- James King (tenor)
James King (
May 22 1925 –November 20 2005 ) was widely regarded as the finest Americanheldentenor of the post-war period.Born in
Dodge City, Kansas , King studied music atLouisiana State University and earned a master's degree in 1952 from Kansas City University. He started singing as abaritone , but noticed in 1955 that his range was more that of atenor . He retrained himself as a tenor and won the American Opera Auditions in Cincinnati in 1961. He made his debut as Don Jose inBizet 's "Carmen " with theSan Francisco Opera . He sang the French and Italian repertoire with theDeutsche Oper Berlin from 1962 to 1965 and world-wide at most of the major opera houses, being a particular favorite at theVienna State Opera , where he last appeared as Florestan inBeethoven 's "Fidelio ", in 1997.He made his
Metropolitan Opera debut in 1966. He sang at all the major opera houses in Europe and America and recorded extensively. One of his most famous recordings, however, was not in opera, but rather that ofMahler 's "Das Lied von der Erde ", recorded withLeonard Bernstein and theVienna Philharmonic Orchestra . His baritone partner in that recording wasDietrich Fischer-Dieskau . (He also recorded it withJanet Baker underBernard Haitink ).A small selection of King's other recordings include:
Wagner 's "Die Walküre " (withBirgit Nilsson andHans Hotter , conducted by SirGeorg Solti , 1965);Puccini 's "Tosca " (excerpts in German, oppositeAnja Silja , conducted byLorin Maazel , 1966);Richard Strauss 's "Ariadne auf Naxos " (1968); "Fidelio" (1969); Wagner's "Lohengrin" (1971); Puccini's "Madama Butterfly " (withMaria Chiara , 1972); Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Dalila " (1973); Strauss's "Die Frau ohne Schatten " (1977);Hindemith 's "Mathis der Maler " (with Fischer-Dieskau and William Cochran, 1979);Franz Schmidt 's "Notre Dame" (1988); and, from the Bayreuth Festival, "Die Walküre" (with Nilsson andTheo Adam , 1967) and "Parsifal " (withDame Gwyneth Jones , led byPierre Boulez , 1970).He taught at Indiana University from 1984 to 2003.
He was married three times and had five children. He was married at the time of his death from a heart attack to the former Elizabeth Lively.
External links
* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-11-22-king-obit_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA "Opera tenor James King dies at age 80" (USA Today
November 22 2005)]
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