Svanholm, Set (Karl Viktor)

Svanholm, Set (Karl Viktor), celebrated Swedish tenor; b. Vasterâs, Sept. 2, 1904; d. Saltsjö-Duvnäs, near Stockholm, Oct. 4, 1964. He was first active as a church organist in Tillberga (1922-24) and Säby (1924-27). After training at the Royal Cons, in Stockholm (1927-29), he was precentor at St. James’s Church in Stockholm. He then pursued vocal studies with Forsell at the Royal Cons. Opera School (1929-30). In 1930 he made his operatic debut in the baritone role of Silvio at the Royal Theater in Stockholm. In 1936 he made his debut there as a tenor singing Radames, and subsequently was one of the Royal Theater’s most eminent members until 1956. In 1938 he appeared as Walther von Stolzing at the Salzburg Festival, and also sang at the Vienna State Opera that year. In 1941-42 he sang at Milan’s La Scala. He made his Bayreuth Festival debut as Siegfried in 1942. He appeared as Tristan in Rio de Janeiro and as Lohengrin in San Francisco in 1946, and continued to sing in the latter city until 1951. On Nov. 15, 1946, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Siegfried. During his 10 seasons at the Metropolitan, he appeared in 105 performances and 17 roles. He was acclaimed not only for his Wagnerian heldent-enor roles, but also for such roles as Florestan, Herod, Eisenstein, and Aegisth. His farewell to the Metropolitan came on March 4, 1956, when he sang Parsifal. From 1948 to 1957 he also appeared at London’s Covent Garden. He served as director of the Royal Theater in Stockholm from 1956 to 1963.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire