ALFREDO KRAUS TRUJILLO, 'POURQUOI ME RÉVEILLER?'

Arriving to The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, Las Palmas

After visiting Maspalomas, The Grandma and her friends are going to go to The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, built in 1997 to homage the Canary tenor.

The Grandma loves opera and she likes Alfredo Kraus a lot. It is an enormous pleasure for her to visit this emblematic place and to remember who is considered one of the best tenors of the end of the 20th century. She will never forget Alfredo Kraus's performances in the Liceu in Barcelona.

Before going to the opera, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Intermediate Language Practice manual (Grammar 29).

More information: It and There

Alfredo Kraus Trujillo (24 November 1927-10 September 1999) was a distinguished Spanish tenor from the Canary Islands, known professionally as Alfredo Kraus, particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles. He was also considered an outstanding interpreter of the title role in Massenet's opera Werther, and especially of its famous aria, Pourquoi me réveiller?

Kraus was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. His father was Austrian and his mother was Canarian. He began his musical career with piano lessons at the age of four, and he sang in the school choir by age eight. His older brother, Francisco Kraus Trujillo, a baritone, studied music and opera alongside him.

Alfredo Kraus

After refining his technique singing Spanish zarzuela on stage in Madrid and Barcelona, Kraus made his professional opera debut in Cairo during 1956 as the Duke in Rigoletto, which became one of his signature roles.

In 1958, he sang Alfredo at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon in a production of La traviata with Maria Callas, a live recording of which was later released.

Kraus made his Covent Garden debut as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in 1959 and his La Scala debut as Elvino in La sonnambula in 1960. He made his American debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1962, and his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1966 in Rigoletto, the role of his last performance there in 1994.

In subsequent decades, Kraus extended his repertoire to include more Italian operas such as Lucrezia Borgia, La fille du régiment, Linda di Chamounix, Don Pasquale and La favorita by Donizetti; and French operas such as Roméo et Juliette, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Faust and Lakmé, while continuing to sing his hallmark roles of Werther and of Des Grieux in Manon.

More information: Gran Canaria

He also recorded a number of rarely performed French operas including La jolie fille de Perth and Les pêcheurs de perles, both by Georges Bizet, and La muette de Portici by Daniel Auber. He also performed in some very well known works, such as Don Giovanni and Faust.

Kraus came to be virtually synonymous with such lyric tenor roles as Werther, Faust, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Nemorino, and Arturo. He was also known for his performances of Spanish music, notably many classics from the zarzuela repertoire, which he continued to perform live on stage in Spain until the end of his career, and many of which he recorded complete for EMI Spain as well as for his own label, Carillon.

Callas & Kraus, La Traviata, Lisbon

Thanks to his superlative technique and careful husbanding of his vocal resources, Kraus sang onstage until his early 70s. He studied voice technique in Milan with Mercedes Llopart.

Kraus was also noted for extremely refined musicianship, accompanied by a seemingly effortless high register.

As a result, many opera connoisseurs consider him to be one of the best tenors of the end of the 20th century. He was admired for his cultivated musical education and his complete respect for his chosen profession.

His first priority was the integrity of his artistic interpretation of a piece, rather than his formidable range and excellent technique.

He performed all over the world, including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal in Caracas, Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and the Liceu in Barcelona.

In 1997, his home city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria opened The Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in his honor.

The loss of his wife in 1997 affected Kraus so deeply that he stopped performing for eight months. A proud and strong-willed man, he eventually returned to the stage and to teaching. He said, I don't have the will for singing but I must do it, because, in a sense, it is a sign that I have overcome the tragedy. Singing is a form of admitting that I'm alive.

Kraus died on 10 September 1999 in Madrid, at the age of 71, after a long illness.

More information: Auditorio Teatro Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

You have to make a choice when you start to sing

and decide whether you want to service the music,

and be at the top of your art,

or if you want to be a very popular tenor.

Alfredo Kraus