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Kipnis’s Lecture to the Friends of Music, Westport, CT 1971
Note: We are happy to share with you the following document - a transcript of a lecture given by Alexander Kipnis in 1971.
Transcript of Alexander Kipnis’s Lecture to the Friends of Music, Westport, Connecticut, February 12, 1971
On February 12, 1971, Alexander Kipnis gave a lecture to an organization called The Friends of Music in Westport, Connecticut. The setting is significant, because Kipnis and his wife Mildred were living nearby in Westport at the time.
Please note that the text of this lecture is available in the Oral History of American Music archives at Yale University. However, here at the Alexander Kipnis Society, we are privileged to own an audio recording of the lecture, which is both authoritative and flavorful, thanks to Kipnis’s own warmth as a raconteur and laughter and other reactions from the crowd.
A recording of this lecture is available from us on our organization’s Google Drive, and we will be pleased to share it with you. Please contact the Society via email at www.barrylenson@gmail.com.
With that said, please enjoy this transcript of what the great Alexander Kipnis said on that day.
Think of this as a small holiday present from us at the Alexander Kipnis Society. All good wishes for a wonderful year 2026.
And here is our transcript of the lecture.
Moderator: Mr. [inaudible] could not be here. He has asked me to introduce Mr. Kipnis, our speaker this evening. It's a great privilege for me as a member of the committee, which organizes this series of pre-concert lectures.
And as a great artist and great singer, Mr. Kipnis is definitely qualified to speak on this subject. We are very grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Sabo for being our hosts this evening. I'm sure now you will enjoy this rare privilege of hearing Mr. Kipnis.
APPLAUSE
Alexander Kipnis: Good evening to you. There are many musicians among you, I might speak something which would be not very pleasant to hear, about what I have to say about musicians.
Because you know musicians are ordinary people and normal people the way we all are.
Musicians we have them of different kind of different natures. Some are very simple and some are very conceited. Some of them think that the whole world is turning around each one of them. They have such an ego that they believe they are the center of the world.
Actually, some of them have to have that ego, otherwise they cannot perform. I have seen great artists, pianists, violinists and especially singers who have been so conceited that even if they had to sing this smallest part, they believed the success of the performance depends on this small part.
I had an opportunity last week to listen to a very very famous singer. It was in the Juilliard Theatre and it was an evening they called Questions and Answers from Maria Callas. She spoke, she answered questions and it lasted approximately an hour and a half.
She said, for instance, that Mozart is by far overestimated. He is not an important musician, he is not an important composer.
Puccini, she hates because he destroys the voices. The greatest operas she mentioned are La Traviata and Norma, because in Traviata and in Norma there are some coloratura arias. If an opera doesn't have coloratura, then it's not good.
It was very amusing to see how a person is evaluating music, because she does not have a part in it. For instance, she didn't mention Otello, she didn't mention Aida, she didn't mention Pelléas and Melisande, she didn't mention any other opera which doesn't have any coloratura.
The coloratura part, for an unknown reason, in this country if somebody can sing runs very quickly, she is considered a bel canto singer. And if he cannot do that, then he doesn't classify. Caruso, for instance, didn't sing runs.
Bonci, or shall we say, Tebaldi, who could not sing coloratura runs, they are not bel canto singers. Bel canto is a privilege only for boys, for girls who can sing cadenzas and trills and so forth.
I have known great singers who have been very modest and very timid. They simply couldn't speak in the presence of two or three other persons. But as soon as they had to perform, the same timid and silent person became the character of this opera which he had to perform.
And I have seen, on the other hand, great artists who could only speak about themselves, like Caruso, Mary Garden, Chaliapin. I sang with all of them. It was impossible to have any conversation with them about anything else except their own singing.
And their ego was so penetrating that they would rather bite their tongue before they would pay any little compliment to another character. And sometimes they themselves were not so great. Mary Garden was a great artist, a great actress, but her voice was not very good.
Chaliapin, with whom I sang many, many performances, was possibly the greatest actor on the operatic stage, but his voice was by far, by far, not very appealing. His range was not very good, the quality was very bad, and so on and so forth.
I could go on and on and tell you about the different characters, but again, as I said before, in order to be able to perform and to convince an audience that they are really great and strong and they are performing the character, they have to be like that.
Some of them, they simply cannot, if you take away the ego from such a person, they cannot perform and they cannot sing. There again, some of the musicians of the singers have to perform and sing parts which appeal to them personally and also make them capable to sing these parts.
Some person is a very quiet pacifying for personality, and suddenly he has to sing the Mephistophèles on the stage. How can he do that if he doesn't have this ego? Some gentleman is very smooth, very gentleman-like, has to sing an awful character like the Baron Ochs in der Rosenkavalier. And if he cannot transfer his personality into this ugly character of the Baron Ochs, then he is just not good.
Then we have performance, stage performance, and concert performance.
At that evening last week, Callas was asked, “What do you think about singing Lieder?”
Oh, she said, Lieder is impossible. I cannot live my life. I would explode if I had to sing a song. There is no dramatic development in a Lied. If you give me Tosca, or you give me... She admitted she likes Wagner. She sang Wagner and Fidelio. It is something, you know, if you take, shall we say, a flute, and you ask the flutist to play some sonata for trombone. Such a thin little voice as she had to sing Isolde. She did it, she said. It was a Fidelio.
And I want to get away from this characterization of singers. We have tomorrow evening a recital with a beautiful program, it starts with three arias, or two arias, I don't know, by Bach.
And I would like to play you an aria from a Bach cantata. And to show you how Bach should sound, you will have an opportunity to compare.
PLAYS RECORDING
The orchestra is the Viennese Philharmonic and the singer is Hilde Rössel‑Majdan, a very, very fine mezzo soprano or contralto.
And on the program tomorrow, Bach is followed by Mendelssohn. And later on by Mahler. I don't know how familiar you are with Mendelssohn's songs. He has written many beautiful songs. They became beautiful folk songs.
So beautiful they are. The one, for instance, is “On Wings of Songs,” or “Auf Flügeln des Gesanges."
Another one is the first violet, there is a beautiful song about the moon, and then we have a number of other songs, which we are going to hear now. First we are going to hear some men's songs, it will take a long time to play, I have very very lovely recording by Judy Raskin, who sings Mahler and Mendelssohn, and now we will see what we have now.
PLAYS RECORDING
They're getting through with Bach. They have to wait quite a while, you know, after Mendelssohn, after Bach. There was quite a long while until Mendelssohn came. And as a matter of fact, Mendelssohn revived Bach.
Bach was forgotten completely at that time. And if Mendelssohn didn't do anything else, than to rediscover Bach, then Mendelssohn would have been still a very, very famous and important person in the world of music.
He died very young, as you know. He composed a great deal of music. I think he was not even 15 years old when he composed the music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Some of the songs which he has composed have been, before he was even 20 years old, he had used some of the poems of Heine.
PLAYS RECORDING
For instance, this “Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" is a Heine poem.
And now I would like you to hear some of the Mahler songs. I never met Mahler, but in a way I inherited Mahler. I sang a great deal in this country, as well as in England and in Germany, with Bruno Walter.
Bruno Walter was almost a puppet of Mahler. He tried in every way to imitate, to do the same thing that Mahler did. He dressed himself like Mahler. He spoke like Mahler. He did all sorts of things which are sometimes not very pleasant, because Mahler did it.
Bruno Walter thought that Mahler was a genius. He said, “When I met Mahler for the first time, I realized what a genius is. He couldn't do wrongly. Every call he played, every expression he spoke, was the expression of a genius.”
There was a time when people didn't think very much of Mahler's creations, but little by little his symphonies are getting more popular. These songs are composed more or less of the Czechoslovakian German folklore.
Mostly the sound of the songs comes from marching soldiers. Sad songs, a sort of humorous songs. A song, for instance, “Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?” (“Who has invented this song?”) Or, “Ich ging mit Lust durch einem grünen Wald“ (“I walked with joy through a green forest.”) Or, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” („I have been lost to this world.“) Or, „Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen“ („Where the beautiful trumpets sound“).
They are beautifully orchestrated and beautiful set to the voice. You will hear a few of them, not too many.
PLAYS RECORDINGS OF „WO DIE SCHÖNEN TROMPETEN BLASEN“ AND “ICH GING MIT LUST DURCH EINEM GRÜNEN WALD“ BY MAHLER.
AND THEN PLAYS A RECORDING OF “LIEBST DU UM SCHÖNHEIT” '
Next one is, “If you love for beauty,” “Liebst du um Schönheit.” This girl says, if you love for beauty, I am the wrong one. If you love for wealth, I am the wrong one, there's so much more wealth in the world. But if you love for love's sake, then love me.
So, from female voices, we will switch over to a man, a tenor who sings the song, “Invitation au Voyage” by Henri Duparc. The tenor is Leopold Simoneau.
PLAYS RECORDING
In Europe, there is the opinion that the singer singing a concert should be completely without motion, should stay quiet, lean against the piano, and sing with open mouth and sometimes with closed eyes.
No gestures, no expression, in his face. If somebody is trying to act a little bit on the stage, then he is not considered a concert singer, he is not good. But a number of artists came to this country, to Latin America, and they realized they are singing to an audience who don't understand them.
It is not enough to have a translation in the program. The people don't read it. It's too dark very often. The people cannot read, and even if they have the light, they don't have the time to read. And little by little, they started to act with their faces, with their hands, trying to submit to the audience the meaning of a poem.
When they returned home, it was difficult for them to get rid of this acting on the concert stage. So they had to re-study again their emotions, just to stand completely quiet and sing the song. You cannot expect from an audience that everyone should know this song.
Some people cannot sing quietly. They don't have the power of concentration. They have to do something with their hands or with their faces, and so on. A very strange example was Chaliapin. He was principally an actor, and he did not know many good songs.
He knew some Tchaikovsky songs, one or two songs by Rachmaninoff or by Mussourgsky, a few arias, and this is the way he performed. And I remember he sang once a song called “The Old Song,” (“Der Alte Lied”) by Grieg, and the poem is, there was an old king, his hair was grey, his mind was old.
This old king took a young woman from America. There was a young page, his mind was very light, and his hair was blonde. This page carried the tray of the queen.
Do you know the old song, because this is still the song, do you know the old song, they die, the queen and the page, because they were so much in love. So when Chaliapin sang this song, he acted.
There was the young page carrying the train of the queen, and that's a certain point.
LAUGHTER
And there were so many, many songs like that, you know, and the people somehow enjoyed it. Well, anyway, this is the difference about approach, one way or another. It is difficult from the step down from the concert stage to the opera stage and to be a good actor.
It's also difficult to come from the operatic stage and be a very good concert singer. So it is very difficult to switch from one element to the other element.
Uh... some of the best operatic singers cannot sing recitals. The program consists of five, six, eight, ten arias. One aria is the same thing as the other.
In one aria is same thing as the other aria, loud, sustained tones, or some whisper tones, but something without meaning at all. I would like to play for you now a self -operatic idea. My recording.
PLAYS RECORDING OF “DER SOLDAT” BY HUGO WOLF
I'm not trying to sell it to you, because yesterday it was sold out in New York. The first song, they are very short, all of them, “Der Soldat.” And the poet [Eichendorff – Ed.] says, my horse is not very, very beautiful, but he is a very wise, a wise horse. He brought me to a little castle. There is a maiden living there. She is certainly not the most beautiful girl in the world, but I like her very much. And when she starts to speak about marriage, I swing myself on my horse and I stay outside when she is in the castle.
And then we come to another song.
PLAYS RECORDING OF “DER MUSIKANT” BY HUGO WOLF TO A POEM AGAIN BY EICHENDORFF
The musician. And it's approximately a few words for explanation. “I love to wander. I live where I can. I know some very, very sad songs to sleep and to walk outside without shoes in the snow. Some girl is making eyes to me. She believes I like her. But this is not my style. If we would be married, then I would forget my singing. I don't know how to do it.”
PLAYS RECORDING OF “GRENZEN DER MENSCHHEIT” (“THE LIMITS OF MANKIND”) BY FRANZ SCHUBERT TO A POEM BY GOETHE
This is a very serious song. The words are by Goethe, and the title is ‘Limitation of Humanity.” This is a very serious song, or rather long, I would say, not too short.
And he compares what is the difference between Gods and Men. God is an eternal stream. You cannot compare. A human being is a very limited little circle. And before you realize, the circle has ended and you're gone.
And this is to be interesting how you can both translate the circle into music. Same place. Yes. If you follow by another, I would say a rather humorous song by Hugo Wolf, “Koptisches Lied [Coptic Song – Ed].” For some unknown reason, there is a translation of the words, but not of the title.
It is a philosophical, humorous expression. Never try to make out of a fool a wise man. All the wise people in the world have realized that you cannot make out of a fool a wise man. In the highest mountains and in the lowest graves, I have heard the whispering, let the fool be a fool.
And don't try to make a wise man a fool. It's very interesting, three verses.
It's getting late and I would like to play you an aria which I recorded in 1925. Do you remember where you were in 1925?
It was the first electric recording at that time I made Berlin in a very beautiful concert hall and the people were afraid to see the microphone. The microphone was somewhere. It was him like an atomic bomb. And I had on the stage a big and enormous big orchestra and I recorded at that time I'm sure you are all familiar with Wotan’s Farewell. Wotan has put to sleep his most favorite daughter and he's saying farewell to her in this recording.
PLAYS RECORDING OF WOTAN’S FAREWELL FROM GÖTTERDȀMMERUNG BY WAGNER
THE AUDIENCE SINGS HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALEXANDER KIPNIS
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Oh, happy birthday dear Sasha! Happy birthday to you!
Alexander Kipnis Society Audios Now Live on Youtube
Alexander Kipnis Society Audios Now on Youtube
We are pleased to tell you that we have established a Youtube channel, and that we are making a number of our important Kipnis audio files available there. Be sure to listen to:
Alexander Kipnis Society Audio: Igor Kipnis Interviews His Father in 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j45QluzncIM
Alexander Kipnis Society Audio: Alexander Kipnis on The Listening Room, WQXR, November 6, 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F-Dg7RZHbo
Alexander Kipnis Society Audio: Alexander Kipnis Interviewed on Music Magazine, 10/6/72
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L_AT8je00Q&list=RD0L_AT8je00Q&start_radio=1
Alexander Kipnis Society Audio: Alexander Kipnis on Met Opera Intermission Feature 2/18/67
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DWjr3Lg90s
Two Early Biographers Interview Alexander Kipnis on June 23, 1972, Part One
https://youtu.be/v2SriUhdKX4?si=loitq9TFlGqhXmb5
Two Early Biographers Interview Alexander Kipnis on June 23, 1972, Part Two
https://youtu.be/kTUUR8f74gc?si=yBoFJbiYy99rF5UV
San Francisco Opera’s Astonishing Archives Document Alexander Kipnis’s Performances There
Last week Falk Struckmann, Barry Lenson and Fran Taber (Barry’s wife) were treated to a tour of the San Francisco Opera’s archives, led by Barbara Rominski, the brilliant and diligent Director of the Archives. We were in San Francisco because Falk, who is co-founder of the Alexander Kipnis Society, was there to perform the role of Klingsor in the San Francisco Opera’s new production of Parsifal.
Ms. Rominski has done an astonishing job of building the Archives,which are packed with information. Be sure to explore the database of singers, conductors, operas performed, and more, online. You’ll find cast lists, photographs of past San Francisco productions, and much more. It is a fantastic resource.
Kipnis in San Francisco
The database shows that Alexander Kipnis appeared with the San Francisco Opera in seven operas between the years 1939 and 1941:
· 1939: Tristan und Isolde with Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior (also toured to Los Angeles)
· 1939: Fidelio, also with Flagstad and Melchior
· 1940: Lakmé, with Lily Pons
· 1940: der Rosenkavalier with Lotte Lehmann, Risë Stevens, and Margit Bokor (also toured to Los Angeles)
· 1940: Don Giovanni (as Leporello) with Ezio Pinza
· 1941: der Rosenkavalier with the same trio as 1940 (also toured to Los Angeles)
· 1941: Tannhäuser w. Melchior, Stella Roman, and Karin Branzell (also toured to Los Angeles)
Source: San Francisco Opera Archive: Performance Database, used with permission
A Little Context on the Kipnis Years at the San Francisco Opera
Here’s what Jeffery S. McMillan, the San Francisco Opera’s personable Public Relations Director, told us in a recent email . . .
“When Kipnis joined the Company in 1939, the administration was having a very difficult time mounting a season as Italian artists were mostly unable to gain entry to the US, and other artists accustomed to crossing the Atlantic were similarly impeded by the War. Kipnis, a U.S. citizen and frequent star in Chicago, was enlisted to sing assignments previously planned for Hungarian bass Deszo Ernster, who could not reach San Francisco. “During that first year, Kipnis sang Tristan with Flagstad and Melchior and, in one of those rare only-in-San Francisco occurrences, he appeared in Fideliowith the same pair of supersingers. Flagstad patently refused to sing Fideliowith Melchior, but on this one occasion at the urging of General Director Gaetano Merola, she relented. I’m sure Kipnis had some stories to tell about that one!
“Kipnis made his Metropolitan Opera debut in January 1940, a few months after his first San Francisco season, as Gurnemanz in Parsifal. Merola was eager to present Parsifal in San Francisco but encountered many obstacles and the piece would not enter our repertoire for another decade, in 1950. Another important milestone for Kipnis in San Francisco is that he was the Company’s first Ochs in Rosenkavalier, with Lotte Lehmann and Risë Stevens.”
And There’s Much More to Learn in the Archives
You will find photographs of past productions, articles on opera and operas, and a great deal more. The San Francisco Opera Archives are a tremendous resource for everyone who wants to learn more about Alexander Kipnis, historical singers who have appeared with the company, and about the history of this esteemed American opera company.
Be sure to stop by the Archives!
PROGRAM OF THE TRAVELING WAGNERIAN OPERA FESTIVAL AVAILABLE
We are thrilled to announce that the entire program of the 1923 Wagnerian Opera Festival program available now for you to review. This program lists some of the greatest singers of the day who, along with Kipnis, embarked on a tour of North America and performed in major American cities. Please click below to download a PDF.
Download the Wagnerian Opera Festiva Program Here
WAGNERIAN OPERA COMPANY PROGRAM-compressed (pdf)
DownloadKIPNIS DISCUSSES ROLES HE SANG, TOSCANINI, SIEGFRIED WAGNER
Siegfried Wagner
New Item on the Society Site!
In a remarkable interview from 1973, Alexander Kipnis discusses roles he sang, what it was like to work with Toscanini, Siegfried Wagner's funeral and much more! Go to our readings and resources page to read it now.
Comprehensive Kipnis Discography Now Available Here!
The Alexander Kipnis Society is honored to publish an authoritative list of Kipnis recordings made between 1917 and 1946. This list was compiled by researchers Michael Seil and Oliver Wurl; Click just below on this page.
Alexander Kipnis Discography by Michael Seil and Oliver Wurl
Alexander Kipnis Discographie by Michael Seil and Oliver Wurl (docx)
DownloadIgor Kipnis's Liner Notes for the RCA LP "Alexander Kipnis in Russian Operatic Arias and Songs
Today's Great Discovery from Jochen Kowalski
Our great friend and advisor Jochen Kowalski has just sent up two wonderful documents from his collection: The Cover from the 1933 Bayreuth Season Program and a cast list from a performance of Meistersinger in which Kipnis sang. Enjoy - you can almost sense the atmosphere of the festival in 1933.
Welcome to The Official Website of The Alexander Kipnis Society
The Alexander Kipnis Society
Co-Founders
Falk Struckmann – Leading International bass-baritone, Kammersänger, Vienna State Opera.
Barry Lenson – Former singer, Editor in Chief Classical Archives, Kipnis biographer.
Carolina Kipnis
Officers
Ludwig Brunner – Retired Executive Director of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University, former longtime manager of opera singers.
Daniel Gundlach –International countertenor. His popular Countermelody podcast, dedicated to great singers and singing, is now in its sixth year.
Jochen Kowalski – Leading international countertenor. His biograpphy has been published by Bärenreiter Henschel.
Joseph LoSchiavo – President and CEO, SDG Music Foundation, arts administrator, former director, The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University.
Emily Rawlins – International soprano.
Michael Seil – Baritone, collector and authority on historical recordings, editor of many historical CDs, author, lecturer, and instructor.
The work of the Alexander Kipnis Society is dedicated to the memory of Alexander, Mildred, Igor, Judy, and Jeremy Kipnis.
Video
A 1967 Interview of the great historical singer Alexander Kipnis with Francis Robinson
About Alexander Kipnis
Alexander Kipnis: Brief Biography
More complete biographical information can be found in the documents that we have made available on this Website. However, here is an abbreviated biography of this remarkable artist.
Early Life
Alexander Kipnis, who one day would become one of the great singers of Bayreuth, the Met and the world, was born on February 13, 1891) in Zhitomir, part of the Volhynian Governorate in the Russian Empire (now part of Ukraine). His family was poor and lived in an unheated hut in the Jewish ghetto. Alexander’s father had a cart and sold feathers and other commodities and after his father’s death from tuberculosis, Alexander supported his mother and sisters by working as a carpenter’s apprentice and singing soprano in local synagogues.
Move to Poland and then Berlin
Singing in a troupe that performed Yiddish operettas, Alexander traveled as far as Poland, where his talents were noticed. He was able to study at the Warsaw Conservatory, where he first trained to become a bandmaster and was encouraged to study singing. Encouraged by a German music-lover, Alexander moved to Berlin, where he studied singing with Ernst Grenzebach, a renowned teacher who also taught Meta Seinemeyer, Lauritz Melchior and other notable singers.
Operatic Career in Europe
Kipnis made his operatic debut in 1915 in Weisbaden, singing the cameo role of a guest in Die Fledermaus. He gained valuable stage experience at the Wiesbaden Opera and later joined the Berlin Staatsoper, where he quickly rose to leading roles.
Lieder Singer
As early as 1917, Alexander Kipnis began to record German art songs with Deutsche Grammophon. Many of these recordings, as well as those he made through his life, have established him as the greatest interpreter of German Lieder of his time.
American Career
In 1923, Kipnis toured the United States with The Wagnerian Opera Company, a traveling company. In Chicago, he met Mildred Levy, the daughter of the legendary piano teacher Henriot Levy. He and Mildred married in 1925 Alexander spent nine seasons with the Chicago Civic Opera.
Escape to Vienna
Kipnis was under contract with the Berlin Opera until 1935, but he managed to break the contract and flee Nazi Germany. He performed as a guest artist with the Vienna State Opera before leaving to settle in the United States.
German Performances in Germany at Bayreuth and Elsewhere. Because he was married to an American, Alexander was able to perform in Germany until as late as 1938, especially at Bayreuth, where he was an esteemed and valued artist. During those years, he also performed concerts there for German audiences under the auspices of Jewish organizations, especially the famous Kulturbund.
Metropolitan Opera Debut
In 1940, Kipnis made his belated debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. By then, he had already appeared in major opera houses worldwide. He remained a mainstay at the Met until his self-imposed retirement.
Teaching and Later Life
After he retired from the Met and opera, Alexander moved with his wife to Westport, Connecticut, where he lived until his death in 1978. During those years he taught singing in New York, toured America and concertized, and even ran a small opera company and workshop in New England.
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