Lohengrin - Hamburg 1968 (Upgraded Sound)

Hamburg State Opera
January 14, 1968
Conductor - Matthias Kuntzsch
Lohengrin - Plácido Domingo (Role debut)
Elsa - Arlene Saunders
Ortrud - Ruth Hesse
Telramund - David Ohanesian
King Henry - Hans Sotin
Heerrufer - Tom Krause
00:00 Act 1
1:01:11 Act 2
2:16:08 Act 3

[@wotan10950]

Interesting. In Domingo’s various memoirs, he said that these Hamburg performances really hurt his voice. He had already taken on some heavier Italian roles, but lacked the experience to sing Wagner correctly. Of course, later on he became a distinguished Lohengrin, Siegmund, and Parsifal.

[@AlainArvelo]

Which is telling (and a touch funny) because one could say Lohengrin is easier on paper than say Radames or Puccini’s Des Grieux; both roles he sang in ‘68. That wagnerian orchestration is no joke!

[@meisterwue]

​​​​@@AlainArveloDomingo was never a wagnerian tenor. In 68 he had good skills but limited as always.....overrated tenor, totally overrated. Later he tried the heavyweight roles of Wagner in studio recordings, but he is a miscast. His career , I have the deepest respect, how he managed it for decades, but I wasn't never a real admirer.....and I had my first LP with him in 1978, the recital under the baton of Downes ( he sings there Gralserzählung in German). BTW, his German pronouncing isn't really well....and not the part of Lohengrin hurts his voice, but his voice hurts the part of Lohengrin. Two years earlier in 1966 Gedda sung for 3 times Lohengrin in Stockholm and it hurts his voice seriously.....Gedda after this experience decided to sing no more Wagner....

[@AlainArvelo]

@@meisterwue PD had always a very consistent voice, reliable voice. not a marvel like pavarotti nor an incendiary voice like carreras. Was smart in picking his repertoire for the most part. Rarely sang anything that goes beyond Bb4 (the occasional B natural here and there). But good stage presence and good looking enough to produce a solid or above average results. However when it comes to a list of operatic tenor greats, i wouldn’t expect him to rank high on many peoples lists.

[@meisterwue]

@@AlainArvelo reliable voice : a good term.