Ticho Parly
Encyclopedia
Ticho Parly (July 16, 1928 – June 21, 1993) was a Danish Heldentenor who sang leading roles in most of the major opera houses of Europe as well as the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera
, where he debuted in 1966 as Tristan opposite Birgit Nilsson
in Tristan und Isolde
.
on July 16, 1928. He began singing as a treble
in his homeland, and grew into a bass-baritone. After studying in Denmark, France, Italy and Switzerland, as well as Indiana University
, he went to New Orleans, where he resided from 1957 to 1960. In the Crescent City, he studied with Charles Paddock (also the teacher of Thaïs St Julien
, Anthony Laciura
and Greer Grimsley
) who "insisted" he become a tenor. In 1958, he made his operatic debut, with the New Orleans Opera
Association, in the secondary role of Pong in the local premiere of Turandot, conducted by Renato Cellini
. The next year, he sang Flavio in Norma, as well as in Eine Nacht in Venedig, this last for The Experimental Opera Theatre of America.
Within a few months, however, Parly was starring in Continental theatres, including Aachen where he sang Radamès in Aïda. In the next few seasons, he would become acclaimed as one of the world's leading Heldentenors, appearing at Brussels (Les contes d'Hoffmann staged by Maurice Béjart
, 1961), Wuppertal (as Mephisto in Busoni's Doktor Faust and in Peter Grimes, 1962), Lisbon (the Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten, 1962; and Herodes in Salome, 1975), Kassel (Die Frau ohne Schatten and Siegfried, 1962; and Tannhäuser conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi
, 1964) and Amsterdam (Doktor Faust, 1962; and as Prince Chouïsky in Boris Godunov, 1989).
In the summer of 1963, the Heldentenor made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival
as Kunz Vogelgesang in Wieland Wagner
's new production of Die Meistersinger, with Anja Silja
as Eva. (In 2005, Melodram published a Compact Discs set of the 1964 revival.) In 1966, Parly returned to the Green Hill for the leading role of Siegmund in Die Walküre and, two years later, portrayed Siegfried in Siegfried (which he also sang at the Salzburg Festival
, under Herbert von Karajan
) and Götterdämmerung. These were his last appearances at Bayreuth.
For the San Francisco Opera
, he was seen in Die Frau ohne Schatten, in 1960. In his native Copenhagen, Parly sang in Fidelio (as Florestan, 1963), Der fliegende Holländer (as Erik, 1963), Tannhäuser (1964), Elektra (as Ägisth, 1966) and Boris Godunov (directed by Harry Kupfer
, 1988).
In 1965, Parly returned to New Orleans, for Tannhäuser, in Tito Capobianco
's production. The same year found him in Mexico City for the same opera, now with Montserrat Caballé
. In 1966, he recorded a disc of Wagnerian excerpts for Deutsche Grammophon
conducted by Peter Maag
, and made his Covent Garden
debut in Siegfried (with Hans Hotter
and Sir Georg Solti
) and returned for Tristan in Tristan und Isolde in 1973. In 1966, he performed in Fidelio at the Teatro Colón; the next year he sang Tristan there.
On April 3, 1966, Ticho Parly's wife Azilda gave birth to a daughter, Tina. In November of the same year, he made his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, as Tristan opposite the Isolde of Birgit Nilsson
. Two years later he sang there in Der fliegende Holländer (with Cornell MacNeil
) and Elektra (with Nilsson and Jean Madeira
). In 1967, Parly made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Salome and returned to the "holy of holies" in 1971 for the Tambourmajor in Berg's masterpiece, Wozzeck, conducted by Claudio Abbado
.
In 1967, he also appeared at the Paris Opéra
as Tannhäuser and the next year as Siegmund. In 1970 he sang in concert performances of the first and third acts of Parsifal in Washington DC and New York City, with the Washington National Symphony. In 1971, he was in Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame with Astrid Varnay
, at Zurich. The same year the tenor sang Siegfried at the Scottish Opera
, following that with Peter Grimes in 1973. Returning to the States in 1974, he portrayed Loge in Das Rheingold at the San Diego Opera
conducted by Walter Herbert
. Over the next few summers, he sang the same part for the Seattle Opera
's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. In 1981, he sang Loge at the Cincinnati Opera
, and the following year was found singing Herodes in Salome there, with Marisa Galvany
in her first assumption of the title role. The year 1983 had him in Siegfried again, for the Boston Lyric Opera.
As late as 1988, the artist appeared in Denmark in the eponymous role of Otello. In his later years, Ticho Parly taught voice in Seattle, where he died on June 21, 1993 at the age of sixty-four. The following July 7 in a sad coincidence, Parly's daughter, Tina, died in a rafting accident on the Yuba River in Northern California. At the time of his death, Parly was married to his second wife, the soprano Patricia Schlosstein.
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, where he debuted in 1966 as Tristan opposite Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
in Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
.
Biography
Parly was born in CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
on July 16, 1928. He began singing as a treble
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...
in his homeland, and grew into a bass-baritone. After studying in Denmark, France, Italy and Switzerland, as well as Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, he went to New Orleans, where he resided from 1957 to 1960. In the Crescent City, he studied with Charles Paddock (also the teacher of Thaïs St Julien
Thais St Julien
Thaïs St Julien is a native of New Orleans, and is argurably the South's foremost singer of Early Music. The soprano studied under Charles Paddock, Virginia MacWatters and Norma Newton, and is Co-Director of the New Orleans Musica da Camera, which specialises in music of the Middle Ages and the...
, Anthony Laciura
Anthony Laciura
Anthony Laciura is an American operatic tenor, noted for his abilities as a comprimario. Born in New Orleans, he studied voice there with Charles Paddock, also the teacher of Ticho Parly....
and Greer Grimsley
Greer Grimsley
Greer Grimsley is an American bass-baritone who has had an active international opera career for the last three decades. He has sung leading roles with all of America's leading opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, and the Houston...
) who "insisted" he become a tenor. In 1958, he made his operatic debut, with the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera
Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...
Association, in the secondary role of Pong in the local premiere of Turandot, conducted by Renato Cellini
Renato Cellini
Renato Cellini was a celebrated Italian opera conductor. His father was Enzio Cellini, who was a stage director who worked with Arturo Toscanini.- Metropolitan Opera :...
. The next year, he sang Flavio in Norma, as well as in Eine Nacht in Venedig, this last for The Experimental Opera Theatre of America.
Within a few months, however, Parly was starring in Continental theatres, including Aachen where he sang Radamès in Aïda. In the next few seasons, he would become acclaimed as one of the world's leading Heldentenors, appearing at Brussels (Les contes d'Hoffmann staged by Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart was a French born, Swiss choreographer who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He was the son of the French philosopher Gaston Berger.- Biography :...
, 1961), Wuppertal (as Mephisto in Busoni's Doktor Faust and in Peter Grimes, 1962), Lisbon (the Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten, 1962; and Herodes in Salome, 1975), Kassel (Die Frau ohne Schatten and Siegfried, 1962; and Tannhäuser conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist...
, 1964) and Amsterdam (Doktor Faust, 1962; and as Prince Chouïsky in Boris Godunov, 1989).
In the summer of 1963, the Heldentenor made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
as Kunz Vogelgesang in Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner was a German opera director.- Life :Wieland was the elder of two sons of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner and grandson of composer Richard Wagner....
's new production of Die Meistersinger, with Anja Silja
Anja Silja
Anja Silja Regina Langwagen, , born April 17, 1940, in Berlin, is a German soprano who is known for her great abilities as a singing-actress and for the vastness of her repertoire....
as Eva. (In 2005, Melodram published a Compact Discs set of the 1964 revival.) In 1966, Parly returned to the Green Hill for the leading role of Siegmund in Die Walküre and, two years later, portrayed Siegfried in Siegfried (which he also sang at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
, under Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
) and Götterdämmerung. These were his last appearances at Bayreuth.
For the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, he was seen in Die Frau ohne Schatten, in 1960. In his native Copenhagen, Parly sang in Fidelio (as Florestan, 1963), Der fliegende Holländer (as Erik, 1963), Tannhäuser (1964), Elektra (as Ägisth, 1966) and Boris Godunov (directed by Harry Kupfer
Harry Kupfer
Harry Kupfer is a German opera director. He studied theatre in Leipzig and directed his first opera, Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka, in 1958....
, 1988).
In 1965, Parly returned to New Orleans, for Tannhäuser, in Tito Capobianco
Tito Capobianco
Tito Capobianco is a noted stage director of opera.He made his official debut with Aïda, at the Teatro Argentino, La Plata, in 1953, then worked at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires...
's production. The same year found him in Mexico City for the same opera, now with Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi....
. In 1966, he recorded a disc of Wagnerian excerpts for Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
conducted by Peter Maag
Peter Maag
-Life:He was born on 10 May 1919 in St. Gallen, Switzerland and died on 16 April 2001 in Verona, Italy.His father, Otto, was a Lutheran minister and his mother, Nelly, a violinist who performed in the Capet Quartet as second violinist. His great uncles were conductors Emil and Fritz Steinbach. ...
, and made his Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
debut in Siegfried (with Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter was a German operatic bass-baritone, admired internationally after World War II for the power, beauty, and intelligence of his singing, especially in Wagner operas. He was extremely tall and his appearance was striking because of his high, narrow face, wide mouth, and big, aquiline nose...
and Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
) and returned for Tristan in Tristan und Isolde in 1973. In 1966, he performed in Fidelio at the Teatro Colón; the next year he sang Tristan there.
On April 3, 1966, Ticho Parly's wife Azilda gave birth to a daughter, Tina. In November of the same year, he made his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, as Tristan opposite the Isolde of Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
. Two years later he sang there in Der fliegende Holländer (with Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...
) and Elektra (with Nilsson and Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira was an American mezzo-soprano, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss...
). In 1967, Parly made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Salome and returned to the "holy of holies" in 1971 for the Tambourmajor in Berg's masterpiece, Wozzeck, conducted by Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
.
In 1967, he also appeared at the Paris Opéra
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
as Tannhäuser and the next year as Siegmund. In 1970 he sang in concert performances of the first and third acts of Parsifal in Washington DC and New York City, with the Washington National Symphony. In 1971, he was in Einem's Der Besuch der alten Dame with Astrid Varnay
Astrid Varnay
Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay was an American dramatic soprano of Hungarian heritage and Swedish birth, who did most of her work in the United States and Germany. She was one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation...
, at Zurich. The same year the tenor sang Siegfried at the Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
, following that with Peter Grimes in 1973. Returning to the States in 1974, he portrayed Loge in Das Rheingold at the San Diego Opera
San Diego Opera
The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
conducted by Walter Herbert
Walter Herbert (conductor)
Walter Herbert was an American conductor and impresario of German birth, as well as a world champion at contract bridge....
. Over the next few summers, he sang the same part for the Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera
The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often...
's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. In 1981, he sang Loge at the Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States .-History:...
, and the following year was found singing Herodes in Salome there, with Marisa Galvany
Marisa Galvany
Marisa Galvany is an American soprano who had an active international career performing in operas and concerts up into the early 2000s. Known for the great intensity of her performances, Galvany particularly excelled in portraying Verdi heroines...
in her first assumption of the title role. The year 1983 had him in Siegfried again, for the Boston Lyric Opera.
As late as 1988, the artist appeared in Denmark in the eponymous role of Otello. In his later years, Ticho Parly taught voice in Seattle, where he died on June 21, 1993 at the age of sixty-four. The following July 7 in a sad coincidence, Parly's daughter, Tina, died in a rafting accident on the Yuba River in Northern California. At the time of his death, Parly was married to his second wife, the soprano Patricia Schlosstein.
Sources
- Bargreen, Melinda, A&E Briefing: Tito Parly Dies, Seattle Times, 1 July 1993
- Dyer, Richard "A Tenor Who Can Last Through Wagner: Parly's in Demand", Boston Globe, 27 July 1983
- Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, Parly, Ticho (Tenor), Performance record on the MetOpera Database - Morgan, Brian, "From Monkey Hill to the Green Hill: Ticho Parly," unpublished essay, 2002.
- Danish Opera Singers, Hephaestus Books, 2011.