Joshua Hecht
Encyclopedia
Joshua Hecht is an operatic bass
of international stature. Born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University
, in 1951.
Hecht was a student of Rosa Ponselle
, and made his formal debut with her company, the Baltimore Civic Opera, in 1953, as the Comte des Grieux in Manon
. Two years later, he first appeared with the New York City Opera
, as Monterone in Rigoletto
, with Cornell MacNeil
in the name part. From 1955 to 1960, the bass sang with that ensemble, as Colline in La bohème
, Cesare Angelotti in Tosca
, Sparafucile in Rigoletto (with Aldo Protti
, later Louis Quilico
, as the jester), Ferrando in Il trovatore
(conducted by Julius Rudel
), Oronte in Rolf Liebermann
's School for Wives, the Elder Ott in the New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd
's Susannah
(with Phyllis Curtin
and Norman Treigle
, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf
), Alonso in the American premiere of Frank Martin
's Der Sturm, Timur in Turandot
, Banco in Macbeth
, William Jennings Bryan
in the New York premiere of Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe
(with Beverly Sills
, directed by Vladimir Rosing
), Horace Giddens in the world premiere of Marc Blitzstein
's Regina
, Farfallo in Die schweigsame Frau
, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, the Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah, Jabez Stone in Douglas Moore's The Devil and Daniel Webster (directed by John Houseman
), Tirésias in Oedipus rex
(with Richard Cassilly
, conducted by Leopold Stokowski
), the Police Agent in The Consul
(with Patricia Neway
and Chester Ludgin
, conducted by Werner Torkanowsky
), Plutone in L'Orfeo, and Don Alonso in Così fan tutte
.
Hecht sang again with the City Opera from 1967 to 1970, as the Baron Scarpia in Tosca, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte
, Sargeant Abe Goldberg in the world premiere of Hugo Weisgall
's Nine Rivers from Jordan
, the Comte des Grieux (directed by Tito Capobianco
), and Méphistophélès in Faust
(staged by Frank Corsaro
). He returned to the company in 1979, for Tosca.
He has appeared throughout the United States, as well as Israel, Australia, Canada, and South America. Between 1972 and 1996, Hecht lived in Europe, first Italy, then Germany.
For the New Orleans Opera
Association, he sang in Il trovatore
, in 1961. The next year, Hecht was the Raimondo for Lily Pons
's final appearances in Lucia di Lammermoor
, with the young Plácido Domingo
as Edgardo, at the Fort Worth Opera
. In 1965, he sang the title role in Der fliegende Holländer
at the Metropolitan Opera
, and, in 1969, he sang in Manon (with Sills) and Lucia di Lammermoor (with Sills and Luciano Pavarotti
) in Mexico City. In 1970, he sang the Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann, opposite Dame Joan Sutherland
, at the Seattle Opera
.
Other conductors with whom Hecht has collaborated have included Leonard Bernstein
, Karl Böhm
, Richard Bonynge
, Renato Cellini
, Christoph von Dohnányi
, Sir Charles Groves
, Walter Herbert
, Georges Prêtre
, Nicola Rescigno
, Joseph Rosenstock
, Sir Malcolm Sargent
, Robert Shaw
, William Steinberg
, Silvio Varviso
, and Marcello Viotti
.
From 1986 until 1992, Hecht was the resident teacher at the Frankfurt Opera, and, since 1995, he has been a guest teacher at Opera Australia
. , he is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Music at Hofstra University
.
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
of international stature. Born in New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, in 1951.
Hecht was a student of Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years.-Early life:She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897,...
, and made his formal debut with her company, the Baltimore Civic Opera, in 1953, as the Comte des Grieux in Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
. Two years later, he first appeared with the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, as Monterone in Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, 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...
in the name part. From 1955 to 1960, the bass sang with that ensemble, as Colline in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Cesare Angelotti in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Sparafucile in Rigoletto (with Aldo Protti
Aldo Protti
Aldo Protti was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory....
, later Louis Quilico
Louis Quilico
Louis Quilico, CC was a Canadian opera singer. One of the leading dramatic baritones of his day, he was an ideal interpreter of the great Italian and French composers, especially Giuseppe Verdi. He was often referred to as "Mr Rigoletto" in reference to the Verdi opera...
, as the jester), Ferrando in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
(conducted by Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel is an American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the United States from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music...
), Oronte in Rolf Liebermann
Rolf Liebermann
Rolf Liebermann , was a Swiss composer and music administrator born in Zurich, and associated with several different musical genres. His output included chansons, classical, and light music. His classical music often combines myriad styles and techniques, including those drawn from baroque,...
's School for Wives, the Elder Ott in the New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
(with Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin is an American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She was known for her creation of new roles such as the title role in the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah, Catherine Earnshaw in Floyd's Wuthering Heights, and in...
and Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror....
, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
), Alonso in the American premiere of Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
's Der Sturm, Timur in Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
, Banco in Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
, William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
in the New York premiere of Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe
The Ballad of Baby Doe
The Ballad of Baby Doe is an opera by the American composer Douglas Moore that uses an English-language libretto by John Latouche. It is Moore's most famous opera and one of the few American operas to be in the standard repertory...
(with Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
, directed by Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing , aka Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in England and the United States...
), Horace Giddens in the world premiere of Marc Blitzstein
Marc Blitzstein
Marcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...
's Regina
Regina (opera)
Regina is an opera by Marc Blitzstein, to his own libretto based on the play The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. It was completed in 1948 and premiered the next year. Blitzstein chose this source in order to make a strong statement against capitalism...
, Farfallo in Die schweigsame Frau
Die schweigsame Frau
Die schweigsame Frau is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson's Epicoene, or the Silent Woman.-Performance history:...
, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, the Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah, Jabez Stone in Douglas Moore's The Devil and Daniel Webster (directed by John Houseman
John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
), Tirésias in Oedipus rex
Oedipus rex (opera)
Oedipus rex is an "Opera-oratorio after Sophocles" by Igor Stravinsky, scored for orchestra, speaker, soloists, and male chorus. The libretto, based on Sophocles's tragedy, was written by Jean Cocteau in French and then translated by Abbé Jean Daniélou into Latin...
(with Richard Cassilly
Richard Cassilly
Richard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990...
, conducted by Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
), the Police Agent in The Consul
The Consul
The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate,...
(with Patricia Neway
Patricia Neway
Patricia Neway is an American operatic soprano and musical theatre actress who had an active international career during the mid-1940s through the 1970s. She is particularly remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of several contemporary American operas, most notably Magda Sorel in...
and Chester Ludgin
Chester Ludgin
-Biography:Chester Ludgin was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He made his professional debut in 1956 with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America , as Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, conducted by Renato Cellini and directed by Armando Agnini...
, conducted by Werner Torkanowsky
Werner Torkanowsky
Werner Torkanowsky was a successful German conductor in both the concert hall and opera house....
), Plutone in L'Orfeo, and Don Alonso in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
.
Hecht sang again with the City Opera from 1967 to 1970, as the Baron Scarpia in Tosca, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Sargeant Abe Goldberg in the world premiere of Hugo Weisgall
Hugo Weisgall
Hugo David Weisgall was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions...
's Nine Rivers from Jordan
Nine Rivers from Jordan
Nine Rivers from Jordan is an opera in a prologue and three acts by composer Hugo Weisgall. The work uses an English libretto by Denis Johnston and tells the story of a British soldier during World War II who lets a prisoner of war escape. The work premiered on October 9, 1968 at the New York City...
, the Comte des Grieux (directed by 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...
), and Méphistophélès in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
(staged by Frank Corsaro
Frank Corsaro
Frank Corsaro is one of America's foremost stage directors of opera and theatre. His Broadway productions include The Night of the Iguana ....
). He returned to the company in 1979, for Tosca.
He has appeared throughout the United States, as well as Israel, Australia, Canada, and South America. Between 1972 and 1996, Hecht lived in Europe, first Italy, then Germany.
For 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, he sang in Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, in 1961. The next year, Hecht was the Raimondo for Lily Pons
Lily Pons
Lily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was particularly associated with the title roles in Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Gaetano...
's final appearances in Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, with the young Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
as Edgardo, at the Fort Worth Opera
Fort Worth Opera
According to the company, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest, continually performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed to a "festival" format in 2007...
. In 1965, he sang the title role in Der fliegende Holländer
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
at the Metropolitan Opera
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...
, and, in 1969, he sang in Manon (with Sills) and Lucia di Lammermoor (with Sills and Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
) in Mexico City. In 1970, he sang the Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann, opposite Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, at 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...
.
Other conductors with whom Hecht has collaborated have included Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
, Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
, 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 :...
, 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...
, Sir Charles Groves
Charles Groves
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
, 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....
, Georges Prêtre
Georges Prêtre
- Biography :He was born in Waziers , and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting under André Cluytens among others at the Conservatoire de Paris. Amongst his early musical interests were jazz and trumpet. After graduating, he conducted in a...
, Nicola Rescigno
Nicola Rescigno
Nicola Rescigno was an Italian-American conductor, particularly associated with the Italian opera repertory. Opera News said that "Rescigno was a seminal figure in the history of opera in America, a maestro and mentor who shaped the destiny and reputation of two major U.S...
, Joseph Rosenstock
Joseph Rosenstock
Joseph Rosenstock was a Polish Jewish conductor.-Early years:He worked at the State Opera in Wiesbaden before being brought into the Metropolitan Opera in New York to replace Artur Bodanzky in 1928...
, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
, Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (conductor)
Robert Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Shaw received 14 Grammy awards, four ASCAP awards for service to contemporary music, the first Guggenheim Fellowship...
, William Steinberg
William Steinberg
William Steinberg was a German-American conductor.- Biography :Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg in Cologne, Germany. He displayed early talent as a violinist, pianist, and composer, conducting his own choral/ orchestral composition at age 13...
, Silvio Varviso
Silvio Varviso
Silvio Varviso was a Swiss conductor who spent most of his career devoted to conducting operas. He began his conducting career working in minor opera houses in Switzerland in the mid 1940s. He became the principal conductor of the opera house in Basel in 1956 where he served for six years...
, and Marcello Viotti
Marcello Viotti
Marcello Viotti was a Swiss classical music conductor, best known for opera.Viotti was born in Vallorbe, in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, to Italian parents. He studied cello, piano and singing at the Conservatory of Lausanne. Wolfgang Sawallisch was a mentor to Viotti and encouraged...
.
From 1986 until 1992, Hecht was the resident teacher at the Frankfurt Opera, and, since 1995, he has been a guest teacher at Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
. , he is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Music at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
.
Commercial discography
- Blitzstein: Regina (Lewis; Krachmalnick, 1958) ColumbiaColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
- Moore: The Ballad of Baby Doe (Sills, Bible, Cassel; Buckley, 1959) MGMMetro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
(Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche GrammophonDeutsche 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...
) - Ponchielli: La GiocondaLa Gioconda (opera)La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
: excerpts (Tebaldi, Corelli, Colzani; Guadagno, 1966) [live] Bel Canto Society