# So... What was the deal with Ernst Kozub?



## JoeSaunders (Jan 29, 2015)

This might seem like a niche topic, but I can't seem to find any reliable internet sources on this neglected tenor. For those not in the know, Ernst Kozub was a postwar heldentenor who mostly performed during the 50s and 60s. But the outline of his short career on Wikipedia is downright mysterious in its lack of information! If anyone knows answers to the following questions, or has any other interesting details, I'd be most grateful:

1) Do we know precisely why Kozub was replaced by Windgassen on the Solti ring cycle? I've read at least one article which states that he was basically incapable of learning the role and quite undisciplined, and his Wikipedia article claims there was some secret illness which prevented his mastering of the role. Does anyone know the full story? It just seems a bit odd they he couldn't learn the role when he was performing in other Wagnerian operas all the time.

2) What was the mysterious illness that supposedly made it so hard for him to learn Siegfried? Other pieces I've read hint at a secret ailment he had throughout his performing life, but none specify its exact nature. Furthermore, is it linked to his early death or was that caused by something else entirely?

Anywho, I wouldn't want to dwell on these negative aspects of Ernst Kozub's career since his instrument was mighty fine. Perhaps his interpretations lacked personality, but his strong, resonant delivery more than make up for it in my opinion. Here's a clip of him doing that singing thing he liked to do:






And see 39:24 here for a very good "Ein Schwert verhieß mir der Vater":





Cheers!


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It's an impressive basic voice, but based on these examples his musicianship was pedestrian and sometimes crude. I'm sure he could have mastered the _notes_ of Siegfried, but mastering such a complex _role_ requires much more than that. The veteran Windgassen unquestionably knew his way around the part.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

John Culshaw, the producer on the Solti “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” explains it in the book “Ring Resounding,” that he had not learned the roles he was supposed to record. I’m sorry I don’t remember what exactly the reason was, but Culshaw seems to have blamed it on Kozub’s unreliability - but he thought Kozub’s voice was the Wagnerian voice they were all waiting for. In these excerpts he seems to have a beautiful sound and the heft and ringing top needed for Siegfried.


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

One comment on an informed German opera forum, possibly based on reading liner notes from the various CD releases, mentions leukemia as the cause of his untimely death

#22 in 
https://www.tamino-klassikforum.at/...&postID=332746&highlight=leukaemie#post332746


----------



## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Culshaw's memoirs tend to cast certain singers in a negative light. I remember reading or hearing that Kozub was in great demand for the roles that he knew, and didn't take the time to learn Siegfried. But I think that illness is the more likely explanation, since he died quite young, at age 47.


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Solti in his memoirs says the same about his unability to learn the role, they had to go through every little detail all the way

#9 - in German - in 
https://www.tamino-klassikforum.at/...&postID=332746&highlight=leukaemie#post332746

To this should be added stage fright. No drinking was involved, however.
Kozub's damaging traffic accident was later, in 1967.


----------



## JoeSaunders (Jan 29, 2015)

Thanks the pointer MAS, I'll see if I can grab a copy some time, it Looks like a very interesting document. I definitely agree that his tone is just right for the role, such a shame he wasn't able to deploy it correctly for recordings.

Interesting thread there, joen_cph! Reading Solti's description of trying to get Kozub to learn the part is very curious - a particularly bad affliction for a singer, and makes me wonder how he learned the parts he did know so well in the first place. And I didn't even realise there a traffic accident, poor fellow.


----------



## JoeSaunders (Jan 29, 2015)

Hmmmm, I looked through that thread joen_cph posted and somebody mentioned a profile by a guy called Klaus Ulrich Spiegel. His website doesn't seem to work at the moment, so I looked on the wayback machine and found this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160725101239/http://ku-spiegel.de/portraits/k-bis-p/kozub/ (it's readable when put through a translation browser extension)

He doesn't mention his sources, which is disappointing, but it does seem to provide an overall account of Kozub's life and an evaluation of his singing - much in agreement, as it happens, with Woodduck's earlier assessment.

But it does say he died of a cardiac arrest, and was troubled with a lifelong heart condition. This seems to contradict the post claiming leukaemia as cause of death, but I have no idea which account is correct!

The mystery continues!?


----------



## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

JoeSaunders said:


> And see 39:24 here for a very good "Ein Schwert verhieß mir der Vater":
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yet another recording I have but haven't got around to hearing! Must remedy that soon.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

A prominent person was in my local bookstore in March 1996. I asked him about 'our Siegfried '. He was there to sign his book called Opera 101. He told me the tenor was not Earnst Kozub but Jan Vickers. Looking back on his response, it made sense. After all, Vickers was still alive while Kozub was long gone. I heard Vickers sing in Philadelphia in 1976 as Siegmung. My next question was if Vickers could sing Die Walkure, what was his problem? I was told Vickers thought the character of Siegfried was immoral when in fact Siegmund was the immoral one. I think there were two reasons why Vickers would not sing it. First, he was probably afraid he would ruin his voice if he sang it. Also, Solti said in his autobiography that Vickers seemed afraid of him when conducting. Also, Nilsson said, "His nerves were outside the skin...not inside the skin". If you do some research, you will find out that Vickers seemed to always find some reason to cancel his appearances. In January 30th, 1974, Vickers canceled his appearance with Nilsson. She told the Met that if Vickers was not going to sing, than neither would she in Tristan and Isolde. Guess what? He appeared for that performance. To summarize, Vickers of 'our Siegfried ' fame was afraid of his own shadow. He was a great singer. We will miss him.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

It was not Kozub. The mystery Siegfried was Jan Vickers.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

The mystery Siegfried was Jan Vickers, not Kozub.


----------



## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

SteveK said:


> It was not Kozub. The mystery Siegfried was Jan Vickers.


Vickers was never a mystery Siegfried.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

The mystery Siegfried was Jan Vickers.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

It WAS Vickers. The author of Opera 101 told me so in March 1996. Vickers was always cancelling performances. He found Siegfried to be an immortal character. Why, we will never know. Nilsson said he wore his nerves on his skin, not beneath them. Believe what you like but I will always believe it was Vickers.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

As I replied in another post, it WAS Vickers. Why would an author of an opera book lie to me and tell me the singer was someone still living. It was convenient to label Kozub since he had passed away. Now that Vickers has passed away, it is safe to tell who he was. Consider the following facts. Vickers was always cancelling appearances for one reason or another. Two, he was always afraid of ruining his voice. Third, Nilsson said he wore his nerves on his skin, not beneath the skin. Fourth. Solti said in his autobiography that he seemed afraid of him when conducting. Finally, he was recording a piece with a prominent singer. Two days later, he said, "Well, that's over". Her angry response was, "No thanks to you." Believe what you like. I am convinced it was Vickers.


----------



## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

SteveK said:


> As I replied in another post, it WAS Vickers. Why would an author of an opera book lie to me and tell me the singer was someone still living. It was convenient to label Kozub since he had passed away. Now that Vickers has passed away, it is safe to tell who he was. Consider the following facts. Vickers was always cancelling appearances for one reason or another. Two, he was always afraid of ruining his voice. Third, Nilsson said he wore his nerves on his skin, not beneath the skin. Fourth. Solti said in his autobiography that he seemed afraid of him when conducting. Finally, he was recording a piece with a prominent singer. Two days later, he said, "Well, that's over". Her angry response was, "No thanks to you." Believe what you like. I am convinced it was Vickers.


Suit yourself. Fred Plotkin, the author of Opera 101, was all of six years old when Siegfried was recorded. John Culshaw was the producer of the recording.

BTW, it's *Jon* Vickers, not Jan.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

joen_cph said:


> Solti in his memoirs says the same about his unability to learn the role, they had to go through every little detail all the way.


This more than suggests that the "mystery Siegfried" wasn't Vickers. It's my impression that Vickers would never have exhibited such incompetence or laziness (whichever it was). He would either have declined the role - he was firm about what he didn't want to do - or he would have learned the part without need for assistance from Culshaw and Solti.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

SteveK said:


> It WAS Vickers. The author of Opera 101 told me so in March 1996. Vickers was always cancelling performances. He found Siegfried to be an immortal character. Why, we will never know. Nilsson said he wore his nerves on his skin, not beneath them. Believe what you like but I will always believe it was Vickers.


It was certainly not the great Jon Vickers who never sang the role of Siegfried. That is history! Whoever has passed on that piece of misinformation is conning you. By that time anyway Vickers would not perform with Solti anyway. They didn't get on. 
Culshaw says that Kozub (who he didn't name as he was alive at the time) was too busy performing to take the lessons Decca had laid on for him. His boss, Rosengarten, was furious when it transpired Kozub could not record the role. Culshaw says he 'ran out of voice' which may have had something to do with his health problems. I think this points to the folly of recording companies of the day trying to record with singers who had actually never sing the roles on stage.
One thing Culshaw doesn't make clear is that Kozub was an established international artist in Wagner. Culshaw implies he was relatively unknown. He wasn't of course. He was a tenor in demand. He just hadn't studied Siegfried


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

SteveK said:


> It WAS Vickers. The author of Opera 101 told me so in March 1996. Vickers was always cancelling performances. He found Siegfried to be an *immortal* character. Why, we will never know. Nilsson said he wore his nerves on his skin, not beneath them. Believe what you like but I will always believe it was Vickers.


Siegfried definitely dies in the Ring, there's even a rather famous funeral march...

N.


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Whilst Vickers doesn't seem to be the 'mystery Siegfried' referred to by Culshaw and Solti (did either actually name who it was?), it is a bit of a mystery why he never sang the role. Wikipedia says that Vickers was in negotiations with Wieland Wagner to sing the Goetterdaemerung Siegfried in the mid sixties, but nothing came of it due to Wieland's death. That said, it seems strange that he wasn't offered the role again, so it would seem that he didn't want to sing the role. Does anyone know why?

N.


----------



## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

The Conte said:


> Whilst Vickers doesn't seem to be the 'mystery Siegfried' referred to by Culshaw and Solti (did either actually name who it was?), it is a bit of a mystery why he never sang the role. Wikipedia says that Vickers was in negotiations with Wieland Wagner to sing the Goetterdaemerung Siegfried in the mid sixties, but nothing came of it due to Wieland's death. That said, it seems strange that he wasn't offered the role again, so it would seem that he didn't want to sing the role. Does anyone know why?
> 
> N.


There's an interview at 
http://www.bruceduffie.com/vickers.html

"BD: Would you sing Siegfried if the vocal problems were not there?

JV: I don't think Siegfried is anywhere as difficult as Aeneas. But as a character, I don't enjoy him. I find him not delineated in an interesting way as a human being. Götterdämmerung Siegfried, yes. I was interested in doing the older Siegfried and I offered it to Karajan some years ago and he accepted it. But he asked when I would sing Tristan and I replied that I would sing it for him any time, and he said we'd do it next year, so immediately the idea of doing Götterdämmerung went out the window because he was far more interested in my Tristan than in Siegfried."


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The Conte said:


> Whilst Vickers doesn't seem to be the 'mystery Siegfried' referred to by Culshaw and Solti (did either actually name who it was?), it is a bit of a mystery why he never sang the role. Wikipedia says that Vickers was in negotiations with Wieland Wagner to sing the Goetterdaemerung Siegfried in the mid sixties, but nothing came of it due to Wieland's death. That said, it seems strange that he wasn't offered the role again, so it would seem that he didn't want to sing the role. Does anyone know why?
> 
> N.


He felt the Siegfried Siegfried lay too high for his voice and he didn't much like the character. He did contemplate singing the Gotterdamerung Siegfried but by that time he had decided to sing Tristan with Karajan so that took priority.

Edit - I see it has already been answered!


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

There is another possibility and that is that Vickers was offered Siegfried in the Solti Ring early on, but turned it down and so Solti and Culshaw started working with Kozub - that could be why Plotkin was of the opinion that Vickers was the mystery Siegfried.

N.


----------



## SteveK (Jan 14, 2020)

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts on 'our Siegfried'. In Jeannie Williams bio on Vickers, Nilsson contributed to the Forward of the book. She said that Vickers was going to sing Tristan at the Met on January 30, 1974 but the Met told her they could not find Vickers so Jess Thomas would sing in his place (sound familiar)? Nilsson's reply was that the the person “I am rehearsing with tomorrow is the one who is going to sing the performance of Tristan.” She said that she would not sing unless Vickers was there. The following morning, Jon appeared for rehearsals. Also, when the mystery Siegfried was released from his contract, Culshaw said that he “Walked out of our lives forever.” Take a look at Vicker's discography. After 1961, he recorded for Angel, DG and Philips but he never recorded for Decca ever again. Solti said in his book Memoirs that “Vickers and I never got along well...” Perhaps Decca desperately wanted Vickers but he, who could not get along with Solti just sang the words in a bland fashion just to be released from his contract. Ask yourself the following; did Vickers or Kozub seem like the kind of person to skip free tutoring lessons? Fred Plotkin has a Facebook page. If someone wants to contact him, perhaps he will write back. Thank you for listening.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

SteveK said:


> I want to thank everyone for their thoughts on 'our Siegfried'. In Jeannie Williams bio on Vickers, Nilsson contributed to the Forward of the book. She said that Vickers was going to sing Tristan at the Met on January 30, 1974 but the Met told her they could not find Vickers so Jess Thomas would sing in his place (sound familiar)? Nilsson's reply was that the the person "I am rehearsing with tomorrow is the one who is going to sing the performance of Tristan." She said that she would not sing unless Vickers was there. The following morning, Jon appeared for rehearsals. Also, when the mystery Siegfried was released from his contract, Culshaw said that he "Walked out of our lives forever." Take a look at Vicker's discography. After 1961, he recorded for Angel, DG and Philips but he never recorded for Decca ever again. Solti said in his book Memoirs that "Vickers and I never got along well..." Perhaps Decca desperately wanted Vickers but he, who could not get along with Solti just sang the words in a bland fashion just to be released from his contract. Ask yourself the following; did Vickers or Kozub seem like the kind of person to skip free tutoring lessons? Fred Plotkin has a Facebook page. If someone wants to contact him, perhaps he will write back. Thank you for listening.


There is absolutely no question that the 'mystery Siegfried' was not Vickers. It was Kozub. Solti tells us in his autobiography that he had worked with him at Frankfurt and that although the voice was splendid he could not remember both music and text at the same time. Culshaw, perhaps to disguise who he was, makes it appear that he was unknown but he wasn't, having appeared in Klemperer's Dutchman. The reason he 'walked out of their lives forever' was that he sadly died young. Vickers never contemplated Siegfried.


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

DavidA said:


> There is absolutely no question that the 'mystery Siegfried' was not Vickers. It was Kozub. Solti tells us in his autobiography that he had worked with him at Frankfurt and that although the voice was splendid he could not remember both music and text at the same time. Culshaw, perhaps to disguise who he was, makes it appear that he was unknown but he wasn't, having appeared in Klemperer's Dutchman. The reason he 'walked out of their lives forever' was that he sadly died young. Vickers never contemplated Siegfried.


It would help if someone with the original sources (Ring resounding and Solti autobiography) could provide the relevant passages. Do either name Vickers or Kozub? Who is referred to as 'our Siegfried' and by whom? Are we all talking about the _same_ mystery tenor?

It's clear that Vickers contemplated Siegfried and was thinking of singing the Gotterdamerung Siegfried at Bayreuth, but the negotiations ceased when Wieland Wagner died in 1966 (however the Solti recording of Siegfried was made in 1962). As I have already pointed out, it's possible that Vickers was offered Siegfried in the Solti recording and he turned it down, but later contemplated the Gotterdammerung Siegfried. Once Vickers had turned it down Culshaw and Solti approached Kozub who accepted, but was having difficulties with the part (perhaps he had too many engagements to learn it properly, or whilst having the voice for it didn't have the artistry to make it a performance worthy of being captured). If it's worth looking into then I would suggest going from first principals and looking at what we know to be true and then extrapolating logically from there. (I imagine it could be too painful and unnecessary a task, though!)

N.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

The Conte said:


> It would help if someone with the original sources (Ring resounding and Solti autobiography) could provide the relevant passages. Do either name Vickers or Kozub? Who is referred to as 'our Siegfried' and by whom? Are we all talking about the _same_ mystery tenor?
> 
> It's clear that Vickers contemplated Siegfried and was thinking of singing the Gotterdamerung Siegfried at Bayreuth, but the negotiations ceased when Wieland Wagner died in 1966 (however the Solti recording of Siegfried was made in 1962). As I have already pointed out, it's possible that Vickers was offered Siegfried in the Solti recording and he turned it down, but later contemplated the Gotterdammerung Siegfried. Once Vickers had turned it down Culshaw and Solti approached Kozub who accepted, but was having difficulties with the part (perhaps he had too many engagements to learn it properly, or whilst having the voice for it didn't have the artistry to make it a performance worthy of being captured). If it's worth looking into then I would suggest going from first principals and looking at what we know to be true and then extrapolating logically from there. (I imagine it could be too painful and unnecessary a task, though!)
> 
> N.


In *Ring Resounding* Culshaw does not name Kozub or anyone else. He only names Kozub after his death, which makes sense.

If you look in the internet, you'll also find some will name *Jess Thomas* as "our Siegfried." I doubt that, since he went on to sing many many Siegfrieds, some of which I heard in San Francisco, and he does not have the voice of Culshaw's dreams.

I think that, if Culshaw had approached *Jon Vickers* for Siegfried, he would've mentioned it in the book.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

When I listen to this, I can believe that Solti and Culshaw saw the promise in this voice - though *Kozub* may have been younger- sounding in 1962 ( there's no information as to when this excerpt was recorded). The voice is bright, ringing, incisive, glamorous, golden, heroic.






Compare with Jess Thomas






And Jon Vickers


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The Conte said:


> It would help if someone with the original sources (Ring resounding and Solti autobiography) could provide the relevant passages. Do either name Vickers or Kozub? Who is referred to as 'our Siegfried' and by whom? Are we all talking about the _same_ mystery tenor?
> 
> It's clear that Vickers contemplated Siegfried and was thinking of singing the Gotterdamerung Siegfried at Bayreuth, but the negotiations ceased when Wieland Wagner died in 1966 (however the Solti recording of Siegfried was made in 1962). As I have already pointed out, it's possible that Vickers was offered Siegfried in the Solti recording and he turned it down, but later contemplated the Gotterdammerung Siegfried. Once Vickers had turned it down Culshaw and Solti approached Kozub who accepted, but was having difficulties with the part (perhaps he had too many engagements to learn it properly, or whilst having the voice for it didn't have the artistry to make it a performance worthy of being captured). If it's worth looking into then I would suggest going from first principals and looking at what we know to be true and then extrapolating logically from there. (I imagine it could be too painful and unnecessary a task, though!)
> 
> N.


It is on page 100 of the Solti autobiography where he talks about Kozub. It is inconceivable that they considered Vickers as him and Solti did not get on. They recorded Aida but Vickers did not work with Solti after. He mentions Vickers on page 139. There was only one other candidate for the part and that was Windgassen who ended up singing it. The reason he was not asked in the first place was because Culshaw did not think he was good enough


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Thanks for the responses. In which case the evidence would seem to be pretty conclusive (since both Solti and Culshaw actually named Kozub after he died).

I guess we shall never know what the truth behind the Plotkin anecdote, but it could have been a conversation at cross purposes in that bookstore back in 1996 or any number of explanations for the Vickers story which has no corroboration elsewhere.

N.


----------



## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

The Conte said:


> Thanks for the responses. In which case the evidence would seem to be pretty conclusive (since both Solti and Culshaw actually named Kozub after he died).
> 
> I guess we shall never know what the truth behind the Plotkin anecdote, but it could have been a conversation at cross purposes in that bookstore back in 1996 or any number of explanations for the Vickers story which has no corroboration elsewhere.
> 
> N.


[Long post...]

Hi Conte, I think it is pretty conclusive that it was Kozub: I've had time to type up some sources for info.

*Timeline
1955*
Radio broadcast of Ernst Kozub as Tamino in _Die Zauberflote_ in Frankfurt in 1955 with Georg Solti (https://www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk/CLSIKOZU.HTM)

*1960*
Ernst Kozub was Melot on the Solt-led recording of _Tristan und Isolde_ for Decca (Nilsson and Uhl as the leads) (https://www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk/CLSIKOZU.HTM)

*1961 Planning the recording*
Culshaw in 1967 explained "We remembered a tenor who had auditioned for us some time ago, and who had the advantage of working from time to time with Solti. [NB See previous] We asked him to come and sing again, and when he did, I for one was sure we had found our Siegfried, except for one thing: he did not know the part" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 127) NB Kozub worked with Solti previously and had both auditioned and worked with Decca on his part in _Tristan und Isolde_ the previous year. He did not go on to record the part of Siegfried elsewhere.

"At the first audition he sang Tannhauser with a great heroic ringing voice" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 127) NB there is a recording of Kozub in _Tannhauser_ live in 1969 whereas Vickers' aversion to the part has been discussed.

"[Solti] had great faith in the voice, as such, but was extremely skeptical about our Siegfried's ability to learn - or put it more specifically, his ability to take time off from tempting engagements in order to give himself time to learn" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 128) NB Kozub recorded excerpts from a variety of operas in 1962 alone: he could and did learn multiple parts and performed even more on stage including Siegmund and the Emperor in _Die Frau ohne Schatten_ with Solti.

"By December [1961] I was beginning to worry about our Siegfried […] we discovered his schedule of performances, and concluded that he must be working on Siegfried at some very odd hours, if he was working on it at all" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 131)

*1962 - Recording Siegfried*
"Early in 1962, on the pretext of trying out a new sort of microphone especially designed for him, we summoned him to London […] the voice was magnificent, but of Siegfried he knew about as much as the studio cat" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 132)

"Our Siegfried had been skipping lessons again" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 133)

"It turned out that the tenor was so busy up to and including May 5 that the only time he could possibly come to London was during the Easter weekend (April 20)" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 134) NB See the discography of Kozub at https://www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk/CLSIKOZU.HTM for the amount of work he has at the time.

*Siegfried recorded May and October 1962*
"The voice of our Siegfried was as splendid as ever, but up against the huge experience and artistry of Hotter he sounded grotesque" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 137)

May 9 session "very erratic, showed promise" […] then he went to pieces altogether" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 138)

"All of us shook hands a little sadly with the owner of the best potential as a Heldentenor since the war, and he walked out of Siegfried and out of our lives" (Culshaw, 1967, Ring Resounding p. 141) NB re: potential, Solti continued to work with Kozub at Covent Garden over the next seven years. Kozub did not record again for Decca.

*Replaced with Windgassen.*

*Post-Siegfried e.g. 1962-1969*
10 performances as Siegmund in Die Walkure (The first, 7 December 1962 with the last 14 September 1967) at Covent Garden all with Georg Solti (http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?searchtype=workprodperf&person=kozub)
1 performance as the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten (29 October 1969) at Covent Garden with Georg Solti (http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?searchtype=workprodperf&person=kozub)


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Thanks, Revitalized Classics for that post (#32) confirming the information on *Ring Resounding*.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The Conte said:


> Thanks for the responses. In which case the evidence would seem to be pretty conclusive (since both Solti and Culshaw actually named Kozub after he died).
> 
> I guess we shall never know what the truth behind the Plotkin anecdote, but it could have been a conversation at cross purposes in that bookstore back in 1996 or any number of explanations for the Vickers story which has no corroboration elsewhere.
> 
> N.


Culshaw never actually named Kozub to my knowledge as he himself died young in Australia. His book, "Putting the Record Straight" was published unfinished


----------



## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

I've found a reference to Kozub being the Siegfried in the Complete Decca classical discography created by Philip Stuart in 2009.

Source: Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music
http://images.cch.kcl.ac.uk/charm/liv/pubs/DeccaComplete.pdf
Page 1151

>V194
Pr: John Culshaw Eng: Gordon Parry & James Brown
8-18 May & 22 Oct-5 Nov 1962 Sofiensaal, Vienna
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti
WAGNER Siegfried
Wolfgang Windgassen (tenor) Siegfried
Hans Hotter (bass-baritone) Wanderer
Birgit Nilsson (soprano) Brünnhilde
Gerhard Stolze (tenor) Mime
Gustav Neidlinger (bass) Alberich
Kurt Böhme (bass) Fafner
Marga Höffgen (contralto) Erda
Joan Sutherland (soprano) Woodbird
*Windgassen replaced Ernst Kozub during the May sessions.*
See John Culshaw, "Ring Resounding" pages 135-170.
(Apr63) MET242-46 = SET242-46; (Apr63) A4508 = OSA1508,
(Aug84) 414 110.2DH4.


----------

