Lauritz Melchior was born on March 20, 1890, and died on March 18, 1973. He was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the most famous Wagnerian heldentenor from the 1920s through the 1940s and is considered the best example of his voice type. Later in his life, Melchior appeared in movies, on radio, and on television. He also made many recordings.

Biography

Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel Melchior was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before starting his operatic training, he sang in high-pitched and amateur roles. At 18 in 1908, he began studying opera under Paul Bang at the Royal Opera School in Copenhagen.

His sister, Agnes Melchior (1883–1945), was a blind Danish Esperantist.

In 1913, Melchior made his first operatic appearance as a baritone in the role of Silvio in Pagliacci at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. For several years, he performed mostly secondary baritone and bass roles at the Royal Danish Opera and other Scandinavian opera companies.

During a tour, Melchior helped a sick soprano by singing a high C in the Leonora and De Luna duet from Il trovatore. The American contralto Mme Charles Cahier, who was performing as Azucena, noticed his voice and advised him that he was not a baritone but a tenor "with the lid on." She asked the Royal Opera to give him time to retrain his voice. In 1917 and 1918, Melchior studied with the Danish tenor Vilhelm Herold, who had performed Wagnerian roles at Covent Garden and the Chicago Opera. This change in training transformed his voice into a low tenor with strong high notes. His second major performance was in the role of Tannhäuser at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen on October 8, 1918.

In 1920, Melchior traveled to England to sing in a radio broadcast from the Marconi station in Chelmsford. He became a regular performer in London, appearing at Sir Henry J. Wood’s Prom Concerts in Queen’s Hall.

In September 1920, while singing the Steersman’s Song from Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at a Prom Concert, Melchior met the novelist Hugh Walpole, a fan of Wagner’s music. They became close friends, traveling together and attending each other’s homes. Walpole supported Melchior financially, helping pay for his studies under Victor Beigel and later Ernst Grenzebach and Anna Bahr von Mildenburg.

Word of Melchior’s talent reached Cosima and Siegfried Wagner at Bayreuth. He was invited to perform Siegmund and Parsifal at the 1924 Bayreuth Festival. This opportunity led to other performances, including a Wagner concert in Berlin in 1923. Acoustic records of his singing were made for Polydor around this time.

On May 14, 1924, Melchior made his debut as Siegmund at the Royal Opera House in London. The performance was a success. Later that year, he performed Siegmund and Parsifal at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. In July 1925, Adolf Hitler attended a Parsifal performance in Bayreuth. According to Walpole, Hitler cried during Melchior’s singing. In 1926, Melchior made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, singing Tannhäuser. His early performances there were not widely praised, and he sang only eight times in his first season. He later joined the Hamburg State Opera, performing roles like Lohengrin, Otello, and Radames in Aida.

Throughout his career, Melchior performed at opera houses and concert halls worldwide. He is best known for his 519 performances at the Metropolitan Opera between 1926 and 1950. His breakthrough at the Met came in 1929 when he performed in Tristan und Isolde.

Melchior appeared at Covent Garden from 1924 to 1939, singing roles like Otello and Florestan. He also performed in Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón) from 1931 to 1943, and at the San Francisco Opera and Chicago Opera from 1934 to 1945. His final stage performance was Lohengrin’s Farewell on February 2, 1950.

Notable colleagues included sopranos Frida Leider, Kirsten Flagstad, and Helen Traubel, and conductors like Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini.

Melchior played contract bridge and held the world record for the lowest score in a duplicate tournament.

Between 1944 and 1952, he appeared in five Hollywood films and made radio and television appearances. In 1947, he left his hand and footprints in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

From 1946 to 1949, Melchior toured the world with his conductor Ezra Rachlin. His visit to Denmark was special because he was hosted by King Frederik IX, an amateur conductor.

In 1952, Melchior performed at New York’s Palace Theatre after Judy Garland’s long engagement there.

After retiring around 1955, he occasionally sang, including the national anthem at Los Angeles Dodgers games. In the 1960s, he created a fund for training young tenors at the Juilliard School.

In 1959, he appeared on The Danny Thomas Show, singing with Shirley Jones.

In 1972, Melchior conducted the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in the Radetzky March to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. This was one of his last public performances.

On June 18, 1957, three men entered Melchior’s Los Angeles home without permission, tied him, his wife, and two servants, and stole about $100,000 in cash, jewels, and other items. The robbers were informed about the valuables by a former chauffeur, Louis J. Spivak, who was to receive a share of the stolen goods.

Recordings

Melchior recorded many songs. He first sang as a baritone for His Master's Voice. Later, he sang as a tenor for Deutsche Grammophon (Polydor) from 1923 to 1930. He also recorded for His Master's Voice from 1927 to 1935, RCA Victor from 1938 to 1941, American Columbia from 1942 to 1950, and finally Warner Bros. His last performance with Danish radio was in 1960. He sang the first act of Die Walküre to celebrate his 70th birthday. This performance was released as a recording.