He was the great heroic Wagnerian tenor of the last quarter century: The American Stephen Gould died at the age of 61, within a few weeks of a devastating cancer.

1^um In July we learned that the Bayreuth Festival’s star tenor, Stephen Gould, was withdrawing from the three productions he was scheduled to sing there this year for health reasons: Tannhäusera role in which he was crucial, Tristan in Tristan and Isoldewhere he wasn’t really less, and Siegfried in The Twilight of the Gods.

On August 25, Gould’s artist agency announced his final withdrawal from the scene. The singer’s speech reported that day was nevertheless reassuring: “I will first dedicate myself entirely to my health and then realize my second dream: to teach talented young singers in master classes and accompany them on the path of their career.” »

But on September 5th, the Roanoke, Virginia native made the terrible news public on his website: “To all my fans and everyone who wishes me luck: I waited until the end of the Bayreuth Festival so as not to do the remarkable and heroic work hinder.” used by the team this year. […] I was diagnosed with bile duct cancer with complications. It is cholangiocarcinoma, a fatal disease with a prognosis of a few months to 10 months. There is no cure. I didn’t want anything to overshadow this year’s successes, and I’m grateful to Bayreuth for teaching me everything I could about performing this great musician’s works. »

Unprecedented journey

Stephen Gould “was” a Heldentenor, we now read on Wikipedia and can hardly believe that he is called that as an artist from the “past”. In the lyrical world, these tenors often seem like indestructible rocks, especially when, like Stephen Gould, they are real phenomena. Like many tenors, Gould started out as a baritone. He had a great career in musical theater. His biography credits him with 3,000 performances Phantom of the opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This artistic “long-distance runner” (by his own definition), with whom we create the image of the “ Iron Man Singing” began in the vocal range that made him famous in his forties, first with Rossini in 1989, then very quickly with Wagner, where he seemed to be on a mission.

“Wagner is not entertainment, it is a meditation, a mantra,” he said in an interview with Bayerischer Rundfunk. In fact, columnist Johann Jahn, who interviewed him and worked with him, emphasized on the German broadcaster on Thursday: “In this sense, he disciplined himself and did what many don’t do: he took time for Wagner, studied it for two years.” Worked with singing and speech trainers. » By learning the ringGould said he would wake up at night dreaming about the text and worrying about possible pronunciation errors.

Just like the Canadian Jon Vickers, one of his most glorious predecessors, Stephen Gould wanted to tackle not only Wagner but also the complex figure of Britten’s Peter Grimes and Verdi’s Otello. He also made a name for himself in Korngold’s opera The dead City.

The Bayreuth Festival honored the memory of its star tenor with the words: “The Bayreuth Festival and the entire opera world have lost an outstanding singer, performer, teacher, friend and colleague.” »

Stephen Gould’s art is documented at its peak primarily in his provocative but luminous work Tannhäuser by Tobias scratch, on DVD and Blu-ray by DG, as well as on disc in Tristan and Isolde by Janowski at Pentatone.

To watch in the video