Vogt overtakes Kaufmann as 21st century Wagner hero
OperaThe German tenor Klaus Florian Vogt has sung his first Tristan in Dresden, completing a personal cycle of Wagner heroes from Lohengrin through to Parsifal.
Other, more celebrated tenors are still stuck midway through the Ring.
Vogt’s is not the loudest voice on the Wagner stage but it is easily the most serene.
I was there. It sounded as if he had sung it for years. The whole cast was superlative, as was Thielemann’s masterful conducting.
a glorified lyric tenor.
zero umpf or power so of course the limp wrists at Slippeddisc enjoy it.
Can you please tell us where you learned to hate so much? I assume you weren’t born that way so you had to be carefully taught.
i learned this hate from growing up listening to actual heldentenors in theatre as a child. Vogt sings all these Wagnerian roles in european houses where they don’t have the balls to call it what is. horseshit. I saw him when he was last here at The Met, he was inaudible.
But of course Slippeddisc readers and commentators love him—you all love anything and everything Europe pisses out on your forehead. And you still wonder why seats stay empty.
May I respectfully suggest that if the readers and commentators at Slipped Disc are so abhorrent to you that you explore an alternative source for your classical music news and gossip? Since you despise us “limp wrists” who contribute to the site, perhaps you will find more agreeable content at Alpha Magazine, Men’s Health or, perhaps Advocate?
Such a pity that the environment in which you “grew up” (and whether you actually did grow
up seems questionable) did not teach you to express yourself in more persuasive language.
I am so sorry that you feel so inadequate. I’m sure your father loved you in his own way. Might I suggest a course of therapy? That would probably be more beneficial for you than spouting hate and bigotry online. Just a thought.
You don’t share with us who they were. Perhaps if you did it might mitigate the intemperate hysteria of your comment. It gets rather tiresome for those of us who only have access to the singers of now to be told about how great the singers of yesteryear were in comparison.
I have heard many singers struggle with repertoire that might be beyond them but then if they weren’t singing it I have wondered who would. I have heard Vogt many times and to my no doubt untutored ear and my limp wrist he has never disappointed.
As an opera goer for 50 years what continues to strike me is that there are so many who still harp on about the singers of bygone years. I suppose being a child helps to roll back those years to a golden age but for the bulk of the audience today, or that part of it not nudging their 9th decade, we just have to make do with what we’ve got and Vogt is good enough for me, as is Kaufmann.
His use of “limp wrists” suggests he’s a Trumpian right wing populist, who are obsessed with their own perverse definition of masculinity. It’s odd that he cares about opera, but he clearly valorizes power over artistry.
The comment reads as if could be written by longtime opera fan Rudy Giuliani.
Ah yes—I am a trumpian right wing lunatic because i want a heldentenor to sound like a heldentenor. Very astute.
With dunces for listeners like you, no wonder it’s a field day for charlatans in opera.
What does Trump have to do with that? Seems there is two sides to the very same coin lol
If you had heard him in Die tote Stadt at the Semperoper last month you would not make so foolish a comment
I heard his Walther here in NYC.
Which is an ironic sentence cause i could not hear him at all.
I’ve never had any difficulty hearing Vogt over a Wagnerian size orchestra in any opera house. It is not the largest voice ever but it is precisely and beautifully focussed and carries very well. Maybe your inability to hear him was due to do with the Met’s size, almost double some European houses, poor acoustic in some seats, or not well balanced but increasingly prevalent use of amplification ?
How you must sob real tears over the loss of your beloved Peter Hofmann.
“Limp wrists.” Be careful, your hate and bigotry is showing.
He doesn’t attempt to hide his homophobia. I’m not a fan of KFV but I could hear him in Parsifal at the Met. Amazing projection. Not what we are used to in Wagner, but maybe it’s time someone tried something new.
I was there too. It was fantastic. He sang so confidently, every note was right. So differentiated: a static and totally controlled first act (as regie requested), than a wonderful second act and last, the third act!!! So stirring! Never have seen a Tristan like this. The audience was silent for nearly a minute, then there was thunderous applause. An unforgettable magical evening
I’ve heard him twice as Parsifal at Bayreuth. He has a wonderful voice, certainly with enough power to be impressive in the seats at the back where I was.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but the theater in Bayreuth is a case apart. Other auditoriums should not be compared to it regarding the acoustics. It is well known that singers with lesser power have had deserved success there, which they could not equal elsewhere and that for a simple reason: In Bayreuth the orchestra pit is under the stage, while elsewhere it is in front of the stage and NOT covered.
I was at the Met the night Vogt made his unexpected debut, as Lohengrin. He was the cover for Ben Heppner, who cancelled. Nobody knew anything about him, but there seemed to be a collective gasp when he began to sing, and that unique sound started to pour out. Yes, he sounds like a lyric tenor, but his is one of the few contemporary voices that can fill, and more, the Met’s vast spaces . At the end of the performance the applause at his solo bow was so loud that Vogt seemed to be fighting back tears as he was standing at the stage apron.
Pretty sure Vogt was scheduled for those last two Lohengrins in 2006.
Though respectfully, I do not agree with NL. JK Is today by far the best wagnerian heldentenor
AND he’s a lovely guy whom “fame” has not affected!!!
The type of tenor voice traditionally associated with Wagner’s roles has been evolving ever since they were first performed. Windgassen and Thomas were criticized for not being as stentorian as Melchior. Kollo and Jerusalem even more so. I found Heppner capable of supreme lyricism. Each of these fine singers brought something unique to his performances. In addition, there are huge differences in the vocal demands of each role. Walther, Lohengrin, Siegmund and Parsifal require very different from Tristan and Siegfried. Anyway, in my opinion, I prefer Vogt’s clarity of tone over the muffled sounds of more celebrated tenors.
Great points. And Heppner never called himself a “Heldentenor”…he always called himself a lyric.
I have known and sung with Vogt MANY times on multiple Wagner operas. He is a true gentleman and sings with artistry. He’s not just a bellower but an actual musician. And, he CAN be heard in major and large houses. It is a different sound than many heldentenors. But, it is equally valid. Wagner didn’t have Heldentenors when he wrote his music dramas. He would have appreciated Mr. Vogt’s commitment to line, text, and the declamation of it…and, he’s a good actor as well.
What a stupid comparison. They are totally different singers. Kaufmann was never specialised in the Wagnerian repertoire and sang a very broad array of roles. I’m not a Kaufmannite, but I suspect his Cavaradossi and Don Jose are significantly more convincing than Vogt’s would be.
I’m also not the greatest fan of Vogt’s, but he’s doing something unique and he’s satisfying and demands of the repertoire. Those who say he isn’t loud enough clearly haven’t heard him live.
For me, it’s more an issue of aesthetics, which is do with personal preference.
I think his kind of singing works well for a more lyrical Wagnerian role like Lohengrin or Walther, and I suspect less well for a role like Tristan, where I would prefer a more dramatic and metallic quality. But obviously there are a lot of people who disagree with me. To each their own.
For other Heldentenors singing today, Andreas Schager is a terrific Siegfried (but less effective in other roles) and the young American Clay Hilley is proving himself a highly effective traditional Heldentenor across his whole repertoire.
Having seen Schager as Tannhauser, Tristan, and Siegfried, he does just fine in all those roles. Better than just fine.
I have tickets for Thursday 25 January, DBahn strike notwithstanding
I wouldn’t cast Vogt as David in Meistersinger much less Tristan. Vogelgesang maybe. We have now reached the reductio ad absurdum in opera casting.
finally someone in these comments with a brain!!
Having traveled much of the world, living and working on 4 continents, I find that little phrase, “variety is the spice of life” a useful means of appreciating one’s latest “home” and settling comfortably into different digs. I generally find despite some vast differences in the ways we humans express our interpretations of archetypal realities through our cultures, we have quite alot in common.
I’m an unabashed “Wagnerian”, “Brucknerian” and “Mahlerian”, having made pilgrimages to pay homage to their genius. I have many wonderful recordings with as one would expect often different interpretations.
Rarely, I respond, “No, not for me.” Some of my dearest colleagues and friends are moved by someone who just isn’t my cup of tea.
With your fangs bared and swords drawn in the preceding comments, it doesn’t surprise me why humanity seems permanently on the verge of destroying itself. Amongst my friends (I’m a US citizen) are Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, Hindus, Agnostics and Atheists; also, beloved Iranians, Communist Chinese and Tibetans, former Soviet-supportive Russians, e.g.
When we sit down to experience music, share a repast, or just enjoy tea or coffee, usually out come the good and best things about us, especially our hearts and brilliantly unique minds.
It sometimes makes me cringe to see the ease with which people in these commentaries slay one another.
Music “criticism” is a poor term for those who may in fact possess more knowledge and experience, and it seems to me have a moral and human responsibility to edify and enlighten others.
I anticipate that I’ve opened myself to rapier attacks, but I love this world of such an extraordinary wealth of talent, creativity and at times memorable genius. I prefer this to dictatorships bent on potential cultural “genocide”. Perhaps too strong a term and reaction, folks, but… REALLY?!
Actually the Heldentenors ad Wagners time didn’t sound at all like the Trumpet Baritenors of the 30ies. Specially Schnorr was more of a high sounding tenor. So there are always waves. I listened live to Kollo, Vickers, and many more. Vogt’s style is unique, but for Wagner it works very well. And he was the first Tenor I could hear during the finale of the 1st act Meistersinger.
BINGO! That Act 1 finale — at the Met yet — was a revelation. I was sitting up in the Balcony at that Meistersinger, and I could trace Walther’s music right through the whole ensemble. That didn’t happen with the single most beautiful Walther I’ve yet heard at the Met, Sandor Konya in 1969. That’s right. Konya’s voice, gorgeous as it was and clean and clear, was not as powerful as Vogt’s. The only Walther I’ve heard at the Met who was as powerful as Vogt was Heppner. I don’t understand how anyone can say Vogt was inaudible in the Mey Meistersinger. Anyone who can dominate the Act 1 finale is the opposite of inaudible.
That said, I will say that I did find Vogt’s Parsifal at the Met to be (and bear in mind that I was enthralled by what I saw and heard at the Met in both Vogt’s Walther and his Met Lohengrin) uneven. Vogt’s Parsifal at the Met was not uneven because it was vocally weak or faint. It was quite clear throughout. Rather, it was uneven because the color seemed too unvaried for Parsifal’s music, especially in Act 3. The tessitura of this role stays very much in the middle because Parsifal is growing up, fast! That gravitas was what made Vickers’ Parsifal (which I saw twice) so unforgettable. Vogt didn’t lack power. He lacked the element of maturity and gravitas in the intrinsic tone that is needed for Wagner’s final masterpiece. So I’ve no question that Vogt has the stamina and the power for Tristan. But the sound most likely lacks the gravitas and maturity needed for the role. I’ve no doubt as to its musical beauty. But its character is another matter.
Ironically, the very reason why his Tristan and his Parsifal don’t work ideally may just be the reason why his young Siegfried might possibly be fully as effective as his Walther and his Lohengrin.
And this is why I try to have comments muted on my videos.
Oh Norman you are wrong! Vogt is extremely loud, you probably never heard him live
heard him in a concert performance of Lohengrin in Concertgebouw Amsterdam, audible at all times, just glorious!
That headline – again you found an excuse to depreciate Kaufmann (who, by the way, does not specialise in Wagner like Vogt, so quantitatively he will be overtaken). You are as always, unfortunately, very “creative” in this point, but why you keep doing this, I wonder.
I haven’t got a horse in this race; but for what it’s worth, when he sang Lohengrin in London, the thing that struck me most forcibly about his voice was that he sounded to me more like a woman than a man, as if a particularly tightly-controlled silvery-sounding mezzo was singing rather than a tenor. Eyes closed (I do this to guess a singer’s vocal – as opposed to calendrical -age) only reinforced the impression.
This was greatly emphasised by comparison with the performance’s two actual women, Opolais and Goerke, the former furry-toned and thick-sounding, the latter hard and brittle. He sounded positively angelic in their vocal company, and therefore essentially androgynous, which, given his other-worldly role in the opera, seemed almost “right” to me, if only by way of serendipity. Just my tuppence…
After so many Tristans where one was at risk confusing Brangaene with Isolde, now it’s Tristan’s turn.
Strange considering it’s not even a 2nd or 3rd rate voice.
No, it’s a 1st rate voice – hence why he is singing Wagner roles in all the best houses
I was there tonight. Second row from the orchestra. Vogt was magnificent, as was the entire performance. If you can get to Dresden for one of the remaining two performances, you won’t regret it.
I knew James King and he always said to, “Stick to the high Italian roles for as long as you can thus allowing for the voice to tackle the big Strauss and Wagner”.
I am not a singer nor in any arts business.
I am a laborer long 14 hr over night shifts 45 yrs and sing in the car after work specifically after a bad night.
Thanks.
I was at the Tristan last night and KFV was pretty extraordinary. He used a lot of darker colours in his voice and had no problem at all being heard over the orchestra, even in the very loudest bits. At the end of Act 3 he was still producing the same beautiful sounds without any hint of fatigue or vocal strain whatsoever.
There were cameras in the house and it seems the performance will be shown on Medici TV at some point and possibly a DVD release too, so people can judge for themselves. The production was very static and like watching paint dry but musically most of it was superb – there was a standing ovation at the end that went on for 23 minutes
A ” tame”, polite Tristan. Just like Kaufmann. Schager does a far better job .