The Mighty Voice of Kurt Baum
Kurt Baum has always held a special place in my heart,
because he was the first great opera singer I heard. I was 17 years old, which has been a very
long time ago. I was listening to the radio one Saturday afternoon, when the
Texaco Opera Theater came on. It was the first opera I had ever
heard. It was Aida, and Rhadames was
being sung by none other than the great Kurt Baum. I simply could not believe what I was
hearing. I didn’t know such voices
existed. I knew” Celeste Aida” from
having played it on the piano, but hearing Baum sing the phrase“un trono,
vicino al sol “ as he brought the great aria
to its thundering ending was a totally new experience for a 17 year old
with no experience at all in opera. I
never looked back. It’s still one of my
favorite arias. This might be a good
place to start:
Not the most beautiful voice in opera, but one of the
mightiest in the business!
Baum was born in Prague in 1908, and became famous for his
25 seasons at the Met as a superb House
Tenor who was always available, always good and always popular with with the
Met audience. His huge repertoire
included Aida, Rosenkavalier, Trovatore, Lohengrin, Pagliacci, Carmen,Tosca /
Turridu, Samson, and many, many others, including William Tell. Here is the stunning “O Muto Asil:”
What an extraordinary voice!
He always sang at full blast and always drew great attention to
himself. There were very few voices like
it!
No comments:
Post a Comment