Last week, The New York Times ran a touching feature on LA Opera's own Eli and Edythe Broad General Director Plácido Domingo, remarking on his extraordinary career feat: an unprecedented 150 roles under his belt. This season, LA audiences have the opportunity to see Maestro Domingo in two great roles: once in Don Carlo (opening Sept. 22) and again in his 151st role debut in El Gato Montés: The Wildcat. This is an opportunity that is not to be missed!It's not unprecedented, and certainly one had better note that the 150 includes at least one role that Domingo never sang on stage, only on record, that of Tristan in the eponymous opera. (Anyone know whether and when he sang the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten?)
The author of the Times article didn't note, and should have, that the great soprano Lilli Lehmann sang 170 roles in 119 operas. She performed more than one role in multiple operas because of her extraordinary career trajectory: in 1876, she sang a Rheinmaiden in the first Bayreuth Ring performances, and by the end of the century, she was singing Brünnhilde, Isolde, and other heavy roles.
Someplace, somewhere, there are undoubtedly a few other singers who've made it to 150 roles, though my first candidate after Lehmann, tenor Charles Anthony, clocked in at only 111 roles in 69 operas.
4 comments:
He sang the Emperor in Solti's Frau recording (quite well, from what I remember).
Yes - I am trying to sort out which roles he recorded but didn't sing on stage, and the Emperor is a prime candidate to be one of them.
On a FB post about this someone pointed out that Andreas Dippel sang 162 roles (all in his original tenor fach.)
Thank you!
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