James King Met 1968 Live Lohengrin "In Fernem Land" 

This is definitely mask singing.

Agree with you about everything except the "lighter or lyric" part. Certainly compared to other Lohengrins such as Konya, Jess Thomas etc. King had one of the most truly heroic and dramatic voices as exemplified by his Siegmund, Emperor in Frau, Bacchus etc. No one as secure of voice in that repertoire today.

Every note is in the mask. Get some ears! ,

@@alvahenderson4109 Typical amateurish and rude remark from a non-singer. Don't comment on things that you don't even know of what it is.

@@jenspflug7473 You forgot to mention "academic".

His Siegmund was spectacular!

…your statement is still valid. Thank you. RDS

Amen to that!

Did James King sing only Siegmund? Didn't he ever attemp Siegfried?0

...not to my knowledge. He wisely managed his voice and concentrated what this marvelous voice was best for. He did neither Siegfried nor Tristan and kept this unique color. There is none like him today. Would-be Heldentenors try inappropriate roles... RDS

...and what a splendid Lohengrin he was!! RDS

@@josephespratt ...Thank you! I remember some parts of it. However, on stage, the complete Tristan? He also did some parts of Otello, however -to my knowledge - not the entire Opera . He was always smart and preserved his silver sound until old age. Marvelous! JK has always been one of my favorite Tenors. RDS

@@mk5244 he definitely sang extracts of Tristan like the big love duet in Act 2 but from my own knowledge I don’t think he sang the full Opera. I think his coach advised him against it for endurance reasons.

I was there with you too, bud! I remember how amazing he sounded, having both hips and knees replaced, how he walked so fragile onstage but when he sang, we forgot everything and just marveled.

Not so much.

ja... wer zu spät kommt, den bestraft das Leben... 😭

AfroPoli 🤣🤣🤣

No.

@@alexsandroalvesartecultura5116 he was being sarcastic

You can't stand Windgassen? I'm not familiar with him other than the video on RU-vid with him singing this aria, but in that video, I think he was amazing.

I like the three of them though I must admit that Kollo disappoints me sometimes.

Wagner tenors (Heldentenors) are the most exciting tenors than any other tenor. I don't know why.

Lots of comments from people who never seem to have heard any of these various tenors themselves live in the theater. Let me me share my memories. I've heard King, Windgassen, Kollo, Thomas, Vickers and Konya. Most of these were at SF Opera. I never liked Konya much but he only did Lohengrin in the Wagnerian repertoire. Thomas was much preferable as the Swan Knight. Disclosure: I sang in the same voice studio with Thomas. Thomas was better than King in this part because it calls for a sweeter production. More Italianate. But King was better in all the more dramatic roles. They were occasionally cast as alternates in the same production. They doubled as Bacchus in Ariadne. King was better. Thomas could sing softly and sweetly in the Lohengrin Flower boat scene but Bacchus is a real gut buster. King had the volume and Squillo for the heroic roles. King would have been the Siegfried of our dreams but his voice was a little short on the top. Vickers who also had a huge voice was better as Siegmond. Wingassen was a fake. His voive was small and thin at least in the big War Memorial Opera House. I heard him do Tristan with Nillson. He was a joke. King sang with Jones in Fidelio. Those two together drowned out the whole orchestra and chorus. Very thrilling and memorable. I heard Kollo do a solo concert and then one of his big roles in a full opera. Kollo had good days and some quite bad days. He was terrible in the first half of his concert but very good after the break and OK in the opera. Some tenors are nearly always in good voice (Pavarotti for example) and others have frequent bad performances(e.g. Aragall).

As it happens I had my hearing checked just last week. Obviously I've never heard Melchior live. I never said anything about him. I was just trying to provide testimony about tenors I had heard live. Maybe Windgassen might sound OK in a small hall but in a big American size opera house he was nearly inaudible.

Apparently his memory was not the best, I guess he developed alzheimers later on.

@@downfromkentuckeh Excuse me, Big houses like the Met ALWAYS use a prompter whether the singer needs one or not.

ArtShouldBeBeautiful

If you disconnect your ears and musicality maybe? No, not even then!!!

ArtShouldBeBeautiful you have no idea of what Wagner should sound like Vogt is an affront and should sing in the chorus of the Wiener Sänger knaben

I don't think that they would want Vogt in the chorus.

guter Witz 😂

Hell yeah

…:)) RDS