When admiring a great voice from the past, you may wonder how this artist could ever have fallen into obscurity. You might just chalk it up to the passage of time. But invisibility hasn’t been the fate of the few singers who are still celebrated. When you look closer, there might be other reasons why once-renowned performers have faded from view.
Tragic Endings
Opera history is filled with real-life tragic endings for opera singers. They have made their final exits via heart attack, brain cancer, fatal falls, suicide, and everything else that can befall humanity. Tenor Peter Anders was killed in a car accident at the height of his career, age 46; soprano Arlene Auger died of cancer at 53; and tenor Fritz Wunderlich, age 35, fell down a flight of stairs, dying a few weeks prior to his Met debut.
Joseph Schmidt
Born 1904, Davydivka, Ukraine Died 1942, Girenbad Internment Camp, Zurich, Switzerland
Romantic leading roles in opera are most often played by tenors. Now picture a Rodolfo who comes up to a little above Mimi’s waist! That was the problem for Joseph Schmidt, whose height at 4’11” made a stage career all but impossible. However, his compelling voice was ideal for radio, the new technology of the 1930s and 40s. On radio he could sing heroic roles and be convincing.
Vocally trained at a synagogue, he gave his first recital in 1924. In 1929 in Germany, he sang the lead role of Vasco da Gama in a radio broadcast of Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine and made a great impression in the medium which was to be his path to fame.
Schmidt sang frequently in operas and recitals on the radio, recorded widely, acted and sang in several films, toured the U.S. in 1937, and amassed a large audience for his masterful singing.
As a Jew caught in France by the German Occupation, Schmidt ran for the Swiss border and was interned in a refugee camp. His health had long been fragile, and while recovering from a throat infection, he had a heart attack and died at age 38 in 1942. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Zürich with a headstone bearing the inscription “EIN STERN FÄLLT” (A STAR FELL).
In the Shadow of …
Timing plays an important role in establishing a successful career, and it’s an important element over which the singer has little control. For instance, if you were a budding heldentenor in the 1940s, dreaming of singing Tristan, you would be competing for the role with the likes of Melchior, Lorenz, Svanholm, Völker, and Vinay, and you more likely would be singing Melot or the shepherd. If you are a heldentenor today when there are few to none around, you would have more opportunity to sing lead roles. Singers who performed in the shadow of the greats aren’t unworthy of attention; they just were the victims of unfortunate timing.
Irene Jessner Born 1901, Vienna, Austria
Died 1994, Toronto, Canada
Irene Jessner made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1936 as Ortlinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. Already established in the theater at that time were Lucrezia Bori, Zinka Milanov, Rosa Ponselle, Elizabeth Rethberg, Maria Jeritza, and Grace Moore. By 1940, Licia Albanese, Eleanor Steber, Bidu Sayão, and Jarmila Novotna had joined that legendary soprano roster, which cast a very large shadow indeed!
Despite the formidable competition, Jessner succeeded in making a respectable career for herself. If she were singing today, she might be among the top sopranos in the world. As an introduction to Jessner’s voice, listen to her 1940 recording of Korngold’s “Glück das mir verblieb” from Die Tote Stadt.
Irene Jessner was born in Vienna. In 1930, she made her operatic debut as Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin in Teplice. In 1936, she was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera by Edward Johnson, then General Manager, and she remained there until 1952, singing 261 performances of mostly Wagnerian operas.
Jessner also performed Italian roles. Here she is singing “La mamma morta” from Giordano’s Andrea Chenier:
In 1952, Jessner joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, where she had a long and exceptional career as a voice teacher until her death in 1994. One of her most famous students was Teresa Stratas.
Performing on the stage at the Metropolitan Opera in New York is certainly a way for a singer to achieve serious recognition, both in the United States and abroad. American operagoers in particular look at the Met as the ultimate guide to who is great and who is not. But it is not necessary to sing at the Met to have an outstanding career, as several great artists from the past have demonstrated.
Boris Christoff
Born 1914, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Died 1993, Rome, Italy
Boris Christoff was an outstanding Bulgarian basso, famed as a singing-actor and often compared to the legendary Feodor Chaliapin.
His operatic debut took place in Calabria in 1946. In 1950, he was invited to sing at the Met, Rudolph Bing’s first year as General Manager, but was refused entry to the U.S. as he was a citizen of an Eastern Bloc country. Once restrictions eased, Christoff made his U.S. debut at San Francisco Opera. He never sang at the Met but had a highly successful international career until 1986.
Christoff’s voice was rich, dark, and highly expressive, making him ideal for roles as king, high priest, and the devil. He was widely acclaimed for his portrayal of Boris Godunov. Watch the final death scene here:
Christoff was also celebrated for his portrayal of King Phillip II in Verdi’s Don Carlo. Here is his magnificent “Ella giammai m’amò”:
The great basso made many complete opera recordings, beginning the tradition of recording all three roles of Pimen, Varlaam, and the title role in Boris Godunov. He also made many recordings of Russian songs and was the first to commit to disc all 63 of Mussorgsky’s songs. Listen to this delightful rendition of “The Song of the Flea.”
The career of Boris Christoff shows that it is possible to have a stellar operatic career despite never having appeared at the Met.
