Alexander Kipnis
Alexander Kipnis (February 13 [
Early life
Aleksandr Kipnis was born in
When the
International career
The following year Kipnis visited the United States with a touring Wagnerian company. For nine seasons, between 1923 and 1932, he was on the roster of the Chicago Civic Opera. In 1927, at the Bayreuth Festival, he appeared as Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal under Karl Muck and recorded the Good Friday Music under Siegfried Wagner. (A purported live performance recording in 1933 under Richard Strauss has been generally discounted.) He also appeared at the Salzburg Festival.
Kipnis was under contract with the Berlin Opera until 1935, when he was able to break his contract and flee
Kipnis was regarded throughout the inter-war years as being one of the greatest basses in the world. He was praised for the beauty of his smooth and mellow voice and the excellence of his musicianship. As befitted his status, he was invited to appear with the top conductors of his day. They included Ernest Ansermet, John Barbirolli, Thomas Beecham, Leo Blech, Fritz Busch, Albert Coates, Karl Elmendorff, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Robert Heger, Herbert von Karajan, Josef Krips, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Hans Knappertsbusch, Serge Koussevitzky, Erich Leinsdorf, Willem Mengelberg, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Pierre Monteux, Karl Muck, Arthur Nikisch, Eugene Ormandy, Hans Pfitzner, Fritz Reiner, Artur Rodziński, Hans Rosbaud, Hermann Scherchen, Richard Strauss, George Szell, Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter and Felix Weingartner.
Kipnis showed signs of vocal deterioration during the 1940s and he retired from the Met in 1946. He made his last concert appearance in 1951. Since his debut in 1915, he had sung at least 108 roles, often in more than one language, and his performances in opera and oratorio numbered more than 1600. He died in Westport, Connecticut in 1978, aged 87.
Critical appreciation
Among Kipnis's most celebrated roles were the bass parts in operas by
During the 1920s and 1930s, Kipnis's chief bass rivals were the vibrant Italians
Family
In 1925 Kipnis married Mildred Eleanor Levy, whose father, Heniot Levy, a noted pianist and composer, had emigrated from his native Poland to Chicago. Their son Igor Kipnis (1930–2002) was a celebrated harpsichordist. Following in similar creative footsteps, Kipnis's grandson, Jeremy R. Kipnis (born 1965), has become known as a photographer, record producer, film director, and recently creator of The Kipnis Studio Standard – The 21st Century Ultimate Screening Room Design, an evolution of George Lucas's and Tom Holman's THX Motion Picture & Sound Standards.[2]
Recordings
CD reissues of his recorded work include:
- The Best of Alexander Kipnis – arias and songs by Wagner, Mozart, Verdi, Gounod, Brahms, Meyerbeer, Wolf and Halevy in recordings selected by his son, Igor Kipnis, and issued by Pearl (Pavilion Records Ltd.), GEMM CD 9451.
- "Alexander Kipnis, Mussorgsky, Boris Godunov" contains excerpts from Boris recorded in 1945 by RCA and a selection of Russian arias and songs. album 60522-2-RG
- Austrian Preiser Records issued several well-filled CD recitals devoted to Kipnis.
- German TIM AG, Die Zauberflöte, 2 CD's. Kipnis as Sarastro, Vienna Philharmonic (conducted by Toscanini) 1937 Order No. 205179 EAN 4011222051790
References
- Newspapers.com.
Alexander Kipnis, the Russian-born singer...
- ^ Home Theater Magazine – February 2008, pp. 86–88
Sources
- Shawe-Taylor, Desmond: Kipnis, Alexander in 'The ISBN 0-333-73432-7
External links
- "Alexander Kipnis". Find a Grave. Retrieved September 3, 2010.