Lauritz Melchior Centennial Marks Fading of Heroic Tenor Style

Some movie fans may remember him--he made five movie musicals between 1945 and 1953--only as a bigger-than-life film personality with a quaint, Danish accent. But Lauritz Melchior (1890-1973) was more than that.

Considered by many the definitive heroic tenor of this century, Melchior, according to arbiters of the time, set the standard in each of his Wagnerian roles, which included Tristan, Siegfried, Siegmund, Parsifal, Tannhauser and Lohengrin.

He was probably the most important heroic tenor-- heldentenor, the Germans call that voice category--of the century. Yet, 100 years after his birth, Melchior’s type of singer seems to be fading away, according to his son, the author and film writer/producer, Ib Melchior, who spoke on the occasion of his father’s centennial.

“I am not in the operatic world, but it is no secret to anyone that the type of singer my father was practically does not exist any more,” Ib Melchior said recently.

“My father’s attempt to correct this situation, by starting a foundation that would help promising Wagnerian tenors, seems not to have been successful.”

Formed by the late Melchior himself in the early mid-1960s, the foundation, based at that time in New York, set out to recognize, encourage and give financial support to young male singers with the potential to move into his repertory. Where it has gone is now a mystery, Melchior’s son says.

In a seven-decade-old Hollywood house overlooking the city, Ib Melchior said the 100th anniversary of the singer’s birth--he was born in Copenhagen, March 20, 1890--was noted by the Wagner Societies of New York (March 4) and Los Angeles (March 11). And on the day itself, last Tuesday, the City of Los Angeles commemorated Lauritz Melchior’s birth with an official proclamation.

The Danish singer was a native of Copenhagen who made his debut (as a baritone) in “Pagliacci” in 1914, retired for a period, and re-emerged as a Wagnerian heldentenor in 1918. He first appeared internationally at Covent Garden in London, as Lohengrin, in 1924. The same year, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Siegfried. His long connection with the Metropolitan Opera began in 1926 and ended only in 1950.

The tenor lived in Los Angeles for the last 35 years of his life--he bought the house he called The Viking on Mulholland Drive in 1941.

BOLSHOI TOUR: The first full-scale United States tour--since the 1960s--by the Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow will take place this summer. The company will open its visit at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center, New York City, July 10-22, travel to Vienna, Va., for an engagement at Wolf Trap Farm Park, July 24-29, then go to Chicago, Aug. 1-5. The troupe arrives at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, for a two-week run, Aug. 7-19, then goes to Civic Theatre in San Diego, Aug. 21-26. After a visit to Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, Aug. 29-Sept. 2, the company closes its tour at Wang Center in Boston, Sept. 6-13.

NEA DANCE GRANTS: The Joffrey Ballet with $245,000 and the San Francisco Ballet with $235,000 were the two largest California recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts dance grants for the 1990-91 season.

In Los Angeles, NEA grants were also awarded to, among others, the Bella Lewitzky Company ($72,000), Aman Folk Ensemble ($70,000) Avaz International Dance theatre ($10,000), Jazz Tap Ensemble ($48,000), Loretta Livingston & Dancers ($10,000) and Rhapsody in Taps ($8,000).

The grants, all of them given on a matching basis, will support dance activity and touring in 21 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Of the 124 American dance companies recognized for “artistic excellence,” 22 are based in California--two of them operating bicoastally. Grants were given in amounts ranging from $8,000 to $400,000.

Lee Werbel, managing director of Aman, acknowledged that the $70,000 grant Aman received was $10,000 less than applied for. The funds will go toward touring and educational costs the company incurs in the five weeks of touring it will do in 1990-91.

And just before leaving on tour with the Lewitzky Company, Darlene Neel, Lewitzky’s company manager, said that the $72,000 grant just awarded will account for “8% of our gross annual budget of $900,000 in 1990-91.”

Neel reported that the Lewitzky troupe earns “about 57% of our income. We would like to make that 64%, but it’s not very easy. Also not very easy is raising the remainder from private sources. That gets harder every year.”

The Lewitzky Company applied for more than it got, Neel says, but that is not surprising: “From what we see, nationally, NEA funding has been basically flat for eight years. In practical terms, that means it is going backwards.”

But hope springs annually. Neel says Lewitzky’s dancers have been employed as a group for 16 years now, the troupe tours from 18 to 22 weeks a year, and has now danced in 43 states and in 15 foreign countries. Its current tour began Wednesday and ends April 28.