José van Dam: The Baron of the Opera
Whether performing on stage, film or record, the bass-baritone extraordinaire has one of the most famous voices in 20th Century opera.
José van Dam is an opera legend. Having recorded nearly 150 roles, appeared in multiple world premieres and won almost all of the prestigious awards given to singers, he is one of the most well respected singers of his generation.
The Belgian bass-baritone was born in 1940 in Brussels, to (unusual for an opera singer) a non-musical family. When he was 11, a family friend encouraged him to join the church choir. He began to study sight-singing and piano, and at 17 he became the pupil of Frederic Anspach at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. The next year he won first prize of the Conservatory; at 20 won first prizes at the Liege and Toulouse competitions; and was engaged by the Paris Opera in 1962, where he made his operatic debut in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, as Priam and the Voice of Mercury.
“Mr. van Dam barely made eye contact with his listeners; rather, he seemed lost to himself in a contemplative state and sang with an eloquence and affecting directness that compelled you to listen. I have rarely been part of a more riveted audience.” — Anothony Tommasini, chief music critic for The New York Times
During his long successful career, he has worked with some of the biggest conductors and performed on the world’s greatest stages and festivals, including Lorin Maazel, the Deutsche Oper, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Herbert von Karajan and the Salzburg Festival.
He is a noted interpreter of German lieder and French song, particularly the music of Henri Duparc. In the mid-’90s, he began again to explore new operatic repertoire, portraying Scarpia for the first time in 1995.
He has spoken about how he intently studies all of his roles to help him get into character. He looks at the historical and literary sources for the character, and combines this knowledge with what the composer and librettist has created.
We’ve compiled a list of van Dam’s best recordings for you to have a listen to the legend… Enjoy!
José van Dam has sung in Mozart operas in all of the great opera houses around the globe, and in 1987 he recorded a recital exclusively dedicated to this repertory.
This song cycle by Berlioz is mostly sung by female singers, but Berlioz did not specify the voice type he preferred. Here van Dam, brings to life these atmospheric songs (it is interesting to compare this recording with a version performed by Soprano Eleanor Steber on IDAGIO.)
José van Dam’s repertoire was extremely versatile, reaching from lied to opera and musical, and from Bach to Verdi and Wagner. He was a singer very much appreciated by Herbert von Karajan who engaged him to sing the title role in Wagner’s ‘Der fliegende Holländer’ in Salzburg. This was not the only Wagner hero van Dam sang during his career, and luckily he recorded excerpts from several of these roles which you can hear on IDAGIO.
Filippo II in Verdi’s Don Carlo was another signature role of van Dam, which he sang in Salzburg with Karajan. To illustrate his versatility we have also added a number of Italian opera arias.
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Schwanengesang, D. 957 (José van Dam, Valera Afanassiev, 1952)
Lieder recitals were an essential part of Dam’s agenda throughout his career. On IDAGIO you can hear songs by Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Duparc and Puccini.
Another recording where it is interesting to compare van Dam’s interpretation and alto Kathleen Ferrier’s interpretation (we also have recordings from a mezzo-soprano, a baritone and a soprano!)
