Books › Musical Courier 1926-04-22: Vol 92 Iss 16, 1926 › scan 14
Scan 14
Musical Courier 1926-04-22: Vol 92 Iss 16, 1926
32 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 15. See the scan on archive.org.
1MELCHIOR
2TENOR
3Metropolitan Opera Company, New York
4(Reengaged for 1926-27)
5Staedtische Opera, Berlin
7Facsimile Reprint of Mr. Henderson's Review of Mr. Melchior's American Concert Debut on March 30, 1926
8THE NEW YORK SUN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1926
10Melchior as Lieder Singer
11Tenor, Heard in Wagner Roles at Metropolitan, Gives Recital at Aeolian Hall.
13By W. J. HENDERSON.
14Lauritz Melchior, who has been heard recently as a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company in some of the heroic roles of Wagnerian music drama, gave a song recital last evening in Aeolian Hall. For those who had heard the tenor only in opera the entertainment must have been something in the nature of a revelation. Mr. Melchior, the Wagner singer, and Mr. Melchior, the lieder singer, are not closely related.
16The artist began with an opera air from a work by one of his Danish countrymen, and in this demonstrated that he had resources far richer than he had disclosed in the theater, but when he had finished the first number of his second group, composed of lieder by Danish musicians, it was clearly proved that he was a song interpreter of very high rank.
18It would be cataloging most of the essentials of song interpretation to go into details in describing Mr. Melchior's art as revealed last night. In the production of tone he showed none of the traits which caused regret at some of his Metropolitan performances. There was beauty of quality throughout the scale. There was an unusual and extremely finished use of head tones, which added immensely to the delicacy and polish of a style distinguished always by fastidious choice in the means of expression. There was an exquisite sense of the melodic line and an admirable justice of phrasing. Indeed, in the artistic structure of the phrasing one perceived the mastery of a singer who was able to spin the tone through long and sustained utterances with confidence born of technical certainty and with a conviction of the purpose of the composer.
20In the nuancing of his songs Mr. Melchior displayed sensibility, taste and feeling. But of greater importance were the poetic imagination and the musical instinct discovered in every number. The singer had arranged his program so as to give scope to the full range of his art and he even permitted his audience to hear his interpretation of Vasco di Gama's rhapsody over the beauties of Selika's empire, but it is probable that his auditors were more moved by his deeply emotional and technically excellent delivery of Helse's "Vaagen af din Slummer" and Schoeberg's "Toherna," two uncommonly good songs.
22The truth seems to be that the song recital is Mr. Melchior's real field. Freed from the driving force of the irresistible orchestra, able to govern tempi and dynamics according to his own fine taste and to give play to his great command of vocal color, he can present the interpretations which he has constructed according to the dictates of an artistic intelligence of a high order. Such a lieder singer should be able to make a brilliant concert career in this country and establish for himself a celebrity such as he has acquired in England as well as on the European continent.
24Like Caruso!
25Says PITTS SANBORN—New York Telegram, March 31, 1926.
27"His voice rang out rich and free, and high notes poured forth with an ease, a fulness and a splendor of sonority not equalled here by any man labeled tenor since the later prime of Caruso."
29Lauritz Melchior will be Available in Concert Next Season from Oct. 15, 1926, to May 1, 1927
31Original Clippings and Additional Material on Request
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