Lauritz Melchior Autograph on large b/w Foto, signed at lower margin.
The Autograph comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
20,5 x 25,4 cm (8 x 10 inches) , bend at the lower right corner otherwise very good condition.
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Lauritz Melchior (20 1890 – 1973) was a Danish and later American opera singer. He was the pre-eminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and has since come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Melchior appeared in movie musicals and on radio and television. He also made numerous recordings.
Word of his talent spread and was heard of by Cosima and Siegfried Wagner at Bayreuth. There the re-opening of the Festival for 1924 was under preparation. Melchior was engaged to sing Siegmund and Parsifal. This prestigious contract opened the way to several other appearances such as a Wagner concert with Frida Leider in Berlin in 1923. Around this time several acoustic records were cut for Polydor.
On May 14, 1924 Lauritz Melchior made his debut, as Siegmund, at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London. The result was a smashing success. Some weeks later Melchior made his debut on the stage of the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth in the roles of Siegmund and Parsifal. In July 1925 Adolf Hitler attended a performance of Parsifal in Bayreuth as a guest of Winifred Wagner. According to Walpole, who was sitting in Wagner’s box next to Hitler, as Melchior sang, “the tears poured down Hitler’s cheeks”.
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