What’s a WAGNERTENOR OR HELDENTENOR ?

Glossary: What is a WAGNERTENOR or HELDENTENOR ?

This post shows the technical term WAGNERTENOR OR HELDENTENOR explained in a few sentences with links to practical examples.

Wagnertenor or Heldentenor

This Fach can only be mastered by a few tenors. The roles are reserved for experienced singers, as a young voice can quickly be damaged. The physical demands on the singer are immense. The duration of the opera is usually very long and the accompaniment by the orchestra is loud and dense. The number of outstanding representatives of this fach is small and the artists are sought-after and usually booked years in advance.

It describes a tenor voice with radiant power in the dramatic voice Fach. Accordingly, the voice must be heared over a large orchestra. Heldentenor roles include Siegmund (Walküre) and Lohengrin. The presumably greatest heroic tenor was Lauritz Melchior. Great German Wagner tenors were Max Lorenz and Franz Völker or nowadays Peter Seiffert and Jonas Kaufmann.

Lauritz Melchior – the greatest Wagner Tenor of all times

There is one singer who outshines all other tenors in the male leading role of Siegmund: Lauritz Melchior (1899-1973). If you have never heard him before, get an acoustic impression of his voice with the piece «Wälse», a document famous in recording history where he sings Wälse calls more often with 15 or more seconds of sound duration! According to many experts, «Never before has there been such a powerful tenor voice, with a dark timbre and at the same time so brilliant, and to this day he has found no successor» (Scott).

Wääääääääälse!  –  Melchior

«Never before has there been such a powerful tenor voice, with a dark timbre and at the same time so brilliant, and to this day he has found no successor» (Scott). Listen to Lauritz Melchior in the sword-scene :

Deines Auges Glut…Nothung  –  Melchior / Lehmann

Franz Völker the German Heldentenor of the thirties

Völkers Lohengrin is among the great of Wagner singing.  Kesting: “His Lohengrin under Tietjen belongs to the fulfilling moments of Wagner singing. He captivates with an expressive phrasing and a tone of lyrical magic.” Fischer (great voices): “In the thirties, Völker set Lohengrin standards that have not been surpassed to this day. His combination of heroic baritonal power and lyrical sensibility was balm for the souls and ears of those Wagnerians who were fed up with “Bell-Canto”. (bell is german and means “the dog’s bark”).

In fernem Land – Völker

Peter Seiffert a modern Helden Tenor

Let’s get back to the plot. In the next scene of Lohengrin we hear Peter Seiffert. Seiffert has been one of the great Wagner tenors since the 90s. Lohengrin was the first role with which he caused international sensation.

Zum Kampf für eine Magd zu stehn  –  Seiffert

Jonas Kaufmann – a romantic Helden Tenor

At the end we hear Jonas Kaufmann. His voice is romantic and heroic and captivates with beautiful diminuendi and pianissimi. Lohengrin is probably Kaufmann’s best Wagner role.

Mein lieber Schwan  –  Kaufmann

Peter Lutz, opera inside,  the online opera guide