# Singers that recorded roles in studio that they never performed on stage



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

I know many of you have given examples in various threads, but I'm a bit fascinated by this & I'd love to see the examples all in one place...

Was it because they couldn't pull it off vocally on stage? Didn't look the part? Never got around to it? Tell me some stories! You're all so good at it


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

de Los Angeles, Price, Callas, Georghui, had never sung Carmen n stage before they recorded it. I belueve Price did sing go on to it on stage a few times. 
Domingo never sung Tristan on stage.
Vickers had not sung Otello on stage before he recorded it with Serafin.
Margaret Price never sang Isolde on stage.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

LP was still in its infancy when Callas was signed to Columbia/Angel and Tebaldi to Decca. Walter Legge, over at EMI, was intent on producing a library of opera recordings for all time, so he concentrated on core repertoire. Callas would certainly have preferred to be recording roles from her active repertoire, but ended up recording Nedda, Manon and Mimi instead. She did record Medea, but she exercised a get out clause in her contract and recorded it for Ricordi. She had apparently begged Legge to record Anna Bolena, Il Pirata and Macbeth, but the closest she ever got was recording arias for recital records. 

Carmen, coming later in her career, was slightly different. Both Zeffirelli and Visconti tried to persuade her to do it, as did Sir David Webster at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. However she had equivocal feelings about the role and, by the time she recorded it in 1964, her career was almost over. She gave her last stage performance (as Tosca) in 1965.

I have to say that however much I enjoy her Nedda, Mimi and Manon, and her Turandot, which was recorded long after she had dropped the role from her repertoire, I'd have much preferred studio recordings of Anna Bolena, Macbeth, Il Pirata, Armida, and even the Gluck roles she sang at La Scala, Alceste and Ifigenia.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Unless someone can suggest otherwise, I am pretty certain that Pavarotti did a CD of "Otello" but never performed the Moor live.
If you are asking my belief of why he never did it live, I would guess that studio recordings are done in "takes" so that everything is perfect. 
However, when one attempts to do Otello all in one piece, (mistakes and all "live"), it is arguably just about the most difficult role for any tenor to pull off successfully.


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## Scott in PA (Aug 13, 2016)

Nilsson recorded Fanciulla Del West, replacing a scheduled Callas. As far as I know she never touched the role again.

Sutherland recorded Turandot. Not sure, but I don't think she ever sang it on stage.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

DavidA said:


> Domingo never sung Tristan on stage.


I don't believe he ever did Walther (Meistersinger), Erik (Fliegende Hollander), or Tannhauser on stage either. He did perform on stage as Lohengrin, Siegmund and Parsifal.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

A bit tangential: Teresa Stratas never sang Salome on stage, but did play the role (tremendously) in the Götz Friedrich film version.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

nina foresti said:


> Unless someone can suggest otherwise, I am pretty certain that Pavarotti did a CD of "Otello" but never performed the Moor live.


He never performed it on stage, but he did perform it live, in concert, in Chicago, and then in Carnegie Hall, with the CSO. In fact, I think that the commercial recording is actually made from the live concerts.

IIRC, Fischer-Dieskau never sang Papageno on stage, despite recording it twice. And I don't believe that Maria Stader ever sang opera on stage, as she was under five feet tall.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

wkasimer said:


> He never performed it on stage, but he did perform it live, in concert, in Chicago, and then in Carnegie Hall, with the CSO. In fact, I think that the commercial recording is actually made from the live concerts.
> 
> IIRC, Fischer-Dieskau never sang Papageno on stage, despite recording it twice. And I don't believe that Maria Stader ever sang opera on stage, as she was under five feet tall.


Well to be honest with you I don't think that the rigors of an entire staged production compares with a concert version.
On the other hand I suppose, performing on a stage, any stage, should be taken into consideration, because the OP never actually specified a true production.
I just took his question to mean a complete opera production with costumes, acting and singing.


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## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

nina foresti said:


> Well to be honest with you I don't think that the rigors of an entire staged production compares with a concert version.
> On the other hand I suppose, performing on a stage, any stage, should be taken into consideration, because the OP never actually specified a true production.
> I just took his question to mean a complete opera production with costumes, acting and singing.


Ya, I did have full productions in mind, but I'm glad wkasimer pointed this out! I hadn't even considered concert performance, but its a nice in-between & relevant to the conversation


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

wkasimer said:


> He never performed it on stage, but he did perform it live, in concert, in Chicago, and then in Carnegie Hall, with the CSO. In fact, I think that the commercial recording is actually made from the live concerts.
> 
> IIRC, Fischer-Dieskau never sang Papageno on stage, despite recording it twice. And I don't believe that Maria Stader ever sang opera on stage, as she was under five feet tall.


The recording (of which I have a copy) was of a live concert in Chicago conducted by Solti.

I do find D F-D's Papageno rather to knowing and hence irritating!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Scott in PA said:


> Nilsson recorded Fanciulla Del West, replacing a scheduled Callas. As far as I know she never touched the role again.
> 
> *Sutherland recorded Turandot. * Not sure, but I don't think she ever sang it on stage.


No she didn't....


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

amfortas said:


> A bit tangential: Teresa Stratas never sang Salome on stage, but did play the role (tremendously) in the Götz Friedrich film version.


Stratas' voice was a size too small for Salome on stage. But as you say the acting is brilliant in the film.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

wkasimer said:


> IIRC, Fischer-Dieskau never sang Papageno on stage


I don't think he sang Hans Sachs on stage, either.

On another tack, Itzhak Perlman sung the bit-part of The Jailer in James Levine's recording of _Tosca_, although he never sang it in a fully-staged production; he did once sing it in a concert, but I don't think that counts!


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

*Gone Too Young: Lyric Tenor Josef Schmidt*

When I read your note the first singer who sprang instantly to my mind was the brilliant lyric tenor Josef Schmidt, who had an incredibly massive technique and the most amazing high register (complete with trills), yet was too small at 4 feet 11 inches tall to perform operatic roles on stage. He basically died from official neglect during World War II at age 38.

Fortunately he recorded a lot of stuff including arias, songs, Hebrew melodies (he was originally a cantor in the synagogue), and they show well his phenomenal voice and technique. I think he was the Pavarotti of his time ... and for me, that is saying a lot.

Here he is singing "Di quella pira" from _Trovatore_:





Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> I don't think he [Fischer-Dieskau] sang Hans Sachs on stage, either.


He sang it at least once, in Munich in 1979, with Sawallisch, Varady, Kollo, Moll, and Schreier - and a broadcast exists. I think that he's every bit as miscast here as he was on the commercial recording, although his surroundings are certainly better. He was a natural Beckmesser.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

*Josef Schmidt Sings "La donna é mobile" in Italian*

Complete with high C sharp in the cadenza!






Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

wkasimer said:


> He sang it at least once, in Munich in 1979, with Sawallisch, Varady, Kollo, Moll, and Schreier - and a broadcast exists. I think that he's every bit as miscast here as he was on the commercial recording, although his surroundings are certainly better. He was a natural Beckmesser.


Interesting. Did he ever perform or record Beckmesser? I'd love to have heard that one.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Scott in PA said:


> Sutherland recorded Turandot.





DavidA said:


> No she didn't....


Yes she did, in perhaps the greatest _Turandot_ recording.

Or maybe you meant she didn't run the tape machine herself?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

amfortas said:


> Yes she did, in perhaps the greatest _Turandot_ recording.
> 
> Or maybe you meant she didn't run the tape machine herself?


I think that Scott meant that she never sang the role on stage. At least that's how I interpreted it.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> Interesting. Did he [Fischer-Dieskau] ever perform or record Beckmesser? I'd love to have heard that one.


I don't believe so, but I could certainly be wrong.


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