Jess Thomas
{{short description|American operatic tenor (1927–1993)}}
{{For|those of a similar name|Jesse Thomas (disambiguation)|Jessica Thomas (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jess Thomas
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Jess Floyd Thomas
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|08|4}}
| birth_place = Hot Springs, South Dakota, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|10|11|1927|08|4}}
| death_place = Tiburon, California, United States
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Opera singer
| years_active =
| known_for = Wagnerian opera
| notable_works =
}}
Jess Thomas (August 4, 1927 – October 11, 1993) was an American operatic tenor, best known for singing the works of Richard Wagner.
Early life and education
File:Jess Thomas Sculpture by Hortensia Fussy.jpg
Jess Floyd Thomas was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota.{{cite book|last=Sirvaitis|first=Karen|title=South Dakota|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1al2lXC6NYC&pg=PA69|date=September 1, 2001|publisher=Lerner Publications|isbn=978-0-8225-4070-0|page=69}} As a child, he took part in various musical activities and studied psychology at the University of Nebraska. For several years, he worked as a high school guidance counselor, before enrolling at Stanford University for an MA.{{Cite news |last=Ross |first=Alex |date=October 13, 1993 |title=Jess Thomas, 66, American Tenor Who Specialized in Wagner, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/13/obituaries/jess-thomas-66-american-tenor-who-specialized-in-wagner-dies.html |access-date=May 31, 2025 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Karajan artists: Jess Thomas – the "more than six feet Siegfried" {{!}} A Musical Icon |url=https://karajan.org/stories/karajan-artists-jess-thomas/ |access-date=May 31, 2025 |website=Karajan Institute}} Learning that the operatic department was producing Verdi's Falstaff, he auditioned for Otto Schulmann, the vocal professor, and obtained the role of Fenton. He studied with Schulmann for three years before his operatic debut in 1957.{{cite news |last=Forbes |first=Elizabeth |date=October 16, 1993 |title=Obituary: Jess Thomas |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-jess-thomas-1511008.html |newspaper=The Independent (UK)}}{{Cite news |last=Klein |first=Howard |date=December 12, 1971 |title=Tristan is a Tenor named Thomas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/12/archives/tristan-is-a-tenor-named-thomas-tristan-is-a-tenor-named-thomas.html |access-date=May 31, 2025 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}
Operatic career
Thomas debuted in 1957 for the San Francisco Opera, performing in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier as the Haushofmeister. In 1958, he performed in the title role of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin for the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe at the commencement of a career in Germany.{{Cite web |title=Tosca (Giacomo Puccini) – Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek |url=https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/2BT7ZZJ6S73IQBNI7YEISWN6UD4AUERW |access-date=May 31, 2025 |website=deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de |language=de}}
At Bayreuth, he established his reputation as a Wagnerian tenor, performing in the following roles and operas:
- Parsifal 1961–63, 1965
- Lohengrin 1962, 1967
- Siegmund in Die Walküre (Bayreuth Festival on Tour in Osaka) 1967
- Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 1963, 1969
- Tannhäuser 1966–67
- Siegfried 1969, 1976
In 1963, Thomas joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and went on to sing 109 performances of fifteen roles with the company, including all the major tenor roles of Wagner's work.{{cite news | title = Classical Music Dance and Guide | work = New York Times | accessdate = June 9, 2009 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/11/movies/classical-music-and-dance-guide.html | date=October 11, 2002}}{{Cite web |title=Metropolitan Opera Archives |url=https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/search.jsp?q=%22Jess%20Thomas%22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301080125/https://archives.metopera.org/MetOperaSearch/search.jsp?q=%22Jess%20Thomas%22 |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |access-date=May 31, 2025 |website=Metropolitan Opera Archives}} Among the highlights of his career with the Met was appearing at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, in the first performance of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra with Leontyne Price.{{cite web | title = When did the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center open? | work = The Metropolitan Opera FAQ | accessdate = August 3, 2006 | url = http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/about/faq/history.aspx#anchorD }} He was awarded the Wagner Medal at Bayreuth in 1963.{{Cite web |last=Patmore |first=David |title=Jess Thomas |url=https://www.orfeomusic.de/Artist/Detail/6095 |access-date=May 31, 2025 |website=Orfeo Music}}
In 1970, at the 12th Annual Grammy Awards, Thomas won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for his performance of Wagner's Siegfried, with the Berlin Philharmonic.{{cite news|title=Grammy Awards 1970 |url=https://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1970-219.html |website=awardsandshows.com |access-date=August 15, 2023}}
On December 9, 1981, San Francisco Opera general director Kurt Herbert Adler called Thomas an hour before a performance of Die Walküre. Heldentenor James King had lost his voice, and Adler asked Thomas if he would like to sing the role in an hour. "But I haven't even shaved yet", Thomas said. Though he hadn't looked at the score in years, Thomas performed the role at the age of 54, relying on a memory of the role, with some prompting. The next day, headlines proclaimed Thomas's eleventh-hour rescue for Die Walküre.{{cite news | title = No Time to Shave | newspaper = LA Times | accessdate = June 9, 2009 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/655497332.html }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite web | title = My First Walkure | work = The Berkeley Daily Planet | accessdate = June 9, 2009 | url = http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2006-12-29/article/26003?headline=My-First-Walkure&status=301 }} Thomas's farewell performance took place in the title role of Parsifal with the Metropolitan Opera in 1982, while it was on tour in Washington, D.C.{{Cite news |last=Tuck |first=Lon |date=April 21, 1982 |title=Enthralling 'Parsifal' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/04/21/enthralling-parsifal/b3d2bfd7-d5f3-4b93-a818-342d086346c1/ |access-date=May 31, 2025 |work=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286}}
Death and legacy
Thomas died in San Francisco in 1993, aged 66, of a heart attack.{{Cite web |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |date=October 14, 1993 |title=Jess Thomas; Tenor Specialized in Wagner |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-14-mn-45542-story.html |access-date=May 31, 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times}} In 1997, on request of Thomas's widow, Violeta Thomas, the Austrian sculptor Hortensia Fussy made a portrait of Jess Thomas, showing him as Siegfried with his sword. The sculpture was donated to the Austrian Theatre Museum in 2002.{{cite web |title=Report about the exhibition "My father promised me no sword - heroic tenor Jess Thomas in Vienna |url=https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/kultur/kunst/186284_Kein-Schwert-verhiess-ihm-sein-Vater-.-.-..html |accessdate=May 24, 2002 |work=Wiener Zeitung}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://archive.today/20070725223354/http://www.geocities.com/rmlibonati/jthomasbio.html Jess Thomas biography]
- [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-jess-thomas-1511008.html Obituary: Jess Thomas]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/13/obituaries/jess-thomas-66-american-tenor-who-specialized-in-wagner-dies.html Obituary in The New York Times]
- [https://historyofthetenor.com/jess-thomas/ History of the Tenor / Jess Thomas / Sound clips and narration]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Jess}}
Category:People from Hot Springs, South Dakota
Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni
Category:American operatic tenors
Category:Singers from South Dakota