THE VOCAL RECORD COLLECTORS' SOCIETY

PRESENTS


HELDENTENORS: WHO THE HECK SANG WAGNER BEFORE MELCHIOR?

By
HAROLD BRUDER

A few years ago Harold Bruder gave two programs on early Italian and Hispanic tenors. He's finally returning to complete the cycle with tenors who concentrated on Wagnerian singing - otherwise known as "heldentenors". Again focusing on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Harold will begin with the creator of Parsifal in 1882, Hermann Winkelmann. You'll hear the dulcet sounds associated with "Bayreuth Bark" as it takes the form of some passionate declamatory singing. Recordings from 1900 - 1922 will document this grey area, since most of these tenors (who are not only German, but also Polish, Czech, Dutch, Belgian, Danish and Austrian) are long forgotten. If you've experienced the trials of contemporary heldentenors in the past couple of seasons, you'll know that these steely-voiced singers of long ago should finally be given their due.

Harold Bruder is a noted artist and Professor Emeritus of Art at Queens College, a longtime opera-lover, a voice student who has studied with the likes of Vera Schwarz and Vittorio Weinberg, and a member of the VRCS Board of Directors, acting as our much-put-upon Program Coordinator. His writings have appeared in OPERA QUARTERLY and THE RECORD COLLECTOR, and on many CD reissues of great singers of the past. His particular interests in schools of voice, teacher-pupil influence, etc., have been excellently demonstrated in many previous programs for the VRCS, no more so than in those aforementioned evenings devoted to Italian and Hispanic tenors. It is therefore guaranteed that he will make even "Bayreuth Bark" a thing of surpassing interest to your mind and transcendent beauty to your ears, so do plan to be with us for another of his superb programs.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009
TIME: 7:30PM SHARP
PLACE: CHRIST CHURCH BASEMENT
AUDITORIUM, PARK AVENUE AND 60TH ST., N.Y.C.