Aas a voice faculty member at Indiana University, where the great James King taught, I, each day when passing by his former house in Bloomington, am reminded by this truth: James King was the greatest helden tenor that America has ever produced.
Definitely one of the great heldentenors of the 20th century. He definitely deserves to be mentioned "in the same breath" as Melchior,Vickers,Vinay,Wingassen,etc.
I claim Jimmy also as a friend...A wonderful heldentenor, and the most lovely man....Miss him very much, but these recordings are here to enojoy and shed a tear or two. R I P
Wow, great, one of the best versions of this aria. james King is a powerhouse, a heroic singer with a glamorous voic, a lot of squillo. Great german diction. Today, there is no singer who can sing it like this!
This does not appear in any of the internet media but James King studied at the University of Kentucky when i was a small boy. He and his wife, Artis, ate dinner at our home a few times. His last Sunday evening in Lexington, Ky he sang "How Great Thou Art" at Central Baptist Church. I wanted to duck under the seat because i was certain the roof of the church was going to blow off! I was about six years old. He headed off to Eu rope that week.
I’m pretty sure that Mr. King was a member of the faculty at the University of Kentucky after completing a master’s degree at the University of Kansas City and prior to his departure for Europe. I’m not aware that he was a student at the University of Kentucky.
The definitive recording of the Prize Song from Meistersinger. Beauty, power, musicality, Jimmy had it all. I miss his constant encouragement and support. Thank you for sharing one of my favorites of his recordings (the first I ever heard of the great tenor, long before I met him or sang with him).
I knew James King personally and I last time I heard him, he was singing in "Elektra" and sounded great. He told me that his secret was the 18th and 19th century Italian songs. I think he has one of the most magnificent voices I have ever heard and so much longevity. He was 73 at the time. He outlasted most of the great "Heldentenöre. Of course, no one could outdo Melchior, a genuine god in my opinion, but Jimmy sings better!
I heard him at La Scala, dec 1974, as Florestan in Fidelio. Never heard a so wonderful and majestic voice singing "Gott! Welch dunkel hier" like that... UNFORGETTABLE KING
One of the first opera recordings I owned as a teen (around 1970) was an album of James King singing famous German arias. I was thrilled with the voice then and it still thrills me to this day. This is a truly wonderful recording.
I heard him sing much of the Tristan excerpts performed at Tanglewood in the late 70s with Rita Hunter, under Bernstein. Unfortunately, Bernstein came out 2/3 of the way in to announce King couldn't continue due to a recent battle with laryngitis. Hunter was fantastic. I was sitting close enough for her to have spit on me during the Liebestod. I felt so anointed.
I had the great honor/pleasure to sing with Jimmy at my late teacher's (Walter Cassel) memorial concert at IU in 2000. He sang a beautiful farewell and I led the standing ovation - he deserved it for the singing and for his magnificent career. He paid me a wonderful compliment - "Boy, I hope you're at the Met! If not, you SHOULD be!" Made my millenium. This is the bravest, most beautiful singing of this piece I've ever heard. Thank you for posting it.
I still have the Royal Family of Opera set, however, they have been "worn to death" from playing them. When listening to this aria for the first time, tears flowed like a faucet had been turned on. I still cry while listening to James King's singing of this piece. What a voice! Thank you for uploading this!
The Royal Family of Opera records were ALWAYS worn out by whoevrer bought them. They were infectious. Love that picture of Zeanni in the car holding onto the steering wheel.
Lucky you! He was in Buenos Aires in 1971 (Samson et Dalila & Aida) and 1981 singing an extraordinary Siegmund. A great singer and a good person as well!
Someone (quite famous) told he was not a "heldentenor"...mm???, for me he is one of the best ever!!!, his sound is brilliant more like a spinto or heroic, but then you hear and feel his heroic " emision (helden" means heroic pal)...you find his studies with Max Lorenz in his interpretation, but as a singularity ,his superb musicality!!!(I choose hima s model for my wagenrian roles, FOR SURE!!!!):Bravo!!!
So good! Recently watched hour-long interview - he gives insight into voice and career. In German, but even w/ only 1 year German in college years ago I was still able to follow. Interestingly he didn't put himself in same category as Melchior, Vickers. Considered them true baritonal heldentenors, well suited to heavy wagner rep - considered himself more a lyric heldentenor. He loved singing Siegmund but felt that singing it too often posed dangers to the natural flexibility of his high voice
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful material from James King (while listening to him, I founded out he was a student to Max Lorenz; this opened my inetrest in their vocal technique, which I find superb. Hope to understand it and insert it in own singing). Tahnk you very much again, BRAVO JAMES KING!!!
Wonderful to hear. As others have commented, a true Heldentenor of towering natural strength. It's fascinating too to see personal photos from his wedding and also the image with him holding the score for Billy Budd. I know he sang it at the Met, but is there any recording of it? I would love to hear him in that role.
Comparing Kaufmann, Windgassen, and a newer one named Torsten somebody, nobody can top James King on this aria. Gutsy, beefy, and exciting -- the only one who can give me goosebumps in the final build-up.....
Love this recording. Thank you so much for posting. Also: I first heard of this great tenor through his recording of Otello. Yet there is no trace of it on UA-cam. This is a terrible shame. Could you please post some excerpts? Thanks so much. And congratulations once again. What a man!!! What an artist!!!!
I heard this recording as part of a London Records opera specialty set in the mid sixties. I was bowled over then. I just listened to it again now in 2015. I am again bowled over. Sometimes when you hear a famous singer live he or she does not live up to your expectations. That was true of Carlo Bergonzi - a smallish voice without much ring. Wolfgang Windgassen was even more disappointing - hardly any voice at all. But as hard as this is to believe, James King was even more impressive live than he was on recordings. I heard him sing Florestan at SF Opera with Gwyneth Jones. In the final scene they stand downstage and alternate phrases with all the other soloists and the full chorus. Jones and King out sang them all. It was quite amazing. Almost superhuman. Jones of course was the loudest human being ever to step onto an opera stage. King was one of the two or three tenors I ever heard who could stand up to her. Shortly after that Jones started to sing quite badly but unfortunately she continued to perform. King was already old and the huge brilliant voice gotten a little stiff and hard. He sang well until he was quite old but it was never again as it had been in that Fidelio when I first heard him live. The only other tenors I ever heard with King's kind of punch and ring were probably Corelli, Vickers, and Atlantov. Everyone else as I remember had a smaller less vibrant voice. I like lyric tenors too but a real heldentenor or tenore di forza is something special.
Patrick Boyle I thought so. When I was a voice major at my conservatory, about a decade ago, I spent hours and hours in the music library listening to that LP set. I have lost track of how many times I listened to the tracks with Cornell MacNeil, Robert Merrill, George London, James King, Bruno Prevedi, Tom Krause, Fernando Corena & Giuseppe Di Stefano, Giulietta Simionato & Ettore Bastianini.
I am now listening to James King singing Walther's prize song and although he does not sing all of it this is a pity as his voice, in this part, is purer than all the other heldentenors who have attempted it. Nicholas Boultbee March 7, 2015
I was at a concert at Tanglewood in which he performed excerpts of "Tristan und Isolde" under Bernstein with Rita Hunter singing Isolde (this was sometime in the late 70s). Unfortunately, Bernstein announced halfway through that King couldn't continue as he had been struggling with laryngitis that week. It's too bad as he has always been my favorite Wagnerian tenor.
@JamesKingArchive He sang Act 2 with the Boston Symphony in 1869, prepared it in 1984-5 for a series of concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker with Jessye Norman and Lothar Zagrozek. These were to have been recorded, but were cancelled due to the withdrawal of Miss Norman. There are bootleg discs of the Act 2 performance with dreadful sound, if I find them, I'll send them to you.
A great singer! Bravo!!! What a bright, true tenor sound, and very different from the baritenors that sometimes sing this role. What year was this recorded?
to sound beautiful and to sound just right for wagner, at the same time, is quite a feat. most heldentenors sound like they just got kicked in the nuts but it doesn't bother them in the least. "go ahead, kick me again." *kick!* "waaaaaaaaaaaaalse!"
In the 70s I had an LP of King singing several arias. One side was the Falcon Scene from Die Frau Ohne Schatten. The other side was this and Nessun dorma and some other arias. I lent it away to a singer with the local opera company. He left town after a blow-up with the general director. I got his address and wrote to him, asking him to return it. He asked the police for an order of protection against me. What's the difference between a tenor and a terroist? You can negotiate with a terroist.
I will never understand why Nilsson didn't record the Wagner operas with King---insist on it---instead of Windgassen. Never. can't stand Windgassen's voice, or lack of it.
When James King arrived, Nilsson was singing Brünnhilde and Isolde, and he was singing Siegmund, Parsifal and Walther. With the exception of the second act of Die Walküre, it was difficult to hear them together.
Paradoxically, he was very insecure about the opinion American houses had of his singing. His great success at the Met in ‘66 with FROSCH never really panned out, and he was completely convinced that Levine hated him. Vienna was his musical home, where he was a superstar.
Levine was an idiot in so many ways as well as a sexual molester of young children. One who for instance thought that Hildegard Behrens tiny, thready patchwork of a voice represented the very pinnacle of Wagnerian singing.
Aas a voice faculty member at Indiana University, where the great James King taught, I, each day when passing by his former house in Bloomington, am reminded by this truth: James King was the greatest helden tenor that America has ever produced.
Ever since I bought my first Parsifal and discovered James King, I have always been extremely partial to his voice. I wish he had recorded more ❤
That is what heldentenor should sound like. What a glorious heroic voice James King had! S.T.
Santos Tovary
James King inmortal!
Glorious! Such a beautiful power! 🤩
If I ever got to Heaven, I'll ask to spend some time next to James King, just watching and listening to him. Marvelous singer, a true gentleman.
Gran voz de gran cantante norteamericano.
I wish I had more recordings of this singer
The voice is shining
I wish he was in karajan's gotterdammerung.
Glorious. Marvellous. Magnificent. Glorious. Consummate .
...A true Meistersinger! Mi piace moltissimo
👏👏👏👏👏👏
Definitely one of the great heldentenors of the 20th century. He definitely deserves to be mentioned "in the same breath" as Melchior,Vickers,Vinay,Wingassen,etc.
¡Necesitamos otro James King ahora, en 2023!
I claim Jimmy also as a friend...A wonderful heldentenor, and the most lovely man....Miss him very much, but these recordings are here to enojoy and shed a tear or two. R I P
Thank you for your tribute. I was previously unfamiliar with James King and his work.
Wow, great, one of the best versions of this aria. james King is a powerhouse, a heroic singer with a glamorous voic, a lot of squillo. Great german diction. Today, there is no singer who can sing it like this!
Today, 10 years later, even less so…
If I could be a tenor for only one day, I would love to sing this gorgeous aria
Only if you sang it as well as James King did, right ?
Poderoso, emocionante
This does not appear in any of the internet media but James King studied at the University of Kentucky when i was a small boy. He and his wife, Artis, ate dinner at our home a few times. His last Sunday evening in Lexington, Ky he sang "How Great Thou Art" at Central Baptist Church. I wanted to duck under the seat because i was certain the roof of the church was going to blow off! I was about six years old. He headed off to Eu
rope that week.
I’m pretty sure that Mr. King was a member of the faculty at the University of Kentucky after completing a master’s degree at the University of Kansas City and prior to his departure for Europe. I’m not aware that he was a student at the University of Kentucky.
i love to hear him in Vienna for many times....
Absolutely beautiful
James King is My Hero~ !!!!!!!!!!!
wonderful
Subscribed ❤wish HIM on stage today❤
The definitive recording of the Prize Song from Meistersinger. Beauty, power, musicality, Jimmy had it all. I miss his constant encouragement and support. Thank you for sharing one of my favorites of his recordings (the first I ever heard of the great tenor, long before I met him or sang with him).
I remember in undergrad my teacher tell me to listen to his Walther. She told me this is the definitive recording of this piece. So glorious!
@@SilfredoSerrano yes absolutely! He was astounding! I miss those guys!
I first heard this recording on a radio show in about '95.
I was immediately taken with the heroic majesty of it all!
What a great singer!
I knew James King personally and I last time I heard him, he was singing in "Elektra" and sounded great. He told me that his secret was the 18th and 19th century Italian songs. I think he has one of the most magnificent voices I have ever heard and so much longevity. He was 73 at the time. He outlasted most of the great "Heldentenöre. Of course, no one could outdo Melchior, a genuine god in my opinion, but Jimmy sings better!
I heard him at La Scala, dec 1974, as Florestan in Fidelio. Never heard a so wonderful and majestic voice singing "Gott! Welch dunkel hier" like that... UNFORGETTABLE KING
Incredible marvel of a singer.
Very high quality audio! & heavenly voice!
One of the first opera recordings I owned as a teen (around 1970) was an album of James King singing famous German arias. I was thrilled with the voice then and it still thrills me to this day. This is a truly wonderful recording.
The king!!! What an amazing singer!!!
What a beautiful tribute. I studied with him. Wonderful man!
Glorious. Whenever I am having a dark moment I listen to this and I feel better. Thank you Wagner and James King.
Wonderful, wonderful voice. I don't have any doubt that he studied with The Great Max Lorenz.
Breathtaking! His voice reaches into my soul and wraps around my heart.
Me too! 😢
I heard him sing much of the Tristan excerpts performed at Tanglewood in the late 70s with Rita Hunter, under Bernstein. Unfortunately, Bernstein came out 2/3 of the way in to announce King couldn't continue due to a recent battle with laryngitis.
Hunter was fantastic. I was sitting close enough for her to have spit on me during the Liebestod. I felt so anointed.
fantatic~!!!!!
I had the great honor/pleasure to sing with Jimmy at my late teacher's (Walter Cassel) memorial concert at IU in 2000. He sang a beautiful farewell and I led the standing ovation - he deserved it for the singing and for his magnificent career. He paid me a wonderful compliment - "Boy, I hope you're at the Met! If not, you SHOULD be!" Made my millenium. This is the bravest, most beautiful singing of this piece I've ever heard. Thank you for posting it.
His voice has no woofiness like many heldentenors have, but the sound is huge and clarion like
Wow. Music like this makes me believe and have hope.
I still have the Royal Family of Opera set, however, they have been "worn to death" from playing them. When listening to this aria for the first time, tears flowed like a faucet had been turned on. I still cry while listening to James King's singing of this piece. What a voice! Thank you for uploading this!
AMEN!
The Royal Family of Opera records were ALWAYS worn out by whoevrer bought them. They were infectious. Love that picture of Zeanni in the car holding onto the steering wheel.
One of the greatest.....
Lucky you! He was in Buenos Aires in 1971 (Samson et Dalila & Aida) and 1981 singing an extraordinary Siegmund. A great singer and a good person as well!
As good or better than I’ve ever heard it sung bravo 👏
Stupendo
Someone (quite famous) told he was not a "heldentenor"...mm???, for me he is one of the best ever!!!, his sound is brilliant more like a spinto or heroic, but then you hear and feel his heroic " emision (helden" means heroic pal)...you find his studies with Max Lorenz in his interpretation, but as a singularity ,his superb musicality!!!(I choose hima s model for my wagenrian roles, FOR SURE!!!!):Bravo!!!
Bravo
So good! Recently watched hour-long interview - he gives insight into voice and career. In German, but even w/ only 1 year German in college years ago I was still able to follow. Interestingly he didn't put himself in same category as Melchior, Vickers. Considered them true baritonal heldentenors, well suited to heavy wagner rep - considered himself more a lyric heldentenor. He loved singing Siegmund but felt that singing it too often posed dangers to the natural flexibility of his high voice
Thank you for posting your father's recordings. A nice tribute!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful material from James King (while listening to him, I founded out he was a student to Max Lorenz; this opened my inetrest in their vocal technique, which I find superb. Hope to understand it and insert it in own singing). Tahnk you very much again, BRAVO JAMES KING!!!
King is king!! Great master
Wonderful to hear. As others have commented, a true Heldentenor of towering natural strength. It's fascinating too to see personal photos from his wedding and also the image with him holding the score for Billy Budd. I know he sang it at the Met, but is there any recording of it? I would love to hear him in that role.
Comparing Kaufmann, Windgassen, and a newer one named Torsten somebody, nobody can top James King on this aria. Gutsy, beefy, and exciting -- the only one who can give me goosebumps in the final build-up.....
Love this recording. Thank you so much for posting.
Also: I first heard of this great tenor through his recording of Otello. Yet there is no trace of it on UA-cam. This is a terrible shame. Could you please post some excerpts? Thanks so much. And congratulations once again. What a man!!! What an artist!!!!
Bravooo!!! Thanks for posting. What a great heldentenor was this gentleman. Is he alive?,does he teaches?. Woww !!!!Great!!!!
I heard this recording as part of a London Records opera specialty set in the mid sixties. I was bowled over then. I just listened to it again now in 2015. I am again bowled over. Sometimes when you hear a famous singer live he or she does not live up to your expectations. That was true of Carlo Bergonzi - a smallish voice without much ring. Wolfgang Windgassen was even more disappointing - hardly any voice at all.
But as hard as this is to believe, James King was even more impressive live than he was on recordings. I heard him sing Florestan at SF Opera with Gwyneth Jones. In the final scene they stand downstage and alternate phrases with all the other soloists and the full chorus. Jones and King out sang them all. It was quite amazing. Almost superhuman.
Jones of course was the loudest human being ever to step onto an opera stage. King was one of the two or three tenors I ever heard who could stand up to her. Shortly after that Jones started to sing quite badly but unfortunately she continued to perform. King was already old and the huge brilliant voice gotten a little stiff and hard. He sang well until he was quite old but it was never again as it had been in that Fidelio when I first heard him live.
The only other tenors I ever heard with King's kind of punch and ring were probably Corelli, Vickers, and Atlantov. Everyone else as I remember had a smaller less vibrant voice. I like lyric tenors too but a real heldentenor or tenore di forza is something special.
Patrick Boyle Hi Patrick. That London Records opera specialty set wouldnt happen to be the "Royal Family of Opera" set?
Bob Smith That's it.
Patrick Boyle I thought so. When I was a voice major at my conservatory, about a decade ago, I spent hours and hours in the music library listening to that LP set. I have lost track of how many times I listened to the tracks with Cornell MacNeil, Robert Merrill, George London, James King, Bruno Prevedi, Tom Krause, Fernando Corena & Giuseppe Di Stefano, Giulietta Simionato & Ettore Bastianini.
I am now listening to James King singing Walther's prize song and although he does not sing all of it this is a pity as his voice, in this part, is purer than all the other heldentenors who have attempted it.
Nicholas Boultbee March 7, 2015
I was at a concert at Tanglewood in which he performed excerpts of "Tristan und Isolde" under Bernstein with Rita Hunter singing Isolde (this was sometime in the late 70s). Unfortunately, Bernstein announced halfway through that King couldn't continue as he had been struggling with laryngitis that week. It's too bad as he has always been my favorite Wagnerian tenor.
Heldentenor, Heldentenor !
@JamesKingArchive He sang Act 2 with the Boston Symphony in 1869, prepared it in 1984-5 for a series of concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker with Jessye Norman and Lothar Zagrozek. These were to have been recorded, but were cancelled due to the withdrawal of Miss Norman. There are bootleg discs of the Act 2 performance with dreadful sound, if I find them, I'll send them to you.
A great singer! Bravo!!! What a bright, true tenor sound, and very different from the baritenors that sometimes sing this role. What year was this recorded?
Born in Dodge City, I believe.
Tumb Stone Kanses
I think that both this and the Rienzi Aria are a part of the same Album, famous Wagner Aria's conducted by Solti.
to sound beautiful and to sound just right for wagner, at the same time, is quite a feat. most heldentenors sound like they just got kicked in the nuts but it doesn't bother them in the least. "go ahead, kick me again." *kick!* "waaaaaaaaaaaaalse!"
please, more informations about conductor, orchestra, location, year?
Very curious as to provenance of the first picture on this.
O very Good
He can compete with the great Lauritz Melchior.
Ne plus ultra
In the 70s I had an LP of King singing several arias. One side was the Falcon Scene from Die Frau Ohne Schatten. The other side was this and Nessun dorma and some other arias. I lent it away to a singer with the local opera company. He left town after a blow-up with the general director. I got his address and wrote to him, asking him to return it. He asked the police for an order of protection against me. What's the difference between a tenor and a terroist? You can negotiate with a terroist.
At 3:37 you can see a picture of James King as Radames with Paul Hager, who was the producer of that Aida.
your title: morgenlich, not morgenlicht (adverb, not noun)
Who does it better?
I will never understand why Nilsson didn't record the Wagner operas with King---insist on it---instead of Windgassen.
Never. can't stand Windgassen's voice, or lack of it.
!mrdunn brucvald I wholeheartedly agree.
Did Nilsson overlap with Svanholm? He was also much better
When James King arrived, Nilsson was singing Brünnhilde and Isolde, and he was singing Siegmund, Parsifal and Walther.
With the exception of the second act of Die Walküre, it was difficult to hear them together.
Paradoxically, he was very insecure about the opinion American houses had of his singing. His great success at the Met in ‘66 with FROSCH never really panned out, and he was completely convinced that Levine hated him. Vienna was his musical home, where he was a superstar.
Levine was an idiot in so many ways as well as a sexual molester of young children. One who for instance thought that Hildegard Behrens tiny, thready patchwork of a voice represented the very pinnacle of Wagnerian singing.
Welch ein großer Sänger!!!!!! Was für ein Verlust!
3:52 Wait no climatic high C??
Bradley Monroe there is no high C in this piece. The highest is an A, unless there is a tradition of changing notes I am not aware of