Siegfried Jerusalem (born 17 April 1940) is a German

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

. Closely identified with the

heldentenor A heldentenor (; English: ''heroic tenor''), earlier called tenorbariton, is an operatic tenor voice, most often associated with Wagnerian repertoire. It is distinct from other tenor '' fächer'' by its endurance, volume, and dark timbre, which ...

roles of Richard Wagner, he has performed Siegfried, Siegmund, Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Tristan to wide acclaim. Since the 1990s, he has focused on lieder, particularly those by

Strauss Strauss, Strauß or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is always spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" usually re ...

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

and

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

Beginnings

Jerusalem was born at Oberhausen, and studied piano, violin and bassoon at the Folkwangschule in Essen. He began his career as bassoonist, being engaged in Hof in 1961 and for the next ten years in

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

: from 1971–77, he was attached to the Radio Symphony Orchestra of the South-German Radio in Stuttgart. In 1971, he also began taking voice lessons with Hertha Kalcher of Stuttgart. In 1975, when due to perform in the orchestra of a television production of '' Der Zigeunerbaron'', he stood in for the tenor

Franco Bonisolli Franco Bonisolli (May 25, 1938 – October 30, 2003) was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, notably as Manrico and Calaf. Life and career Bonisolli was born in Rovereto, Italy. He studied with Alfr ...

at the last minute.

Operatic singer

Thenceforth Jerusalem made singing his career. His first major role was

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...

in 1976, a role in which he soon appeared at Darmstadt, Aachen, Hamburg, and at the Zurich Festival, and later in Munich and the New York Met. He followed this with Max in ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 18 ...

'' at Stuttgart. His Bayreuth career opened in 1977, where by 1981 he had performed Froh (''

Das Rheingold ''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...

''), the Young Sailor (''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...

'') and then Lohengrin, ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival ...

'' and Walter von Stolzing ('' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''). His Parsifal was also heard in Vienna at that time, and his Siegmund (''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...

'') (with

Jessye Norman Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. A commanding presence on operatic, concert ...

Theo Adam Theo Adam (1 August 1926 – 10 January 2019) was a German operatic bass-baritone and bass singer who had an international career in opera, concert and recital from 1949. He was a member of the Staatsoper Dresden for his entire career, and sang ...

and

Yvonne Minton Yvonne Fay Minton CBE (born 4 December 1938) is an Australian-born but mostly British-resident opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto. A native of Sydney, she originally studied voice while on a scholarshi ...

) in Dresden (1981). In addition to stage appearances he gave various concert performances which, like the Dresden ''Walküre'' or the Rome ''Lohengrin'' were broadcast internationally. From 1978, he became a regular member of the German Opera in Berlin, and had permanent contract with the companies in Stuttgart, Zürich, Munich, and Vienna as well as making international guest appearances.This paragraph mainly after ''Die Walkure'' Eurodisc 1982 brochure notes as previously cited, and BBC '' Radio Times'' notes for ''Lohengrin'' broadcast 1983. His Bayreuth career continued with Siegfried in 1988 ('' Siegfried'') and 1989 (''

Götterdämmerung ' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as ...

''). In 1990, he appeared at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

with

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

, singing both Siegfrieds, as well as the difficult role of Loge. The production was televised, and is available on DVD. In 1992, his Bayreuth-Siegfried was made as a DVD again. On this performance, Jerusalem was singing with Graham Clark, Anne Evans and John Tomlinson, and 1993 he debuted as Tristan at the Bayreuth Festival, and took the role to most of the major houses in Europe.

Awards

On 9 October 1997, he was presented with the German Federal Cross of Merit. His last performance at Bayreuth was in 1999 as Tristan. He currently teaches at the College of Music in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Recordings

Jerusalem performs in a series of audio and video recordings of Wagner operas conducted by

at the Met, Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez at Bayreuth, and others made in the 1980s and 1990s. Jerusalem has also made an attempt at some crossover music in two albums ''The Glory of Love'' (1996) and ''Avalon'' (2002).

References

External links

Interview with Jerusalem on his 61st Birthday
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerusalem, Siegfried 1940 births Living people Heldentenors German operatic tenors Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grammy Award winners Deutsche Grammophon artists Österreichischer Kammersänger 20th-century German male opera singers