Charles Kullman (1903 - 1983)

Note by Alan Bilgora











"Lotte Lehmann sang Tosca opposite the Cavaradossi of the young American tenor Charles Kullmann, fresh from his European successes. In those days his voice (which had real sex appeal) was full of bloom ..."

Arthur Bloomfield, 50 years of the San Francisco Opera.

That ‘untiring chronicler of American singers’, Oscar Thompson, in his book The American singer, a Hundred years of Success, made the following interesting observation. He listed the many native-born sopranos, contraltos, baritones and basses who had returned to the US (following study and stage experience in Europe) and established themselves at the Metropolitan Opera during the second half of the 19th century. In contrast he noted the absence of American born tenors who had to wait until the very end of the century for acceptance and a share of the major roles. First among them, in 1895, was Lloyd D’Aubignè (Thomas Lloyd Dabney), followed in 1907 by Riccardo Martin (Hugh Whitfield Martin 1874-1952), after which the ‘flood gates’ opened. (note 1) One such tenor was Charles Kullmann, who emerged in the 1930s, and was born on 13th January 1903 to German parents in New Haven Connecticut.

Kullmann might have become a doctor, but while studying medicine at Yale University he won a prestigious inter-collegiate vocal competition, and with limited funds already making it difficult to continue his medical studies, he decided on a musical career. Kullmann initially sang as a baritone until lessons with Maestro Marcosano in New Haven revealed his lyric tenor voice. He went to the Juilliard School of Music on a scholarship in 1924 where he continued his vocal studies with Anna Eugénie Schön- Stevens, whose pupils included mezzo-soprano Risè Stevens and Paul Robeson. After three years Kullmann won another scholarship taking him to France and to the American Conservatory at Fontainbleu where he studied under the eminent tenor Thomas Salignac (1867-1945).

Kullman returned to the United States in 1928 (having lost his final ‘n’ on the journey home) and briefly taught singing at Smith College. He made various solo appearances and sang in the American première of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. He resigning from the College the following year and joined the American Opera Company (which specialised in productions sung in English) under the direction of the dynamic ex-patriot Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing. Young Charles made his debut with the company as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

In 1930 Kullman returned to Europe, this time to Berlin, where he auditioned successfully for Otto Klemperer, then in charge of the Kroll Oper. He made his German stage debut there on 24th February 1931 singing Pinkerton. The Kroll Opera was considered to be the junior house of the Berlin State Opera and Kullmann was quickly promoted to the larger theatre, where, on October 2nd 1932 he sang Walther in Die Meistersingers with an all-star cast in a Heinz Tietjen production. He subsequently sang under such eminent musical directors as Blech, Kleiber, and Furtwängler, mainly in the lyric Italian repertory. He also made a guest appearance in Vienna and was put under contract there from 1934-36.

At Salzburg in 1934 he made a good impression as the ‘Italian tenor’ in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier under Joseph Krips and as Da-Ud in Die Aegyptische Helena conducted by Clemens Krauss. He also sang the demanding role of Huon in Weber’s Oberon conducted by Bruno Walter. The following season he repeated Der Rosenkavalier and appeared as Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte under Felix Weingartner and as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail under Bruno Walter. In the 1936 season he repeated Ferrando and was heard as Walther in Die Meistersinger. Kullman gained a reputation for excellent musicianship and acting, and was noted for his supportive performances with a very distinguished list of European artists: Lotte Lehmann; Elizabeth Schumann; Lotte Schöne; Jarmilla Novotna; Adele Kern; Margherita Perras; Viorica Ursuleac; Margit Bokor; Kirsten Thorborg; Karl Hammes; Franz Völker; Hans-Hermann Nissen; Alfred Jerger and Richard Mayr.

We are fortunate that at this very important moment in his career Kullman made his first visits to the recording studios in Berlin. The voice we hear on these discs is not large, but the sweet fresh quality and in particular the projection and brilliance of his ringing upper register is captured to best advantage. Also recorded on 24th May 1936 in Vienna was a now famous concert performance of Mahler’s Das lied von der Erde with the Swedish contralto Kirstin Thorborg and conducted by Bruno Walter.

Kullman made his Covent Garden debut on May 11th 1934 as Babinsky in the English première of Weinberger’s Schwanda the Bagpiper. The critics reported that he ‘displayed a warmth and charm that won all hearts’. He was next heard in London as Vladimir in a German language version of Borodin’s Prince Igor with a stellar cast that included Alexander Kipnis, Elizabeth Rethberg, Karin Branzell and Herbert Janssen conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Kullman’s debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera was on December 19th 1935 in the title role of Gounod’s Faust with Edith Mason, Richard Bonelli and Ezio Pinza, beginning a career there which would last for over 25 years. At first he sang the popular (and a few esoteric) principal roles in the house’s repertory - Rodolfo, Alfredo, Don José, The Duke of Mantua, Walther and Pinkerton. In 1936/7 he sang Eric in Der Fliegende Hollander with an outstanding Wagnerian cast that included Flagstad, Thorborg, Schorr, Branzell and List. The 1937/8 season included Walther, Fenton in Falstaff and Julien in Charpentier’s Louise. On March 14th, at one of the Met’s famous Sunday night concerts, he surprised the audience by singing Celeste Aida, - although Radames was not a role he ever performed. During the 1938/9 season he added Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, and Dimitri in Boris Godunov to Ezio Pinza’s Tsar, of which the critic Pitts Sanborn commented "Kullman, strikingly dressed, supplied an uncommonly dramatic Dimitri". He also went to Hollywood for a featured part in the popular and spectacular film The 1938 Goldwyn Follies.

Following seasons were primarily taken up with his usual repertoire, but on 7th February 1941 he sang the role of Avito in Montemezzi’s opera L’Amore di tre Re. The performance was conducted by the composer, and the cast included Ezio Pinza as Archibaldo, Richard Bonelli as Manfredo and Grace Moore who had an enormous success as Fiora. Paul Jackson in his knowledgeable, detailed and apposite commentaries on the recorded Met broadcasts, put his criticism of this opera in a fashion that could stand as a touchstone to all of Kullman’s work, "... the American tenor is at the top of his form, his vocal colour gains in appeal as the opera progresses, and his musical instincts are compelling enough to outweigh any limitations. Few tenors shape a phrase for maximum impact as well as Kullman does ..." On 28th February 1941 he sang Hans (Jenik) in an English language production of Smetana’s Bartered Bride with the Czech soprano Jarmilla Novotna as Marie and Pinza as the wily match-maker Kezal. The music critic Irving Kolodin who was not one of Kullman’s most ardent fans thought however that Hans was "one of his finest accomplishments". He sang Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for the first time at the Metropolitan and also and experimental English translation of the Magic Flute, where "... his skilful Tamino was deemed worth the experiment". In 1941/2 season he added to his repertoire Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon with the delightful Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayao as the eponymous heroine. In 1943 he sang Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Turridu in Cavalleria Rusticana and in a New York performance of the Verdi Requiem conducted by Toscanini. His busy 1944/5 season included a performance of Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with Patrice Munsel, who the year before, aged 18, had been the youngest soprano ever to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera. During the 1946/7 season the Metropolitan produced Abduction from the Serail (in English), with Kullman singing Belmonte: the critic Bagar in the New York World Telegram stated that "Kullmann gave the role the benefit of much thought and, in the working out, much style". In 1947/8 he undertook several familiar roles and due to the unavailability of the usual heldentenors - Lauritz Melchior, Torsten Ralf or Set Svanholm - Kullman was called upon to deputise in Parsifal.

He undertook a major film role as Dr. Klin, a physician in the Russian navy. In this highly fanciful ‘bio-pic’ of the young Rimsky-Korsakoff, Kullman sings the ‘Song of India’ from Sadko, a vocal transcription of the ‘Fandango’ from Caprice Espagnol, a ‘Gypsy song’ and the incredibly high-lying ‘Hymn to the Sun’ from the Golden Cockerel. The next two seasons were again very busy with repeats of his many popular roles, plus the house première of Musourgsky’s Khovanshchina on February 16th 1950 when he sang Prince Vassili Golovin. That year Rudolf Bing became manager of the Met and introduced an English version of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus which was successfully repeated over several season and in which Kullman alternated as Eisenstein and Alfred.

His appearances now began to thin out, but on February 6th 1952 he appeared in the difficult role of Herod in Richard Strauss’s Salome. The next few years saw him as Eric, Turridu, Parsifal, Walther and in his final seasons he was heard in supporting roles such as Goro in Butterfly, Valzacchi in Die Rosenkavalier, the Emperor of Austria in the Gypsy Baron and one final performance of Parsifal. His last role, indeed his final appearance at the Metropolitan on December 3rd 1961, was as Shuisky in Boris Godunov. A firm believer that there was no such thing as a small role, only a small-minded singer, he lent his full support to his colleagues to the very last.

At the end of each New York season many of the Metropolitan’s principal artists went on the Company’s national tours; Kullman did so from 1935 until 1956. From 1936 to 1954 he also sang many of his roles in San Francisco. In 1939 and 1940 he was contracted to the Chicago Opera where, as always, a member of the finest casts, he was heard in Louise, La Bohéme, L’Amore de tre Re and Rigoletto. In 1941 he appeared in the huge Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. From 1943-54 and also in 1956 he was with the Cincinnati Opera appearing in his most popular roles. By this time Kullman was an experienced performer in the Italian, French, German, Baroque and concert repertory in all of which his contemporaries recognised his fine musicianship and artistic truth.

The annual ‘Met’ tours, (which are covered in detail by Quaintance Easton’s book ‘Opera Caravan’) also took Kullman to Bloomington, where on his retirement from the theatre he accepted a post as resident tenor of the School of Music at Ohio University. He remained there until 1971, eventually returning to New Haven where he died on February 8th 1983.

A number of the arias recorded here are mementos of roles in which he had success; notable among them is Vladimir’s soulful aria from Prince Igor. The ‘Prizelied’ from Die Meistersingers is sung lyrically but with heroic intent. Likewise his duet with Walter Grossmann from La Forza del Destino retains a moving dramatic undertone in spite of the German language.

Arias from operas which he did not sing on stage nonetheless possess vocal authority; his ‘Celeste Aida’ (sung here in German) was once reviewed, by an experienced collector and commentator, as being technically one of the very best on record. His Turandot arias in particular are notable for their ringing high A naturals, culminating in a beautifully sustained and thrilling top B natural. In Offenbach’s Hoffmann’s Erzählungen he is ideally romantic. Like so many other fine tenors of the period, (including Tauber, Wittricsh, Bollman, Björling and Roswaenge), Kullman was expected to record items that displayed his vocal prowess in music of a lighter vein - without necessarily having performed the roles. Thus we have songs from operettas such as Kálmán’s Die Zirkusprincessin and Kunneke’s Die Lockende Flamme both of which were surprisingly under-recorded in the days of 78 rpm discs. Together with a couple of other lesserknown Viennese operetta excerpts, they show Kullman’s fine legato and exciting top notes to great advantage. The Kunneke finishes on a top B natural that is quite stunning. From Strauss’s Zigeunerbaron, Barinkay’s ‘Als flotter geist’ (an amusing catalogue of jobs he had undertaken in his life), allows Kullman to demonstrate easy control over the high tessitura finishing on a startling top C. Likewise, from the same operetta, his singing of the lovely duet ‘Wer uns getraut’ with the fresh and soon to be famous coloratura soprano Erna Berger is tender in the extreme. Whether in opera or operetta Kullman’s musicality and charm are always apparent making him one of the most satisfying of recording artists.

© 2006, Alan Bilgora

Note 1

Orville Harold (b.1878); Paul Althouse (1889-1954), teacher of Richard Tucker; Charles Hackett (1889- 1942); Lambert Murphy (d.1954); Mario Chamlee born Archer Chalmondelay (1892-1966); Eyvind Laholm born Edwin Johnson (1894-1958); Sydney Rayner (1895-1981); Frederick Jagel (1897-1982); Giuseppe Bentonelli born Joseph Benton (1898-1975); Richard Crooks (1900-72); James Melton (1904- 61); Eugene Conley (1908-81); Felix Knight (1908-98); Thomas Hayward born Thomas Albert Tibbet (1920-95), Lawrence Tibbett was a cousin; Donald Dame (1917-52).

A number like Charles Marshall; George Hamlin; Forest Lamont; Michael Bartlett; William Martin; Robert Rounseville; Norbert Ardelli and John Alexander were among those tenors who appeared in opera centres such as Boston, Chicago, Cincinatti, San Francisco, The San Carlo U.S.A. the New York Hippodrome, and later The New York City Opera. This line stretched into the 1940s with Jan Peerce born Jacob Pincus Perelmuth (1904-84) and Richard Tucker born Reuben Ticker (1913- 75).

The second half of the 20th century until today has witnessed the international successes of David Poleri; James McCracken; Barry Morell; James King; Jess Thomas; Rockwell Blake; Chris Merrett; Bruce Ford; Jerry Hadley; Neil Shicoff; Richard Leech and Michael Sylvester. One should also note the great Canadian tenors such as Paul Dufault; Edward Johnson, later the manager of the Metropolitan Opera; Raoul Jobin and his son Andre; Leopold Simoneau; Jacques Gerard; Andre Turp and his son Richard; Richard Verreau; Jon Vickers; Richard Margeson and Ben Heppner.

Bibliography:
The American Singer Oscar Thompson. The Dial Press Inc., New York 1937
Metropolitan Opera Annals W.H.Seltsam. H.W.Wilson Co., New York 1947-57
Opera Caravan Quaintance Eaton. John Calder, London 1957
Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden H. Rosenthal. Putnam, London 1958
Opera in Chicago Ronald L. Davis. Appleton-Century, New York 1966
Charles Kullman C.I. Morgan. The Record Collector, Ipswich 1972
50 Years of the San Francisco Opera Arthur Bloomfield. San Francisco Book Co., 1972
Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia David Hamilton. Simon & Schuster, New York 1987
Cincinnati Opera Eldred A. Thierstein. Deerstone Books, Hillsdale Michigan 1995
Saturday Afternoons at the Old Met Paul Jackson. Amadeus Press, Portland Oregon 1997
The American Opera Singer Peter G. Davis. Doubleday, New York 1997
From Johnson’s Kids to Lemonade Opera V.E.Villamil. Northeastern University Press 2004
Opera on Film K.Wlaschin. Yale University Press, New Haven 2004
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