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Author : Jos Hermans
Heinz Tietjen and his set designer Emil Preetorius reformed the Bayreuth performance style and developed a new Wagner world on a human scale. Lorenz was the new hero, less warlike than the ponderous warriors of the Cosima and Siegfried era, who until 1931 had continued to be seen in the only sporadically renewed Ring setting of 1896. Lorenz was as much a windfall for director and conductor Tietjen as vice versa. The "only person who knew anything about opera" became Lorenz's ideal teacher at the most important moment of his artistic development.
On November 29 and 30, 1933, Tietjen's new production of the Ring opens at the Berlin State Opera with Rheingold and Walküre; Lorenz sings Siegmund. This is the beginning of the Wagner axis Berlin-Bayreuth: director, set designer, most of the soloists -with Lorenz at the helm- and sometimes the conductors, will be identical in both theaters for years.
In the fall of 1933, Lorenz returns to the Metropolitan Opera in accordance with his contract. On the crossing from Bremen to New York, he learns by telegram that this time he is to perform as the title character in Tannhäuser. Unlike two years before, he now returns to the Met as Bayreuth's first tenor and thus has a reputation to lose, especially since Tannhäuser is one of his predecessor Melchior's parade roles. Within 5 days he says to have rehearsed the role together with Tauber. However, Lorenz is only used twice in the role. Melchior had taken care of that: despite his friendship, he didn't have much of a liking for a colleague who was all too capable, even superior in his stage performances.
On March 15, 1934, he says goodbye to the Met as Stolzing. He will not return ntil 12 years later. On May 22, he makes his debut in the same role at London's Covent Garden Opera. His artistic home for the next decade, however, remains the Wagnerian axis of Bayreuth-Berlin. As long as the Ring is on the festival program in the era Tietjen, Lorenz will sing Siegfried. In 1934 he leaves Parsifal to Helge Rosvaenge because, unlike the year before, he has not only two but three Ring cycles to sing, and also all four performances of Die Meistersinger!
According to Lorenz, Friedelind Wagner wanted to marry him and make a "real man" out of him. That Hitler was in favor of this is a rumor that has never been denied, but has never been confirmed either. In any case, Lorenz would have to dissolve his "mésalliance" with the Jewess. Tietjen she asks confidentially about the legal possibilities. The wily diplomat's son waved it off: a court-enforced divorce under the racial laws or even under a corresponding order from the Führer would only cause the Lorenz couple to emigrate. What exactly a deportation of the "undesirable person" to a concentration camp would cause was not readily foreseeable. Friedelind supposedly considered this seriously, and not only according to Tietjen. Of course, she never said anything about it herself. In her 1945 pamphlet "Heritage of Fire," Lorenz is mentioned only twice.
Since Ariadne auf Naxos (1932), a kind of father-son relationship had developed between Tietjen and Lorenz. The two were linked by a kindred spirit that was mutually enriching and culminated in an ideal, inseparable partnership. As the crowning achievement of their joint work, Tietjen staged "Tristan und Isolde" in Bayreuth in 1938. Lorenz said : "At the beginning of September 1937 the boss called me to his office after a Tannhäuser rehearsal. He did not receive me behind his desk as usual. Almost confidentially, he asked me to take a seat at a small tea table and said that I was now ready to climb the 'last mountain peak'. He asked me if I would be interested in becoming Tristan in his next Bayreuth production. I was so surprised that I said somewhat indecisively that it was a giant part after all. But he had already prepared everything. From then on I got three rehearsal lessons a day. After that he worked alone with me in a small rehearsal room, also every day. There was only a secretary present who noted all his comments. For almost a year I repeated every step, every gesture and every movement hundreds and hundreds of times, so that when I arrived in Bayreuth I was as sure as if I had already sung the part God knows how many times. This was necessary, of course, because I had to alternate with Karl Hartmann, one of the most experienced and powerful Tristans of the time."
In 1938 Lorenz also makes his triple debut at La Scala in Milan. Not only for his artistic achievements, but also because of his inexhaustible stamina, he is awarded the title of "Commendatore" after the Götterdämmerung on April 3, 1938 at the Milan City Hall, a title of which he has been no little proud throughout his life.
Finally then, in the summer of 1938, he completes his Wagner repertoire, fulfilling his life's dream and also Tietjen's. Lorenz's impulsive versatility as a performer fundamentally sets him apart from most of his professional colleagues-including and especially Karl Hartmann. Lorenz was more dynamic in appearance, movement and vocal nuance. While Hartmann was the indomitable, powerful warrior of traditional fortitude, Lorenz was more elegant as a polite cavalier, more convincing as the lover of the second act and more moving as the doomed man of the last act. He was able to juxtapose lyrical melodicism and dramatic intensity directly with each other, as well as to merge them gently. Unlike Hartmann, he always adapted to his partner. He knew how to change the color of his voice and adapt it to her timbre; he knew how to breathe with her without the need for consultations. In this respect he was even superior to a vocal artist like Ludwig Suthaus, whom he admired and sometimes even envied for his "incomprehensible breath control." Despite Tannhäuser and Siegfried, his most important role was undoubtedly Tristan. But he was never satisfied.
Lorenz : "Tristan is actually too much for a singer. The first act is more demanding from the point of view of the interpretation rather than from a vocal point of view, although you have more to sing there than in the whole Pagliacco. But then the real test begins. Either the second act is good, or the third - both rarely, if ever, succeed equally well. The second act depends entirely on the rapport with the partner. Brilliant sopranos like Leider, Varnay or Grob-Prandl animate the enthusiasm and animate the intensity of the performance. Dark, pasty voices like Fuchs, Flagstad or Mödl provide more intimacy in the love duet. The third act best suits my mentality."
In the third act, his fever fantasies were so compelling that one forgot about the theater. None of this had any effect on his vocal or physical condition, but nerves were strained to the breaking point after each Tristan. Hanz Kraayvanger told us that Lorenz was once so exhausted after a performance that he laid his head on the table in the bar and sobbed heartily. His inexhaustible vocal commitment and joy of playing eventually convinced even most of his opponents from the ranks of the Siegfried Wagner loyal Old Bayreutheans. Lorenz himself described the year 1938 as the high point of his career, if only because of the Tristan.
His first Tristan outside Bayreuth Lorenz sings not in Berlin but in Buenos Aires. There he celebrates a reunion with his former colleague from Bayreuth and Berlin and - at that time - friend Herbert Janssen. Six months earlier, he had driven him to a private plane near Berlin by order of Tietjen through a secret operation and helped him to escape from Germany. Lorenz himself had been spared persecution and arbitrariness until then. It was precisely the Tristan performance of October 21, 1938, made historical by the newspaper article "The Miracle Karajan," that made him aware of the danger he too faced in the Greater German Empire. For propaganda reasons, the one-year-old staging, which had already been put on several times in Berlin and six times in Bayreuth, had been glorified as a premiere. The two most powerful Nazi paladins had chosen the ambitious Kapellmeister Herbert von Karajan from Aachen to spearhead the performance against the unpleasantly recalcitrant Wilhelm Furtwängler. Hermann Göring, Prussian prime minister and head of the State Opera, and Propaganda Minister Dr. Joseph Goebbels, president of the Reichskulturkammer and head of the German Opera, wanted to set up party comrade Karajan as the brilliant rival to Germany's first concert and opera conductor! Furtwängler was not a party member.
Throughout his life, Lorenz suspected connections between the media-driven glorification of the miracle conductor and the reprisals against him on the same day (!). Even the always cautious Tietjen admitted this possibility. Lorenz was Furtwängler's tenor and he feared trouble in case of intrigue against the great conductor. What followed was "Aktion Lorenz", the official SS report sounded as follows: "On October 21 the order was given to take Mrs. Lotte Lorenz from her husband's apartment for interrogation. Instead of following the order to go with them, Mrs. Lorenz fled to the bedroom of her husband, the Kammersänger Max Lorenz, who vigorously opposed the intended measure. After repeated insistence, he obtained the telephone number of the Reich Security Main Office, which Lorenz immediately called. When told that only Mr. Kaltenbrunner would determine whether Ms. Lorenz could be released again, Mr. Lorenz replied, "then Mr. Kaltenbrunner may also sing Tristan in the upcoming evening performance."
No one had expected the fearlessness of the singer, who was called a "faggot." Lorenz immediately cancelled that evening, and since no Berlin tenor was willing to fill in, Albert Seibert was flown in from Frankfurt, who later stated that he would not have come had he known the background. Lorenz refused to perform any further. First, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the head of the main state security office, and the SS men involved would have to come personally to his flat to apologize to his wife and him. For a week, nothing happened. Kaltenbrunner finally gave in to the highest order and appeared at 31 Eschenallee in Charlottenburg with a bouquet of flowers to apologize. But the relationship between Lorenz and Karajan remained explosive.
Tietjen tried to mitigate the tension. On November 9, 1938, the eve of the ominous Reichskristallnacht, he scheduled a reconciliation Tristan. The actually unbelievable course of this performance was never recorded, but the Isolde of the evening, the earthy Martha Fuchs, still remembers it 30 years later: "Lorenz arrived late for the performance. Normally he trembled with stage fright, but this time he was dangerously calm and visibly in a fighting mood. Karajan had his difficulties: Mecki forced tempos on him, randomly speeding up or slowing down, but in such a way that the new conductor seemed like a novice. The oath scene took everyone's breath away. Lorenz took the bowl of love potion, but did not look at me, his Isolde, as the stage direction actually required. In his matchless way, he went step by step to the orchestra pit and fixed Karajan on the conductor's podium before he began, "Tristan's Ehre, höchste Treu! Tristan's Elend, kühnster Trotz".
The second act proceeded without incident until just before the finale. At the passage "Aus Eifer verriet mich der Freund..." Lorenz extended the last word in a way that was only possible for him in this extreme situation. As he did so, he stepped back towards the orchestra pit. The orchestra was not prepared for his fermata followed by a general pause. Karajan was apparently unaware of this and gave his cue. The orchestral chord that erupted prematurely had the effect of a slap. Lorenz had already turned to Manowarda, the King Marke of that night. As if unpleasantly surprised, he turned around and looked at the orchestra in bewilderment. After an awkward pause he turned apologetically to Manowarda and finished his sentence: "...dem König, den ich verriet"
How the third act went I cannot say - I did not dare to listen anymore. After the performance Karajan gave us great compliments on stage, but he asked Lorenz somewhat pointedly how he actually got along with Furtwänglers conducting. To that, Mecki replied in a kind manner, "I don't know. He gives me as many cues as you do - none. But he breathes with me and I think that makes all the difference."
An improvement in the relationship between Lorenz and Karajan was not immediately to be expected after that. The next scandal occurred on a world-historically important day. On March 14, 1939 - Slovakia had just proclaimed its independence, leading to the dissolution and occupation of Czechoslovakia - Tietjen found himself with Karajan for the third act of Götterdämmerung, to personally check the "lack of discipline" of the feisty heroic tenor, about which his Kapellmeister had complained. Josef von Manoarda and Walter Großmann, Hagen and Gunther of the production, immediately let Lorenz know: the bosses are together in the artistic director's lodge - that means trouble. Threateningly determined - again according to Marta Fuchs - Lorenz took to the stage. Initially particularly cheerful and playful with the Rhine dancers, he suddenly became serious at their words "Schlimmes wissen wir dir." He stepped firmly onto the stage, looked straight up at Tietjen and Karajan, and sang his lines with special accentuation: "Wohl warnte mich einst vor dem Fluche ein Wurm, doch das Fürchten lehrt' er mich nicht". Then he continued his banter with the Rhine-daughters in a decidedly uninhibited manner. The "high authorities" discreetly left the intendants lodge through the service exit during the funeral march. Lorenz allowed himself to be carried off the stage like a dead Siegfried and remained on his bier until he was brought back on stage for the final song of Brünnhilde. After the performance he did not show his face again, but immediately left the theater and could not be reached at home. The next day he and Karajan were summoned to the intendant, who was careful not to take sides. Instead, he gave both of them an official warning, swore them to mutual respect and to maintaining the peace in the ensemble, and labeled the "festive performance on the occasion of the reception of the Yugoslav Prince Regent" on June 2, 1939, as the "reconciliation performance" of the two opponents.
From 1940, Lorenz intensified his ties with the Vienna State Opera, where he had previously made - albeit regular - only guest appearances. Vienna eventually became his artistic home. The decisive factor may have been that he could sing more Italian roles there than in Berlin, where he had to leave them to Franz Völker and Helge Rosvaenge. In Vienna he sang Radames, Don José, Alvaro and Othello until the 1940s, which, together with the Wagner roles, were part of his internationally successful repertoire.
The last Berlin Ring of the Tietjen era is held from November 16 to 22, 1940. Lorenz sings his last Jung-Siegfried there on November 20, and the last Götterdämmerung on January 24, 1941. On the night of April 9-10 the Lindenopera is destroyed by bombs. Reconstruction is immediately started on the "express order of the Führer."
On December 12, 1942, the Lindenopera reopens on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of its existence. The 507th performance of Die Meistersinger since its Berlin premiere in 1870, is conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler, and his Stolzing is no other than Max Lorenz. But after another SS attack on Lotte during his absence in March 1943, he too realizes the gravity of the situation. On the same day, he, his wife and even his mother-in-law are personally taken to safety by Hermann Göring, who invokes an "order from the Führer." In the meantime, however, he has accepted a permanent position at the Vienna State Opera and is secretly preparing his relocation.
On August 9, 1944, he sings Stolzing for the last time at the 5th Kriegsfestspiele in Bayreuth. It is the swan song of the Tietjen era. After the proclamation of "total war" and the closure of all German theaters, he still takes part in a few concerts of the ensemble of the State Opera. At the end of 1944, he moves to what was then called the "Ostmark," where the dictatorship did not show such martial traits as in the central control center of the Reich. Although he is reluctant to leave Berlin, he soon realizes that Austria is preferable to postwar Germany as a residence for a Wagner singer. The Vienna State Opera - like so many German theaters - has fallen victim to the bombs. Unlike in Germany, however, Wagner is not considered the spiritual progenitor of National Socialism on the Danube. In Vienna, his works are reinstated on the repertoire in the very first postwar season. While Wagner singers in the former "Altreich" are struggling with the temporary banishment of their successful repertoire, Lorenz is able to continue his career where he had had to interrupt it in 1944. On May 29, 1946, after almost exactly two years, he reappears on the stage as Tristan.
On November 26, 1947, he returns to New York as Tristan. There he is warmly welcomed by his Scandinavian colleagues: Lauritz Melchior, his fellow student from Grenzebach's time and predecessor in Bayreuth, Torsten Ralf, his successor in Dresden, and Set Svanholm, with whom he had shared Tannhäuser and Siegmund in Berlin in 1942 and Siegfried in Götterdämmerung in Bayreuth. Less cordial is his encounter with Friedelind Wagner, whose desire to marry him has now turned to gut-wrenching hatred, and she has found an ally Lorenz least expected, his old friend Herbert Janssen. In March 1950, he retires from the Metropolitan Opera for ever.
In 1956, Herbert von Karajan takes over as director of the Vienna State Opera. Lorenz has no more illusions about his future in Vienna. At the end of 1956 - during Karajan's absence - he sings another "stunning" Tristan under the direction of Heinrich Hollreiser, according to Josef Wechsberg. The "miracle Karajan" tolerated no other gods beside him, certainly no "knowing" singer-performers of exemplary caliber. The fact that Lorenz had witnessed Karajan's partisan rise in the Third Reich made him completely persona non grata. Lorenz is seen less and less often in his home theater. In Böhm's time he sang Florestan, Tannhäuser and Tristan. Herbert von Karajan, who is his director for seven years, does not conduct a single performance with him at the Vienna State Opera during this period.
Lorenz ends his career as Herod on October 15, 1962, six weeks after his 35th anniversary on the stage. The Vienna State Opera, of which he had been the principal hero tenor for 30 years and which had just made him an honorary member, does not care - one of the most undignified moments of the Herbert von Karajan era. At the end of the performance, Lorenz doesn't show up for the curtain call. After a brutal shout from Lotte, he leaves the house through a side exit. No one is allowed to accompany him on his way to his nearby apartment, so much has the course of the evening hurt him. In 1962 he gives up his residence in Vienna, which had so much spoiled the end of his career. To avoid upsetting his numerous Viennese friends, he pretends to have found better care for his seriously ill wife in Munich. Lotte Lorenz does not survive the move to Munich for more than two years. She dies on October 20, 1964.
With the fabulous Maria Reining in "O, Fürstin" (Tannhäuser) - 1942