Lauritz Melchior sings Prize Song from Act III of Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.<br /><br />Opening line is "Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein."<br /><br />Melchior is the most important Heldentenor in the history of opera. Such a tenor was needed for Wagner's operas--a tenor with great stamina (or singing technique that allows for stamina) and enough power to project over a 120 piece orchestra. Heldentenors are not associated with Bel Canto singing ( or with voices that are light and flexible). <br /><br />Melchior's recordings are far more impressive than those by earlier Heldentenors such as Leo Slezak and Karl Jorn.<br /><br />This Prize Song is from Wagner's one comic opera. <br /><br />The opera is about a young knight, Walther von Stolzing, who visits Nuremberg. He falls in love with Eva, but to marry her, he must enter and win a competition--a singing or song contest! The prize is her hand in marriage. Walther's song (Morgen ich leuchte in rosigem Schein) charms the entire assembly at the opera's end--and charms us, the opera-goers.<br /><br />The opera's premiere was at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich, on June 21, 1868.
