News
20.02.2018
Raimund Herincx, Wagnerian singer - obituary
Raimund Herincx as Friedrich von Telramund in Lohengrin in a San Francisco Opera production in 1978
CREDIT: RON SCHERL/REDFERNS
From the Daily Telegraph, 20 February 2018
A tall, bearded, Falstaffian figure, he had a commanding presence and a voice of depth and authority that could seemingly carry the length of a football pitch with minimal effort. He was in particular demand playing characters of a menacing, sinister or ruthless bent, such as Baron Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca or the title role in Boito’s Mefistofele.
As Wotan in Wagner’s Die Walküre he could out-sing a bank of roaring tubas, joking that even if their number increased he would still be heard over them. His first appearance in the role was with English National Opera under Charles Mackerras in 1976, after which Opera magazine described him as “the discovery” of the Ring Cycle, adding that his voice was that of “a true heroic bass-baritone, deployed with unstinting generosity and deep feeling”.