There are not very many hits for this most excellent Helden Tenor . Little wonder it was along time ago when EMI with Jess Thomas ,Eliz Grummer , Christa ludwig , D Fischer-dieskau , Gottlob Frick ,Otto Wiener ,The great Wiener Philharmoniker And Rudolf Kempe made the great great Recording under Walter Legge and EMI Classics in 1964.Most of you were not aware almost 50 years have passed . It is a great miracle the great recordings of that time still resound in our era . Thank you to EMI and Angel , and Melodya and Walter Legge for creating such Hallmark recordings .
I heard Jess Thomas in a dress rehearsal at the Old Met with Leonie Rysanek and it for me was the Gold Standard of singing Straus. Both of them were at the peak of their powers and it was truly unforgettable! He was a tremendous presence on stage. Died was too young. RIP
A wonderful artist and a very, very nice man. I had the great pleasure of meeting and talking with him in San Francisco before a performance of Lohengrin which he was attending. We became friends, and for a number of years he and his wife Violeta and I exchanged holiday cards. Thank you for sharing this superb early telecast!!
James King and Jess Thomas were contemporaries, both of whom debuted rather late in life. King didn't sing at the Met until he was 41. Domingo for example was 27 when he got to the Met. Carreras was 29. Both had sung major roles on stage for a decade or more. When I first heard King live as Florestan he was a "new" tenor but already 45. He was sensational.
¡¡¡Gran y Memorable Artista!!! Una voz muy poderosa, con gran afinacion, un gran talento artistico. Artista imprescindible. Gran version de esta hermosa aria. ¡¡¡Un Grande Jess!!!
Marvelous!!! a "master class" onsatge!!!. Sadly he died at 69 years old with a heart attack; but his art keeps fresh and actual as always. Thanks for sharing this wonderful material of the great "American Heldentenor" Jess Thomas!!!, BRAVO!!!!
Some get Boheme or Carmen for their first opera: I sat with my mom and dad and dear Grandmother to hear Meistersinger with SF visiting LA in '65 with Jess Thomas. I didn't know what was going on, but what an introduction to opera!!
Thank you for sharing this video and to everybody's affirmative (and first hand) stories and comments about this great artist. Intelligence as well as brawn. From a fan.
I love Jess Thomas the way tots loved Elvis. I remember the wearing off of the sheen, and would suggest Melchior as an antidote when you just must hear a voice which held its quality for a very long time. a different voice, thrown apparently from the facial mask, or whatever singers call it. I am glad not to have to pick one over the other.
@highrun46 I remember when our teacher Otto Schulmann always said to me that to be a singer you have to be good eneough that when you are only 75% you are still good enough. One day he told me Jess had called him from somewhere very happy because he had had a big triumph on a day when he was only about 50%.
I saw Jess Thomas and Jessye Norman in performance in Act 1 of Walküre...he had by then lost his "ring" in the top notes, but he sounded the same...way better voice then at the Met Centennial Gala. And he was the first Walther I heard in the old Keilberth/München recording, where he sings wonderfully. Not a top rate recording, but a warm and comfortable reading. And the bad part about the Preislied is that he sings three different versions of it in Act 3.
I heard James King late in his career at the singer-friendly Vienna State Opera. Same thing the top notes were there, bang on pitch, but at a fraction of the volume of his great recordings.
I don't think King ever had a huge top. Not small, but it seemed to diminish in volume as he went up in pitch. Thomas seemed to develop a " spread" , not quite a wobble, but that's common among helden tenors. More have it toward the end of their career then dont.
Yes Jess lost the ring (squillo?) after only a couple years on top. The other famous Lohengrin of the day was Sandor Konya. But Konya had 'disappearing' high notes. He must have been singing the high notes because the audience applauded - but I couldn't hear them. I heard Jess again as Lohengrin in the singer friendly Vienna Statsoper. His high notes alas had 'disappeared'. He was singing the notes but you couldn't really hear them.
Hi Claude, how are you doing? If you don't know who this is, folks let me tell you. This is Claude Heater - a world class Heldentenor. A very great singer indeed.
Wagner is generally not that hard on the voice except for the hochdramatische tenors and sopranos. Most Wagnerian baritone and bass parts are not difficult. The exception is Alberich. Gwendolyn Jones was the greatest drammatic soprano in the world for a time. Maybe too much Wagner, but remember Elena Suliotis had an even faster decline from singing early Verdi. Rossini is good for the voice.
There are not very many hits for this most excellent Helden Tenor . Little wonder it was along time ago when EMI with Jess Thomas ,Eliz Grummer , Christa ludwig , D Fischer-dieskau , Gottlob Frick ,Otto Wiener ,The great Wiener Philharmoniker And Rudolf Kempe made the great great Recording under Walter Legge and EMI Classics in 1964.Most of you were not aware almost 50 years have passed . It is a great miracle the great recordings of that time still resound in our era . Thank you to EMI and Angel , and Melodya and Walter Legge for creating such Hallmark recordings .
There are not very many hits for this most excellent Helden Tenor .
Little wonder it was along time ago when EMI with Jess Thomas ,Eliz
Grummer , Christa ludwig , D Fischer-dieskau , Gottlob Frick ,Otto
Wiener ,The great Wiener Philharmoniker And Rudolf Kempe made the great
great Recording under Walter Legge and EMI Classics in 1964.Most of you
were not aware almost 50 years have passed . It is a great miracle
the great recordings of that time still resound in our era . Thank
you to EMI and Angel , and Melodya and Walter Legge for creating such
Hallmark recordings .
I heard Jess Thomas in a dress rehearsal at the Old Met with Leonie Rysanek and it for me was the Gold Standard of singing Straus. Both of them were at the peak of their powers and it was truly unforgettable! He was a tremendous presence on stage. Died was too young. RIP
A wonderful artist and a very, very nice man. I had the great pleasure of meeting and talking with him in San Francisco before a performance of Lohengrin which he was attending. We became friends, and for a number of years he and his wife Violeta and I exchanged holiday cards. Thank you for sharing this superb early telecast!!
Jess had a fresh bright sound -wonderful helden tenor.
James King and Jess Thomas were contemporaries, both of whom debuted rather late in life. King didn't sing at the Met until he was 41. Domingo for example was 27 when he got to the Met. Carreras was 29. Both had sung major roles on stage for a decade or more. When I first heard King live as Florestan he was a "new" tenor but already 45. He was sensational.
James King Dodge City Kansas Jess Thomas South Dakota
I find it hard to explain how much I love this voice.. Lovely 'tis.. Lovely!=)
¡¡¡Gran y Memorable Artista!!! Una voz muy poderosa, con gran afinacion, un
gran talento artistico. Artista imprescindible. Gran version de esta hermosa
aria. ¡¡¡Un Grande Jess!!!
Marvelous!!! a "master class" onsatge!!!. Sadly he died at 69 years old with a heart attack; but his art keeps fresh and actual as always. Thanks for sharing this wonderful material of the great "American Heldentenor" Jess Thomas!!!, BRAVO!!!!
just perfect and so beautiful
Some get Boheme or Carmen for their first opera: I sat with my mom and dad and dear Grandmother to hear Meistersinger with SF visiting LA in '65 with Jess Thomas. I didn't know what was going on, but what an introduction to opera!!
Wonderful free singing!
The 3rd stanza is killer. No sweat for JT-breathing, stamina, high notes totally integrated into the line. Thanks. And good move on quitting!
Thank you for sharing this video and to everybody's affirmative (and first hand) stories and comments about this great artist. Intelligence as well as brawn. From a fan.
I love Jess Thomas the way tots loved Elvis. I remember the wearing off of the sheen, and would suggest Melchior as an antidote when you just must hear a voice which held its quality for a very long time. a different voice, thrown apparently from the facial mask, or whatever singers call it. I am glad not to have to pick one over the other.
@highrun46
I remember when our teacher Otto Schulmann always said to me that to be a singer you have to be good eneough that when you are only 75% you are still good enough. One day he told me Jess had called him from somewhere very happy because he had had a big triumph on a day when he was only about 50%.
TO DAY ILOVE YOU ALWAYS, FRIEND, JORGE TEATRO COLON
I saw Jess Thomas and Jessye Norman in performance in Act 1 of Walküre...he had by then lost his "ring" in the top notes, but he sounded the same...way better voice then at the Met Centennial Gala. And he was the first Walther I heard in the old Keilberth/München recording, where he sings wonderfully. Not a top rate recording, but a warm and comfortable reading. And the bad part about the Preislied is that he sings three different versions of it in Act 3.
I heard James King late in his career at the singer-friendly Vienna State Opera. Same thing the top notes were there, bang on pitch, but at a fraction of the volume of his great recordings.
I don't think King ever had a huge top. Not small, but it seemed to diminish in volume as he went up in pitch. Thomas seemed to develop a " spread" , not quite a wobble, but that's common among helden tenors. More have it toward the end of their career then dont.
Yes Jess lost the ring (squillo?) after only a couple years on top. The other famous Lohengrin of the day was Sandor Konya. But Konya had 'disappearing' high notes. He must have been singing the high notes because the audience applauded - but I couldn't hear them.
I heard Jess again as Lohengrin in the singer friendly Vienna Statsoper. His high notes alas had 'disappeared'. He was singing the notes but you couldn't really hear them.
Excelente Jess Thomas. Alguien sabe como se llama la cancion? y donde puedo conseguir la partitura?
Wagner no compuso arias, debes buscar la ópera Lohengrin y ver en dónde se canta esta parte que es un extracto de la ópera. Saludos.
@@luisgustavoespinozavalenzu2651 Muchas gracias, si conseguí averiguar acerca de la opera Lohengrin.
Hi Claude, how are you doing? If you don't know who this is, folks let me tell you. This is Claude Heater - a world class Heldentenor. A very great singer indeed.
no need to explain something so "objective" like the great voice and singing we have on ths video
Wagner is generally not that hard on the voice except for the hochdramatische tenors and sopranos. Most Wagnerian baritone and bass parts are not difficult. The exception is Alberich. Gwendolyn Jones was the greatest drammatic soprano in the world for a time. Maybe too much Wagner, but remember Elena Suliotis had an even faster decline from singing early Verdi.
Rossini is good for the voice.
牛
There are not very many hits for this most excellent Helden Tenor .
Little wonder it was along time ago when EMI with Jess Thomas ,Eliz
Grummer , Christa ludwig , D Fischer-dieskau , Gottlob Frick ,Otto
Wiener ,The great Wiener Philharmoniker And Rudolf Kempe made the great
great Recording under Walter Legge and EMI Classics in 1964.Most of you
were not aware almost 50 years have passed . It is a great miracle
the great recordings of that time still resound in our era . Thank
you to EMI and Angel , and Melodya and Walter Legge for creating such
Hallmark recordings .