Episode 462. Get to Know Charles Kullman
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I’ve had a real urge lately to revisit the voices and careers of some of my favorite tenors. So today I bring you the exceptional American artist Charles Kullman (1903 – 1983). The early years of his career were spent primarily in Berlin and Vienna, but for twenty-five years beginning in 1935, he was also a mainstay at the Metropolitan Opera, where he sang a total of 33 different roles. The sheen and spin on his lyric voice, allied to a firm technique, allowed him sing everything from Rinuccio and Fenton to Tannhäuser and Herodes (and nearly everything else in between!) During his European years, he made a number of invaluable recordings, including opera and operetta arias as well as songs from a number of popular films in which he starred. Though he recorded only one complete operatic role in the studio (Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus in 1951), there exist a large number of choice live stage performances that allow us to more fully explore the full length (and variety) of Kullman’s performing career. In this episode, we not only hear excerpts from those early German recordings, but also from live performances of Das Lied von der Erde, Meistersinger, Manon, Traviata, Fledermaus, and Montemezzi’s monumental L’amore dei tre re, some of which feature recent Countermelody divas Licia Albanese, Regina Resnik, and Bidú Sayão. Some aficionado or other has dubbed Kullman “the compleat tenor” and I couldn’t agree more. Enjoy getting better acquainted with this great singer!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
All tracks feature Charles Kullman, tenor.
Johann Strauss II, Ignaz Schnitzer [after Mór Jókai]: Als flotter Geist (Der Zigeunerbaron). Clemens Schmalstich, Orchester der Berliner Staatsoper [1933]
Jacques Offenbach, Jules Barbier [after E.T.A. Hoffmann; German translation by Julius Hopp]: Ha, wie in meiner Seel’ [Ô Dieu, de quelle ivresse] (Hoffmanns Erzählungen [Les Contes d’Hoffmann]). Otto Dobrindt, Orchester der Berliner Staatsoper [1932]
Emmerich Kálmán, Julius Brammer, Alfred Grünwald: Zwei Märchenaugen (Die Zirkusprinzessin) [1932]
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky [after Alexander Pushkin; German translation by August Bernhard]: Wohin seid ihr entschwunden (Eugen Onegin) [1935]
Eduard Künneke, Paul Knepler, J.M. Willeminsky: Ich träume mit offenen Augen (Die lockende Flamme). Eduard Künneke, Orchester vom Theater des Westens [1933]
Richard Wagner: In fernem Land (Lohengrin). Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr [1938]
Richard Wagner: Morgenlich leuchtend (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). Arturo Toscanini, Wiener Philharmoniker, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper [live Salzburg 08.VIII.1936]
Italo Montemezzi, Sem Benelli: Fiora, Fiora… è silenzio; siamo soli (L’amore dei tre re). Orchestra conducted by Italo Montemezzi [live New York 15.II.1941]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas fils]: Oh qual pallor!… Un dì, felice… Amor dunque non più (La traviata). Licia Albanese, Alessio De Paolis, Orchestra conducted by Cesare Sodero [live New York 12.XII.1942]
Jules Massenet, Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille [after Abbé Prévost]: Pardonnez-moi, Dieu de toute puissance… Toi! Vous!… N’est-ce plus ma main (Manon). Bidú Sayão, Orchestra conducted by Thomas Beecham [live New York 16.I.1943]
Johann Strauss II, Carl Haffner, Richard Genée [after Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy; English version by Ruth and Thomas Martin]: What a beauty! What a charmer! [Dieser Anstand so manierlich] (Die Fledermaus). Regina Resnik, Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy [live 22.XII.1951]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni [after Carlo Gozzi and Friedrich Schiller]: O weine nicht, Liu [Non piangere, Liu] (Turandot) [sung in German]. Clemens Schmalstich, Orchester der Berliner Staatsoper [1932]
Gustav Mahler, Hans Bethge [after Li-Tai-Po]: Der Trunkene im Frühling (Das Lied von der Erde). Bruno Walter, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Wien 24.V.1936]
Will Meisel: Marie-Luise (Die Sonne geht auf) [1932]
Eugen Hildach, Felix Dahn: Der Lenz, Op. 19/5 [1932]