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- This topic has 3 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 12 September 2018 at 14:26 by JewWag.
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- 9 April 2018 at 21:17 #21994
Imagine yourself being a conductor in the late 60s-early 70s, and you are about to record the “Ring” in studio (in, let’s say, Vienna). Which Wotan would you take? I would want to hear more recommendations on Thomas Stewart and Theo Adam. Not Fischer-Dieskau! I think he might be a Rheingold Wotan (as he was for Karajan), but I would want one Wotan for the whole cycle, for which (I think) Fischer-Dieskau is not exactly fitting. (His Gunther is perhaps the best, though.)
Which Wotan would you reccomend?
Thanks, Michael.14 April 2018 at 17:14 #22037Two Canadians I believe would have become the great Wotan voices of the 1960s and 70s had it not been for unfortunate circumstances surrounding their careers. George London was being groomed as the Wotan for the 1965 Bayreuth Ring, but then suffered from a paralyzed vocal cord that ended his singing prematurely. James Milligan, the wonderful Wanderer for the 1961 Kempe Ring, was only 33 when he died from a heart attack months after that performance. A tragic end to a promising career. Hermann Uhde, who was started to graduate to the heavy metal roles, also died of a heart attack in 1965.
I’m not sure who would have been THE Wotan of that period. Jerome Hines gave some fantastic performances at Bayreuth in the Kempe Ring, but I’m not sure that he would have survived Wanderer’s more difficult tessitura.
I suppose that basses ultimately could take a stab at Wotan (much like Tomlinson did). I know Greindl did Wanderer once (1965), but I imagine that Franz Crass would have been successful if he incorporated the role into his repertory.
11 September 2018 at 12:24 #23622Jerome Hines stopped singing Wotan after 1962, he did not want to strain his voice further.
Greindl sang the Wanderer at Bayreuth also in 1967 and 1968. At his home Opera House (Berlin city opera) he sang the role often.
My candidate for the role of the 3 Wotans/Wanderer from that period would be David Ward. He studied the roles with Hotter primarily to sing them at his home house Covent Garden in the early 60s under Solti in the Ring produced by Hotter.
Ward was a Bass with a strong top register and took his lead from Hotter.He had the most satisfying voice very sonorous and with great power. He began in 1962 with the Wanderer (broadcast) and followed with Rheingold and Walküre in 1965. The complete Ring cycle with Solti was broadcast by the BBC with Ward as the Rheingold and Walküre Wotan. The Siegfried broadcast was from the second cycle and had Hotter as the Wotan. Ward did not like singing Rheingold and avoided it when he could. He can be heard as Wotan in the Buenos Aries Ring at the Colon in 1967 in Walküre and Siegfried. There is a 1969 broadcast of Die Walküre with the San Francisco company in Los Angeles and a Walküre from the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1975 under Rudolf Kempe.
A good introduction to the voice is the 1961 Bayreuth Rheingold where he sings Fasolt.
This is a singer that I find much more satisfying than Stewart, who was always a Baritone and could not easily manage the lower register of the roles. Theo Adam, who was also a Bass has a much lighter sounding voice and a timbre that is not to everyones taste.
Ward however would continue combining his Wagner bass-baritone roles with purely bass roles. His King Marke in Tristan under Solti in 1971 is wonderful.
Much to recommend with this singer.12 September 2018 at 14:26 #23629After reading 2 responses, I want to revise a bit my criteria. This Ring is recorded in Vienna (the Sofiensaal with the Vienna Philharmonic), Rheingold is recorded at 1968, Walküre – 1969, Siegfried – 1971, Götterdämmerung – 1973.
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