also, he seems to have been a stand-up guy: he could have had The Very Worst Fanboy Of All give him the superstar treatment when said fanboy was in power, but no, Lauritz Melchior was a good character as well as a good tenor, showed solidarity with his Jewish colleagues and chose to sing in the US instead.
*Famously, the Ur-Tristan, the very first guy to sing the part died on stage. Not at the premiere, and after years of singing it, but still, he did die during a performance. And of course for all the personality issues I have with him, anyone singing Siegfried has to show true heroic voice abilities because after two acts of singing already, he's up in the third act against a completely relaxed and fresh heroic soprano in Siegfried. Rare are the Siegfrieds who don't get bowled over by their Brünhildes vocally as well as emotionally...
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:) Lauritz Melchior holds some kind of record for this. He was THE Wagnerian Heldentenor of his generation. To make you like him: he actually started out as a baritone and would still do baritone stuff now and then in between wowing people as a tenor. To quote from his life description:
By this time, Melchior was an apprentice artist with Copenhagen’s Royal Opera. It was here that the 23 year old singer made his official debut as Silvio in Pagliacci on April 2, 1913. Other roles followed, most of them comprimario parts, including Morales in Carmen, Baron Douphol in La Traviata, and Brander in Faust. It was while singing di Luna during a 1916 tour of Il Trovatore, however, that Melchior gave a hint of his capabilities. To accommodate an anxious soprano, Melchior interpolated a high C at the end of the Leonora/di Luna duet. Celebrated contralto Sarah Cahier, who was singing Azucena, pulled the young man aside after the performance and quipped, “You’re no baritone. You’re a tenor with the lid on!” With Cahier’s help, Melchior received a paid sabbatical from the Royal Opera and began retraining his voice with famed Danish tenor Vilhelm Herold. On October 8, 1918, Melchior made his tenor debut as Tannhäuser with the Royal Opera. After this single performance, however, the young tenor was sent back to the comprimario ranks. Luckily, Melchior’s fortunes would soon change in a big way.
During a series of London performances in the fall of 1920, Melchior was introduced to the British novelist, Hugh Walpole. So impressed was Walpole that he agreed to underwrite the tenor’s career. Melchior relocated to London in 1922 and began working toward developing into a genuine Heldentenor. Things moved rather quickly after that, with Melchior contracted to sing Siegmund in Die Walküre at Covent Garden. Upon arriving in London on the day of the performance, the tenor revealed to conductor Bruno Walter that he had never sung the role with orchestra! So, in spite of no rehearsal and only having sung the role with piano, Melchior scored a tremendous success in his Covent Garden debut on May 14, 1924. On July 23 of the same year, he made his Bayreuth debut as Parsifal. Melchior’s Met debut took place on February 17, 1926 as Tannhäuser. During his 24 year tenure there, the tenor sang 519 performances of only seven roles…all of them Wagner.
Now, that many Wagner parts would have destroyed the voices of lesser men.* But not of the mighty Dane. Also, he seems to have been a stand-up guy: he could have had The Very Worst Fanboy Of All give him the superstar treatment when said fanboy was in power, but no, Lauritz Melchior was a good character as well as a good tenor, showed solidarity with his Jewish colleagues and chose to sing in the US instead.
*Famously, the Ur-Tristan, the very first guy to sing the part died on stage. Not at the premiere, and after years of singing it, but still, he did die during a performance. And of course for all the personality issues I have with him, anyone singing Siegfried has to show true heroic voice abilities because after two acts of singing already, he's up in the third act against a completely relaxed and fresh heroic soprano in Siegfried. Rare are the Siegfrieds who don't get bowled over by their Brünhildes vocally as well as emotionally...