One of the most intelligent tenors I've ever heard - though he is not one of the massively big-voiced guys ;-) Here he shows his ability to form passion as well as tragic. I am fond of his live perfomances such as Tristan, Tannhäuser and Siegfried in Bayreuth...
Thoroughly agree, Marky. Maybe Melchior could have blown him away (but, then again, Melchior could have blown anyone away), but can you imagine Melchior singing Tamino? Yet that was Windgassen's professional debut role. He combined the elegance needed for roles like that with sufficient power to master the heldentenor repertory--and when you add in the dramatic commitment, musicianship, and brains he brought to everything he sang--well, it's hard to think of another Wagnerian voice I would have rather spent an entire night listening to. If Alfredo Kraus had been a heldentenor, he would have been Wolfgang Windgassen.
+Milo M Thanks for your reply! I am glad (very glad!) you share my opinion! Melchior and Lorenz are a class of their own. Windgassen had his special dramatic impact on each and every role he sang (and performed).
+MarkyMarc78 You're exactly right I believe. His Tristan with Nilsson (Karl Bohm, I believe) is as good as I've ever heard. As much as I like Melchior, Vinay et al their coloration is just not really heldentenorish. Power is their forte; Windgassen probably was a real heldentenor - but didn't have the voice necessary for the really big houses like the Met. All this just my opinion, of course.
+Thomas and Jacqueline Groome Yeah, Böhm's Bayreuth Tristan (1966) is legendary. I love this recording so much! The verve of Böhm conducting, the cast (even the minor roles) and finally Windgassen's desperate agony and his delirious sining in Act III
Windgassen is one of my favorite Wagnerian Heldentenors. Maybe it's because the first Wagner I listened to was Siegfried in the famous Solti Decca recording. At any rate, his voice carried a softness that is very nice in Wagner, especially with the younger heroes of Siegfried and Parsifal.
I have always loved his Parsifal and found it more profound and moving than any other I have heard, including Melchior. His performance in act 2 in Kna's 1951 performance is miraculous. Here he conveys most of the same, but his voice isn't as fresh as in '51. What strikes me is the effortlessness he displays when singing these difficult passages. Yet glorious sounds are produced. He may not have been a traditional heldentenor, but if he were not a heldentenor then close to no one after Melchior and Lorenz were. He had the strength, sensitivity and stamina to do roles like Tristan and Siegfried, two of the most demanding of tenor roles in all of opera, and singing them successfully for decades. If that isn't the mark of a heldentenor I don't know what is.
Outstanding vocal control and such beautiful sound. Saw Parsifal at Bayreuth in Aug experienced the greatest musical experience of my life. If you love Wagner make it your goal to visit.
On pourrait préciser que c'est Georges Sebastian qui dirige...On voit aussi Gottlob Frick.Dommage que les autres extraits autrefois présents aient disparu de RU-vid...
Windgassen in einer seiner Hauptrollen. dazu ein Dirigent wie Georges Sebastian, der für die französischen Opern bekannt war, aber gleichzeitig ein hervorragender Wagner-Dirigent war. Leider nicht komplett!!!
Yes and no. His carreer was cut short by the war. Then, concentration camp. Then, back to normal life. Stuttgart in the late 40s ( very late ) where Wagner brothers ( and Hans Knapperstbuch ) heard him and immediately engaged him for Bayreuth in 1951, where he sang every Wagner's tenor-role, from Erik to Parsifal, for 20 years. He was, according to Wieland Wagner, "Bayreuth's hero" and one of the festival pillars. He sang his first Siegfried in Bayreuth in 1953, over ten years prior to Solti's "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung".
