Kurt Baum

15 March 1900 Prague – 27 December 1989 New York City

Picture of Kurt Baum, backstage in Aida
Kurt Baum, backstage in Aida

Picture of Kurt Baum

Poster of Kurt Baum

Kurt Baum sings Cavalleria rusticana: Mamma, quel vino è generoso, with unknown mezzosopranos
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings The songs you sang (Borodin, honed by a certain Guenther)
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings Il trovatore: Mal reggendo, with Margaret Harshaw
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings Il trovatore: Di quella pira (1)
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings Il trovatore: Di quella pira (2)
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings Aida: Celeste Aida

Kurt Baum sings Andrea Chénier: Un dì all'azzurro spazio

Kurt Baum sings Guillaume Tell: O muto asil ... Corriam, voliam
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings Turandot: Nessun dorma
In RA format

Kurt Baum sings Il trovatore: Di quella pira (3)
In RA format

He studied medicine in Prague, was an avid amateur boxer, and only in 1930 began to study voice in Berlin and Vienna, and with Edoardo Garbin in Milano. In 1933, he made his debut in Zürich in Zemlinsky's Kreidekreis. 1935–39 at the Deutsches Theater in Prague, where he participated in the world premiere of Ernst Krenek's Karl V.. 1939–41 in Chicago, where he made his debut as Radames; 1941–66 at the Met (debut: Italian Singer), where he sang Manrico, José Cavaradossi, Enzo, Alvaro, Radames, Canio, Samson, Puccini's des Grieux, Pollione, Chénier, Grigorij, but also Tambourmajor and (rarely) Lohengrin and Stolzing – a total of 360 performances, but to say that he was a favorite with the New York audience would be definitely misleading.

He was famous for being incredibly conceited, thinking of himself as the greatest tenor of all times; for his terrible pronunciation of every other language than German; for his limited intelligence; for his laughable acting on stage; and for his secure high C. However, his C was also an obsession; one of the countless Baum anecdotes has him rushing to every piano he saw, striking the high C, and yelling one so as to check whether he still had it... His sound is just plain ugly, and as always, that's not just a matter of natural timbre, but even more so of voice production; his musical interpretations are close to inexistent.

I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recordings (Di quella pira 1, Mal reggendo, Andrea Chénier, Guillaume Tell, Cavalleria), poster and picture (private).

Go Home