Melchior, Lauritz (Lebrecht Hommel)

Melchior, Lauritz (Lebrecht Hommel), celebrated Danish-born American tenor; b. Copenhagen, March 20, 1890; d. Santa Monica, Calif., March 18, 1973.He studied with Paul Bang at the Royal Opera School in Copenhagen, making his operatic debut in the baritone role of Silvio in Pagliacci at the Royal Theater there (April 2, 1913). He continued on its roster while studying further with Vilhelm Herold, and then made his tenor debut as Tannhäuser (Oct. 8, 1918). In 1921 he went to London to continue his training with Beigel, and then studied with Grenzebach in Berlin and Bahr-Mildenburg in Munich. On May 24, 1924, he made his Covent Garden debut in London as Siegmund, returning there regularly from 1926 to 1939. He was in Bayreuth in 1924 to study with Kittel; made his first appearance at the Festspielhaus there as Siegfried on July 23, 1924, and continued to make appearances there until 1931. On Feb. 17, 1926, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Tannhäuser, and quickly established himself as one of its principal artists; with the exception of the 1927–28 season, he sang there regularly until his farewell performance as Lohengrin on Feb. 2, 1950. In 1947 he became a naturalized American citizen. Melchior also appeared on Broadway and in films, and continued to give concerts. He was accorded a preeminent place among the Wagnerian Heldentenors of his era.

Bibliography

H. Hanse, L. M.:A Discography (Copenhagen, 1965; 2^nd ed., 1972); S. Emmons, Tristanissimo: The Authorized Biography of Heroic Tenor L M. (N.Y., 1990); A. Heckner, L. M.: Die kommentierte Diskographie des Wagner-Heldentenors (Bayreuth, 1995).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire