Siegfried Jerusalem

Siegfried Jerusalem, born 17 April 1940 Oberhausen/Germany. Originally a bassoonist for many years. Made his debut in 1975, replacing Franco Bonisolli as Barinkay in "Zigeunerbaron". 1976, he was already in Bayreuth (as Lohengrin), and soon at all important theaters world-wide. His career had four stages: in the beginning, he was a fine lirico-spinto tenor (I know that period from records only; the Hoffmann selection is from that time). Soon, he heavily overstrained the voice by attempting to be a heldentenor. This was when I first heard Jerusalem, as Parsifal, in the first half of the 1980s. He was incredible. I've hardly ever heard a singer crack so many notes on one single evening. It actually made Jerusalem a reason for me not to attend a performance (the Land des Lächelns excerpt, though a bit more successful, is from that period). Miraculously, though, his voice survived, and even recovered, and ten or so years later, the next stage of his career set in: he could now really sing the heldentenor parts he had been working on for so many years already. At the Vienna Staatsoper, he was actually good in both Siegfrieds. Finally, the voice grew old and weak, and he was again rather disconcerting. I recall his Rienzi and above all, his Idomeneo in that state of voice.