• San Francisco opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Cordon, Huehn, Flagstad, Lawrence, Meisle. Stage director: Graf.
  
  San Francisco Chronicle: "Lauritz Melchior was, as always, the kind of tenor who can raise your hair and give you shivers with the sustained, heroic power of his high tones and the dynamic thrust of his dramatic conception in the large outline, but for the first time in my experience, he was disappointing in the lyric demands of the music.  His middle voice lacked quality, his phrasing sometimes seemed perfunctory or careless, and he must share his part of the responsibility for some wooden, inexpressive tempi" (Frankenstein, p. 9)

• San Francisco opera: Tristan und Isolde McArthur. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Flagstad, Meisle.
  
  San Francisco Chronicle: "Lauritz Melchior was the Tristan, because Lauritz Melchior is almost the only Tristan there is, and justly so. His tremendous tenor was, as always, thrilling to the last degree in the bigger, more heroic demands of the music, but his lower and softer voice, despite its unquestioned expressiveness, is not altogether as fine in quality as it might be" (Frankenstein, p. 12).

• San Francisco opera: Walküre. McArthur. Melchior, Cordon, Destal, Lawrence, Flagstad, Glaz
  
  San Francisco Chronicle: "Lauritz Melchior, whose interpretation of Siegmund at the first presentation had often seemed perfunctory or worse, returned to his accustomed masterly way with the role. Last night he not only shouted "Waelse! Waelse! ten times louder and three times longer than anyone else; he also penetrated to the full lyric and heroic aspects of Siegmund's character and Siegmund's music.  Once again the greatness of Melchior as the foremost Wagner tenor of this century was completely proven" (Frankenstein, p. 7).

• San Francisco Opera [Sacramento]: Walküre. See 17 Oct 1939.
  

• San Francisco opera: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Flagstad, Glaz
  

• San Francisco opera: Fidelio. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Destal, Kipnis, Clemens, Huehn, Flagstad, Boerner.  Graf is stage director and set designer.
  
  San Francisco Chronicle: "In Lauritz Melchior the role [of Florestan] meets its match.  Nobody can sing "In des Lebens Fruehlingstagen" as easily as a Tosti ballad, but Melchior carried it off as splendidly as if he had trained for it on several hundred mere Siegfrieds, Lohengrins, and Tristans, which is precisely the case" (Frankenstein, p. 9).

• San Francisco opera [Shrine Auditorium, LA]: Walküre. See 17 Oct 1939.

Los Angeles Times: "Melchior can not entirely succeed in causing Siegmund to be the completely romantic type, he has fine tradition. His tonal climaxes are always brilliantly and vigorously sung. His more suppressed style is often, if not always, effective. His success was marked." (Edwin Schallert, p. 25).

• San Francisco opera [Shrine Auditorium, LA]: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Flagstad, Glaz
  

Los Angeles Times: "Melchior quite surpassed himself as [Tristan]....[Flagstad] and Melchior blended their voices resplendently in the second act music and brought out the utmost poetry of the Wagner theme." (Schallert, p. A3).

• Recording sessions for RCA Victor: Los Angeles popular music studio: duets from Tristan and Götterdämmerung with Kirsten Flagstad. Conductor is Edwin McArthur.

• St. Louis Opera: Siegfried. Conductor (of a 55 piece orchestra): Laszlo Halasz. Melchior, Laufkötter, Destal, Lassner, Alvary, Hoertel, Szantho, Lawrence
  

St. Louis Globe Democrat:  "His voice was let forth in golden beauty, in full splendor. It would be hard to conceive a more glorious challenge in tone."

• Recital, Eaton Auditorium, Toronto.

• Met Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Tibbett, List, Manski, Lehmann. Melchior's 1939-40 season debut. Sachse directs.
  
  New York Times: "Except for the final monologue most of the music of Tannhäuser's part lies badly for Lauritz Melchior's voice and the lyric measures of the first two acts are not congenial to his essentially dramatic type of approach. Mr. Melchior was not in good vocal form on this occasion and blemished much of his work with strangled, forced tones, especially in the upper part of the scale." (Noel Straus p. 23)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior's impersonation of the title part has never been one of his most impressive, either from the vocal or dramatic aspects. On this occasion, it was apparent from his first utterances that he was not well disposed....Mr. Melchior's half-voice singing has always been husky and his efforts to project these opening measures, which he attempted to simplify by hurrying, did not augur well for what was to come. Seldom was the tenor's voice produced in anything but a constricted manner so that his tones emerged brassy in texture" (Bohm, p. 9)

• Concert (Special Appearance): Melchior is the soloist at an all-Wagner concert with the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frieder Weissmann at the Center Theatre in New York. This concert, along with those this month by Schorr and Rethberg, is promoted as a volunteer concert for the WPA, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia participating in the 28 November 1939 publicity for the events along with the artists invoved. (Audience of 4,000)
  

"Mr. Melchior, in splendid vocal form...was forced to repeat [the Spring Song]." (Musical America?)

New York Times: "Mr. Melchior...sang [the Forge Songs] with great gusto and beauty of tone" (G.G., p. 24)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior gave spirited interpretations of the [parts of the Forging Scene]....He complied with an eager demand for a repetition of [the Spring Song] and was called back several times by an audience which would undoubtedly liked to hear a third performance of this excerpt" (Perkins, p. 17)

• Met. Opera: Parsifal. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Gabor, Cordon, Flagstad.
  
  New York Times:  "Melchior has done himself greater justice vocally....he was able to arouse enthusiasm, despite this handicap, through his well-rounded conception of the part as an entity. For some unknown reason, he did not remain on stage during most of the first grail scene, but made for the wings from time to time" (Noel Straus, p. 25)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior's assumption of the title part did not find him materially better disposed than he was in last week's "Tannhaeuser" peformance....[due to] his clouded tones in the lower and middle registers and his tightly emitted tones above the staff" (Bohm, p. 21)

• Special Performance: Melchior participates in the Finnish war relief rally [on November 30, the Red Army invaded Finland] at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
  

• Recital, Miami, Florida. Melchior gives a joint recital with Lotte Lehmann.

"Lauritz Melchior has a voice that pleads, that storms, that commands, that reflects in its myriad tonal colors all the beauteous contrasts of heaven and earth." (Miami Herald)

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Flagstad, Thorborg.
  

New York Times: "Mr. Melchior was not in the best of voice, or perhaps, in the first and second acts, was reserving his powers for the terrific third." (Downes, p. 14)

New York Herald Tribune: "He continues to show the vocal deterioration which was noticed in his recent characterizations of Tannhaeuser and Parsifal....even [in Act III] his singing had only a portion of its usual impact. Veiled tones and a not consistent adherance to the pitch vitiated the effectiveness of his delivery of [his portion of Act II]...in "Wohin Tristan Nun Scheidet" [sic] he resorted largely to Schönbergian "Sprech-gesang" (Bohm, p. 12)

New York Sun: "Lauritz Melchior was not in his most dependable voice and his 'Tristan' was on the ragged edge through much of the second act. As customary with him, however, he met the terrific exactions of the hour-long scene of Tristan's death with skill and conviction" (Thompson, p. 7)

• Met. Opera in Philadelphia: Tristan und Isolde. See 21 Dec 1939.
  

• Concert: Finnish war benefit concert at Carnegie Hall; Melchior, Flagstad, Branzell, and Tibbett, with Eugene Goosens directing the NBC Symphony. Melchior sings songs by Henriques, Heise, and Rygaard accompanied by Ignace Strasfogel; everyone sings Pacius' "Suomi."

• Concert, Waldorf-Astoria: Bagby "Musical Morning;" with Melchior, Lehmann, etc.
  
• Met. Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Cordon, Schorr, Traubel, Flagstad, Thorborg. This is Melchior's first performance with Traubel at the Met.

  New York Times: "In the duet [both Melchior and Traubel] sang in a tentative and cautious manner. Unlike Mr. Melchior she was absolutely sure of her entrances." (Straus, p. 10)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior was, for the most part, in decidedly better voice than had been at his earlier appearances this season, although occasional low-lying phrases were inaudible and his utterance of "Schwester, geliebte" in falsetto was more than customarily tentative....More than once it seemed while Mr. Melchior was singing, both in the first and second acts, that a catastrophe was at hand: at odds were the conductor and tenor" (Bohm, p. 9)

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Flagstad, Thorborg. 

• Met. Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Warren, Flagstad, Pauly.
  

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior was in better voice than earlier in the season, singing with notable volume and clarity of tone except in some of the more intimate measures of the score, when the quality became less firm and well focused than in Lohengrin's laudably sung more proclamative lines. His impersonation as a whole was emotionally convincing, although Lohengrin occasionally addressed Elsa as if she were a public meeting [of the 19th Century]" (Perkins, p. 15)

• Met. Opera: Parsifal. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Kipnis [Met debut], Schorr, Olitzki, Cordon, Flagstad.
  

New York Herald Tribune: "Both Mme. Flagstad and Mr. Melchoir [sic] were in far better voice than at the previous "Parsifal" several weeks ago....The Danish tenor, while not happy in softer passages, made much of Parsifal's more dramatic utterances." (Bohm, p. 9)

• Recital:  'Townsend Musical Morning' in Washington DC. Melchior and Lehmann joint recital. Strasfogel is Melchior's accompanist. Melchior sings works by Merikanto, Henneberg, Heise, Jordan, Brahms, Hagemann, Hannikainen, and "Niun Mi Tema" from Otello. Together with Lehmann he sings Schumann duets and the duet from the first act of Walküre.
  
  Washington Post: "Lauritz Melchior, whose heroic voice had its usual sonority and vibrance, devoted his first group to four [Scandinavian] songs interesting for their novelty and fine workmanship....One was grateful to him for the opportunity of release from recital routine....another compliment goes to him for his deviance from convention in the choice of an operatic scene" (Ray C. B. Brown).

"Melchior is the greatest of the heroic tenors, but his art also includes all the subtler inflections." (Washington Times)

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. See 21 Dec 1939 for cast/conductor.
  

• Recital, Carnegie Hall. Melchior gives a joint recital with Lehmann.He sings songs by Heise, Henriques, Merikanto, Hageman, Richard Strauss, Hannikainen, Trunk, Henneberg and Jordan accompanied by Strasfogel, and with Lotte Lehmann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann, as well as the last scene of Walküre.
  
  NY Times: "Mr. Melchior alternated too often with a voluminous forte and half voice, but he could turn out a song with an artists touch. Soprano and tenor made an effective team....There was warmth of feeling and integrated musicianship in their joint efforts. Schumann's "Liebhaber's Standchen" evoked an outburst of laughter, which was the singers' aim, even if they dealt with the song somewhat operatically."  (Taubman, p. 15.) (reviewer possibly means "Unter'm Fenster"?)
  

• Met. Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Cordon, Warren, Rethberg, Branzell.
  

• Met. Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Lehmann, Lawrence, Stevens.
  

New York Sun: "[A] potent Siegmund" (Kolodin, p. 28)

• Concert: "Bagby concert" at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York: Lily Pons, Frieda Hempel, Richard Crooks, Giovanni Martinelli, Emanuel List, Gundry, Jan Smeterlin.

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Schorr, List, Olitzki, Lawrence, Branzell, Jessner.
  

New York Times: The Siegfried-Bruenhilde duet between Melchior and Lawrence lacked "sufficient passion" to hold up under Leinsdorf's "too speedy pace" (Straus, p. 19)

New York Sun: "[Leinsdorf conducted unusually quickly and] Siegfried's narrative in the third act moved a bit too fast for easy performance by Mr. Melchior (he dropped the end of one phrase altogether)....Mr. Melchior devoted uncommon care to his singing last night, with the result that an interpretation that is ordinarily excellent had several additional merits. His voice was clouded in the opening duet, but it gained in clarity thereafter, to particular effect in the colloquy with the Rhinemaidens and the long monologue thereafter." (Kolodin, p. 25)

• Met. Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Cordon, Warren, Rethberg, Thorborg  BROADCAST

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior sang expressively in a performance which, for most of its course, represented his best vocal estate." (Perkins, p. 25)

• Recital: Melchior gives a song recital for the educational department of the Lexington Ave. (Manhattan, New York) YWHA, 9PM. Strasfogel. Scandinavian songs, Schubert, Strauss, Bridge, Hagemann, La Forge, Bransen, "Amor ti Vieta" (Fedora) & Grail Narrative from Lohengrin.

• Met. Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Traubel, Lawrence, Thorborg.
  

• Met. Opera in Hartford, CT: Siegfried. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Laufkötter, Schorr, Olitzki, List, Bodanya, Branzell, Flagstad.
  

• Met. Opera: Walküre (unabridged Ring). Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Lawrence, Flagstad, Thorborg.
  
  New York Times: "Lauritz Melchior did some of his best singing-indeed a good deal of it-....He had so much breath at his command that, doubtless by intention, he delivered a Parthian shot at Mr. Leinsdorf in the conductor's chair....[At] "Waelse! Waelse! Mr. Melchior seemed to have Mr. Leinsdorf where he wanted him...he prolonged his tones inexorably, while the orchestra kept furiously vibrating the chord, and the world waited to see how much breath the tenor had at his disposal and whether his throat or the muscles of the violinists playing their tremolo would tire the sooner!" (Downes, p.21)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior has seldom of late been so well disposed" (Bohm, p. 12)

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Flagstad, Branzell.
  

• Concert, Town Hall, New York City, with the chorus of the Institute for Education of the Blind. Melchior sings songs by Hageman, Jordan, Henneberg, Hannekainen, Henriques, accompanied by Strasfogel, and Grieg, Lange-Müller, Schubert, and Hartmann with the chorus.

• Concert: Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland OH.

"This magnificent tenor is clear and bell like at the top and organ like [in] volume." (Cleveland News)

• Met. Opera: Siegfried (unabridged Ring). See 6 Feb 1940.
  

New York Herald Tribune:  "Mr. Melchior, usually but not invariably in his best voice, set forth the unfearing Siegfried, for the most part, with the interpretative vitality and elan which characterizes his impersonation of this protagonist." (Perkins, p. 17)

New York Times: "Mr. Melchior was in fine vocal estate. Perhaps his immensities are not for nothing in the early scenes with poor puny cringing Mime.  But with all that the opera demands of him he had ample tone and ample reserve power for the final scenes of the opera, which interpreted, were on a scale and in a manner which he had maintained throughout the performance....and...worthily companioned [Flagstad's performance as Bruennhilde]." (Downes, p. 30)

"The Siegfried of Lauritz Melchior and the Bruennhilde of Kirsten Flagstad remained two of the most memorable impersonations the Wagnerian stage of today can muster. The tenor was in particularly good voice and his tones had a clarion ring. The forge songs were vital in every phrase." (Sun(?), Thompson)

• Met. Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Thorborg, Traubel.
  

"Lauritz Melchior, though under vocal strain early in the performance, rose magnificently to the taxing narrative of Tannhaeuser in the final act." (Thompson, New York Sun, p. 27)

"Mr. Melchior's Tannhäuser was generally representative of his best voice; his expression of penitence in the second act was praiseworthy for its dramatic persuasiveness." (Perkins, New York Herald Tribune, p. 16)

"....Lauritz Melchior's magnificent delivery of Tannhaeuser's narrative. The tenors are few...who nearly do justice to its dramatic contents. It is a passage which can only be greatly interpretated, or it loses everything. When it is delivered as last night it constitutes an overwhelming revelation, always new, of the power of Wagner's genius." (Downes, New York Times, p. 25)

• Met. Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Huehn, Lawrence, Flagstad, Branzell. BROADCAST

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung (unabridged Ring). Leinsdorf. Melchior, Schorr, List, Olitzki, Flagstad, Thorborg, Jessner.
  

"heroically sung" (Thompson, New York Sun, p. 13)

"Mr. Melchior was in admirable voice throughout the afternoon, and was heard to particular advantage in Siegfried's narrative in the third act." (Bohm, New York Herald Tribune, p. 15)

• Concert: Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York

Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "In...much of what he sang on this program the ring of the truly heroic voice was the commanding part of the evening....On the concert stage he sings of love and the sadness of love....he sang well and sang expressively. Most impressive in the course of the evening was his ability to fashion the mood of the song, for it was apparent that he sang with a great amount of understanding and feeling....[But the audience seemed cold to him except in] "Heimliche Aufforderung"..."Cacilie" [sic]and "Do Not Go My Love"....[On this occasion, Melchior seemed] less the recitalist and more the heroic tenor." (Kastendieck)

• Met. Opera: Parsifal. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Janssen, Olitzki, Cordon, Flagstad.
  

• Concerts: Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, PA. Reiner, Pittsburgh SO. All-Wagner concerts with Melchior, List, Traubel in entire Act I of Walküre.
  

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, Kipnis, Flagstad, Thorborg.
  

"Mr. Melchior, whose voice was often, but not invariably, in its best estate, gave an expressive impersonation of Tristan." (Perkins, New York Herald Tribune)

"Lauritz Melchior had a generally sucessful evening as Tristan, with fewer signs of difficulty in the garden duet than have sometimes been noted." (Thompson, New York Sun, p. 26)

• Met. Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Traubel, Lawrence, Branzell
  

• Special Appearance: Brooklyn Academy of Music. Sponsored by "Joint Scandinavian Societies of New York" to raise money to fight against the Finland-invading Soviets. Parts are BROADCAST. Melchior sings "Die Allmacht" (Schubert) with the singers from the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind, and Scandinavian national anthems with Scandinavian choruses from New York and New Jersey. Branzell and Janssen each give mini-recitals.
  

• Met. Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, Cordon, Warren, Flagstad, Lawrence.
  

New York Sun: "Lauritz Melchior's singing in the title role was the surest and most vital he has given us this season. The last-act narrative was delivered with the ringing tone of the voice at something like its best." (Thompson, p. 8)

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Flagstad, Branzell.
  

New York Times: "[The work of both principals] were ardently acclaimed" (p. 18)

• Met. Opera: Siegfried. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Laufkötter, Schorr, Olitzki, List, Bodanya, Branzell, Lawrence.

New York Times: "In good vocal form" (Straus, p. 47)

• Met. Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Warren, Flagstad, Lawrence.

"A performance of uncommonly sustained excellence [on the part of both Melchior and Flagstad]" (New York Sun, p. 34)

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Schorr, Kipnis, Olitzki, Flagstad, Branzell, Jessner.
  

"Mr. Melchior was well-disposed." (Bohm, New York Herald Tribune, p. 25)

"There were ovations for the singers at the end of each act" (New York Times, p. 44)

• Met. Opera in Philadelphia: Parsifal. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Kipnis, Janssen, Olitzki, Cordon, Flagstad.
  

• Met Opera: Parsifal. See 22 Feb 1939
  

"The principals gave their usual good account of their roles" (Sun, p. 23)
"In [Act II] Mr. Melchior's interpretation of Parisfal's [sic] repentant outburst, beginning "Amfortas! Die Wunde" was laudable for its intensity and eloquence." (F.D. Perkins, New York Herald Tribune, p. 7)

• Met. Opera: Tristan und Isolde. See 21 Dec 1939. BROADCAST

"Mr. Melchior also sang eloquently, and the great duet in the second act marked one of the seasons' major achievements for its vocal quality and waxing emotional force as it approached its climax." (New York Herald Tribune, p. 30)

• Met. Opera in Rochester, NY: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Cordon, Schorr, Traubel, Lawrence, Thorborg.
  

• Met. Opera in Boston: Walküre BROADCAST. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Lehmann, Lawrence, Thorborg
  

• Met. Opera in Boston: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur [debut]. See 29 Feb 1940 for cast.
  

• Met. Opera in Boston: Lohengrin. Melchior, Huehn, List, Warren, Flagstad, Branzell.
  

Boston Herald: "Mme. Flagstad and Mr. Melchior pursued a normal course, and achieved their usual success. At times, as in the bridal scene, they reached impressive heights. Both were in good voice, and their interpretations were obviously authoritative. Neither, however, appeared to be quite in the mood." (R.F.E., Jr., p. 18)

• Met. Opera in Boston: Götterdämmerung. See 16 March except: List is Hagen.
  

• Met. Opera in Cleveland, Ohio: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, Kipnis, Thorborg, Flagstad. 

• Met. Opera in Cleveland, Ohio: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Gabor, Flagstad, Thorborg. 

• Met. Opera in Dallas, Texas: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Cordon, Huehn, Lehmann, Lawrence, Thorborg.
  
"...pealing upper register...heroic texture...profound musicianship....[But] the dead hand of Bayreuth tradition weighs heavily on some of Melchior's art. Siegmund's leopard skin...ill becomes the gemuethlich Melchior figure. The ecstatic spread-eagles, the stone bench cuddle...are saved from absurdity only by the reservoir of Melchior dignity[note: reviewer dislikes Wagner]....A tenor [that] can cry the fourteen-bar ["clocked at fourteen seconds"] "Waelse" with incomparable clarity and firmness, suffuse his narrative with heart-wrending pathos and elevate the scene of the Todverkuending to the plane of epic tragedy....He is a vocal artist of unusual sensitivity, understanding and a mastery of expressive means...the most meaningful Wagnerian proclamation to be heard today. Nor have his years...destroyed a sense of cantilena." (Rosenfield, Dallas Morning News, Sec 1 p. 12)

• Met. Opera in New Orleans, Louisiana: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Cordon, Thorborg, Lehmann.
  

• Met. Opera in Atlanta, Georgia: Tannhäuser. See 19 April 1940 for cast/conductor. Melchior's last performance of the 1939-40 Met season.

• Recital: Mitchell Hall, Central State College, Edmond, Oklahoma. Strasfogel is accompanist.

The Oklahoman: "Pealing upper tones for which Lauritz Melchior, Metropolitan opera tenor, is famous were heard in all their grandeur....The big, brusk master of Wagnerian roles combined a sparkling personality with a rare gift for projecting the mood of a song, to impress his listeners as a master, too, of concert singing. He sang with such expressiveness that the audience all but cheered him...He did eight encores...The tenor's greatest moments, without doubt [were the Wagner excerpts]...a grouping of Schubert and Richard Strauss [was] by turn dramatic, intense, amiable and sparkling....Hageman's "Do Not Go My Love" [was] a good example of Melchior's versatility in contrasting tender pianissimos with dramatic passages." (Clyde Neibarger, p. 9)

• Recital: Tyler, Texas. Strasfogel is accompanist.

• Concert: Newark, New Jersey. Essex County Symphony. Alexander Smallens.
  

• The Melchiors are in Los Angeles in anticipation of Melchior's Hollywood Bowl debut. They reside at the "Garden of Allah."
• On July 9, Melchior attends the Iturbi-Crooks Hollywood Bowl concert.
• On July 16, Melchior attends a breakfast at the Hollywood Bowl sponsored by the Los Angeles District Federation of Women's Clubs (who support Bowl performances)
  
• On July 18, Melchior gives a Wagner concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. His conductor is Richard Lert.

Los Angeles Times: "...Noble singing....The expansive, sincere personality of this man shines through his singing and magnetizes the audience. This attraction is more in evidence in concert than in opera." (I.M. Jones, p. 17).

• Concerts: Hawaii

• Concert: Melchior is the soloist at a performance of the San Francisco Symphony at the California Coliseum on Treasure Island, San Francisco. Bruno Walter conducts.

San Francisco Chronicle: "[Melchior] was in glorious form, and his tremendous tenor and masterful artistry made the most of a rich, generous offering of Wagnerian arias....The "forge song"...is his property to a unique degree...he has never done anything better hereabouts than the excerpts [he sang tonight] from "Meistersinger" and "Lohengrin"....Melchior in his stride makes all the other Wagner tenors look like mincing children. One trusts that both Walter and Melchior will be back, and soon" (Frankenstein, p. 13).

• Concert: Vancouver, B.C.

• Chicago Civic Opera: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur. Melchior, Czaplicki, Beattie, Flagstad, Szantho.
  

Chicago Daily Tribune: "Melchior sang in the heroic manner proper to the part. His voice, too, compassed without apparent effort the big epic phrases in which the music drama is so rich. He, like Mme. Flagstad, has an additional talent which is a valuable one for Wagnerian singers-the ability to stand stock still for long periods and yet continue to convey an impression of tenseness and drama." (Barry, p. 13).

• Recital, McFarlin Auditorium, Dallas, Texas. Joint recital with Lehmann. Ulanowsky is accompanist.

"Not in many years has their been such satisfactory singing in a Dallas concert hall as Lotte Lehmann, the soprano, and Lauritz Melchior, the heldentenor with self-control....[The selection of songs] represented as much good taste as the singing of them....The huge 2,500 Civic Music audience has seldom been so universally happy....Neither [singer] is in youthful vocal estate and Melchior...sang over a heavy cold that befogged his lower register. But so admirable were their respective vocal schools and so expressive their interpretative gifts that the audience minded nothing and enjoyed everything. Madame Lehmann and Mr. Melchior made contagious their own enthusiasm for the songs. Unter'm Fenster...was replete with coy spirit and arch burlesque. A repetition was demanded, after which Madame Lehmann planted the one kiss promised by the song on Mr. Melchior's ruddy cheek....Equally commendable was the stage lighting...Melchior himself worked it out on the McFarlin switchboard." (Dallas Morning News, John Rosenfield.)

• Recital, Charleston, WV. Joint recital with Lehmann.

• Concert: Philadelphia
  

• Recording sessions, RCA Victor, Philadelphia Academy of Music: Wagner excerpts, including scenes from Lohengrin and Parsifal with Flagstad, all conducted by Edwin McArthur.

• Concert: Montreal

• Met Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Huehn, Traubel, Flagstad, Branzell. First Met performance of 1940-41 season. Sachse is the stage director of all productions.
  
  New York Times: "Mr. Melchior produced tones of a fine brilliance and heroic impact, and some that were like blotting paper." (Downes, p. 32)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior was at home from a histrionic point of view in the role of Siegmund, and, except for a few throaty middle notes and declamatory moments, began his local opera season well vocally; his upper tones rang forth clearly and strongly." (Perkins, p. 24)

New York Sun: "Lauritz Melchior is increasingly less agile as Siegmund, and he has sung the music with more fervor and vocal richness than he possessed last night" (Kolodin, p. 33)

The performance was given unabridged

• RADIO: Lauritz Melchior is interviewed over WQXR 5:15- 5:30.

• Concert:'Bagby Concert' at the Waldorf in New York, with Helen Traubel. They are accompanied by Strasfogel.

• Met Opera in Philadelphia: Walküre. See 4 Dec 1940.
  

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Flagstad, Branzell
  

New York Times: "Mr. Melchior was in better voice than usual. Between [he and Flagstad] in the great duet there was genuine ensemble, as the ecstatic song soared upward, and was interrupted at its climax."  (Downes, p. 28)

• Chicago Civic Opera: Walküre. McArthur. Melchior, List, Destal, Hussa, Flagstad, Sharnova
  

• Met Opera: Walküre. See 4 Dec 1940.
  

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Flagstad, Branzell

New York Sun: "The classic Tristan of Metropolitan history....This performance was sturdily sung, with consistent vocal mastery." (Kolodin, p. 23)

1. Special Appearance: Melchior serves a charity dinner at the Brace Memorial Newsboys Home on William Street in Manhattan.

2.Melchior is also the guest of honor at a Christmas dinner dance of the American Scandinavian Foundation and Red Cross.

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Flagstad, Thorborg

• Met Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Flagstad, Lawrence, Thorborg
  

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior contributed some of his best as well as some of his huskiest singing." (Bohm, p. 13)

New York Times: "gave of [his] best" (p. 13)

New York Sun: "Melchior's Siegmund was exciting above its ordinary sound level" (Kolodin, p. 19)

• Met Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Thorborg, Flagstad. BROADCAST
  
  New York Times: "[Melchior's voice was in] splendid condition. Mr. Melchior usually customarily struggles manfully, but rather futilely, with [the first act]. On this occasion...he had his tones under superior control, and succeeded in making...['Dir Tone Lob!'] well forth in free and well-rounded sound...the great duet [with Venus] boasted a really memorable interpretation."  (Straus, p. 46)

• Met Opera: Siegfried. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Laufkoetter, Schorr, Olitkzi, List, Steber, Branzell, Lawrence.
  

New York Times: "Lauritz Melchior...sang with stirring amplitude of tone and with an excellent grasp of the Wagnerian style....[but] seemed a ponderous and awkward young hero at times." (Taubman, p. 12)

New York Sun: "Ignoring Lauritz Melchior's ponderous friskiness, he was an exceedingly fine Siegfried....The forest scene was magnificently sung, and the love duet was remarkable for vocal virtuosity" (Kolodin, p. 32)

• Met Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Zebranska [debut], Lehmann.
  
  New York Times: "[Melchior was] a Tannhäuser on a heroic scale" (Taubman, p. 18)

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior was not in such splendid vocal condition as in the earlier "Tannhaeuser" of two weeks ago, but much of his work carried conviction." (Bohm, p. 3)

• Met Opera: Siegfried. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Laufkoetter, Schorr, Olitkzi, List, Steber, Thorborg, Flagstad.

New York Herald Tribune: "Mr. Melchior was in excellent form throughout the evening, singing the Forging Song with gleaming tones and giving an especially fine account of his portion of the final love duet." (Bohm, p. 15)

New York Sun: "Melchior was at his best in this [final] scene, his ringing tones all but effacing the memory of a contretemps in the first act where...for several phrases he was unable to sing his words" (p. 12)

• Met Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Branzell, Traubel.
  

• Concert at Town Hall in New York City, for the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind.

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, Kipnis, Olitzki, Flagstad, Thorborg, Jessner.
  

New York Sun: "Lauritz Melchior did much stirring singing as Siegfried...[however Act III's] high C stuck in his throat" (Thompson)

NY Herald Tribune "Mr. Melchior...was exceptionally well disposed, and his work was marred only by a high C which missed its mark in the last act. His tenor voice rang out exultantly and compellingly otherwise, and his acting, although it had its awkward moments, was often convincing." (Bohm, p. 13)

New York World-Telegram: "In the scene of Siegfried's death he came a vocal cropper, recovering nobly, however. Of the possibilities of make-up he showed as little understanding as ever." (Sanborn)

New York Times: "[Melchior provided the essential] amplest powers [and]...the capacity to give Siegfried's narrative the beauty and pathos which crown the role." (Downes, p. 18)

• Met. Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Cordon (Act I)/List (Act II & III), Warren, Flagstad, Lawrence.
  
  New York Times: "Mr. Melchior, garbed in attractive new costumes,was in good vocal fettle...[In the opening act, Melchior's] tones sounded rather constricted [but] his work was consistently sympathetic and eloquent." (p. 21, Noel Straus)
New York Herald Tribune: "Only Lauritz Melchior in the title role remained identified at all times with the action and Wagner's musical imagery.  Wearing new costumes, handsome in the simplicity of their design (except for an overelaborate helmet and scabbard), he brought an even greater tenderness and wealth of understanding to the part than he had in previous performances. Some of his topmost tones were tight; occasional lapses in rhythm were to be noted; but he sang most often with a commanding splendor of tone and characterization." (Rbt. Lawrence, p. 8)
Sun: "In splendid vocal shape" (Kolodin, p. 28)

• Met Opera in Philadelphia: Tristan und Isolde. See 27 Dec 1940.
  

• Met Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Thorborg, Flagstad
  

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Flagstad, Thorborg BROADCAST

• Concert, "Townsend Concert" Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C. Melchior and Lotte Lehmann perform. Melchior sings songs by Grieg, Koerling, Sibelius, Henriques, Bransen, Rogers, and an aria from Parsifal accompanied by Strasfogel; with Lehmann, Melchior sings duets by Bohm, Schumann, and Johann Strauss, as well as the final scenes from Act I Walküre.

Washington Post: "As usual, he put upon his heroic tenor the strain of the heroic manner, sometimes to the detriment of its tonal quality, though there were moments of relaxation when its lyric eloquence emerged" (Ray C.B. Brown).

• Met Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Schorr, Lawrence, Flagstad, Thorborg.
  

New York Times: "at his best" (Taubman, p. 25)
New York Herald Tribune: "His acting yesterday was overdrawn and his rhythms were more rhapsodic than accurate. Nevertheless he won the complete approval of the audience, which called him repeatedly before the curtain."  (Lawrence, p. 13)
New York Sun: "As Siegmund, Lauritz Melchior was quite generally in his most compelling vocal form, once he had escaped the huskiness of his first phrases....[but why did] Siegmund and Sieglinde stretch pleading hands to each other at almost the moment of their first meeting as if already overwhelmingly in love?" (Thompson, p. 8)

• Recital, Rutgers University, New Jersey. Melchior and Lehmann joint recital.
  

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur. See 27 Dec 1940 for cast.
  

New York Times: "No tenor in the world today can equal him in the final act.  No one realizes as he the intense pathos of this scene, which, fully interpreted, is unparalleled in opera...last night it was a consummate achievement."  (Downes, p.41)

New York Herald Tribune: "as always, at his best as the delirious Tristan of the final act" (Bohm, p. 15)

New York Sun: "[in Act I] the orchestra got ahead of [Melchior] at the phrase "zu Koening Marke's Land"....[and both principals had] disaffecting departures from the pitch in the love duet" (Thompson, p. 24)

• Met Opera: Siegfried. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Laufkoetter, Schorr, Olitzki, List, Bodanya, Branzell, Flagstad.
  

New York Times: "Both [principal] artists were in splendid voice and their contributions were quite up to their highest standards of excellence in the respective roles." (Straus, p. 17)

New York Sun: "Lauritz Melchior's Siegfried was also [like Flagstad's Bruennhilde] of excellent quality [but both engaged in] exaggerated miming [during their final scene]" (Kolodin, p. 9)

• Concert: Carnegie Hall. Toscanini, NBC SO. All-Wagner program with Melchior and Helen Traubel

New York Times: "Mr. Melchior sang with a wealth and brilliancy of tone that indicated his exceptional condition and spirits, the authority his experience as a Wagner singer [has] bestowed him, and a sincerity which reflected the earnestness of the leader. " (Downes, p.39)

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung. See 29 Jan 1941.
  

New York Times: "Lauritz Melchior gave authority to Siegfried." (Taubman, p. 24)

New York Sun: "particularly robust" (Kolodin, p. 21)

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde. See 12 Dec 1940.
  

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Olitzki, Lawrence, Thorborg, Jessner.

New York Sun: "a characterization that will be remembered for years to come" (p. 28)

• Met Opera: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Cordon, Warren, Jessner, Thorborg. 

• Met. Opera: Götterdämmerung. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, List, Olitzki, Lawrence, Branzell, Jessner.

• Met Opera in Boston: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, List, Thorborg, Lehmann.

• Recital: McMillan Academic Theatre, Columbia University, New York. 8:30

• Met Opera in Boston: Tristan und Isolde. See 8 Feb 1941.
  

• Met Opera in Boston: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Cordon, Warren, Flagstad, Thorborg
  

• 1. Met. Opera: Parsifal Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Janssen, Olitzki, Moscona, Flagstad.
  

New York Times: "Lauritz Melchior was at his best. His voice had a fresh, ringing quality in the second act, and he companioned Miss Flagstad in the great duet as one fine artist should another. In the last act his characterization took on depth and compassion....It was a moving and searching performance." (Taubman, p. 28)

• 2. Melchior attends the Met Guild's party held at Sherry's Restaurant (300 Park Avenue, Manhattan).

• Met. Opera: Parsifal. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Kipnis, Janssen, Olitzki, Moscona, Flagstad.

• Met Opera: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur. Melchior, Huehn, List, Darcy, Flagstad, Thorborg.
  

New York Sun: "in ringing good voice"

• Met Opera in Cleveland, Ohio: Tristan und Isolde. McArthur. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Flagstad, Thorborg.
  

• Met Opera in Cleveland, Ohio: Walküre. Leinsdorf. Melchior, List, Huehn, Bampton, Flagstad, Thorborg. Melchior's last performance with Kirsten Flagstad.

• Met. Opera in Atlanta, Georgia: Lohengrin. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Janssen, Cordon, Warren, Rethberg, Thorborg. Melchior's last performance of the 1940-41 season.

• Recording session, RCA Victor: Scandinavian song. Strasfogel is accompanist.

• RADIO: Eddie Cantor show, 8PM.

• San Francisco Opera [Portland, OR]: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Alvary, Branzell, Roman
  

• San Francisco Opera [Seattle, WA]: Tannhäuser. See 3 Oct 1941.
  

• Concert: Harlingen, Texas

• RADIO: Kraft Music Hall (hosted by Don Ameche) w/ Joan Bennett.

• San Francisco Opera, Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Branzell, Roman.
  

• San Francisco Opera [Shrine Auditorium, LA]: Tannhäuser. See 24 Oct 1941.
  

Los Angeles Times: "a true delineation of an over-emotional character. He did his finest singing in the third act, the voice rich in color and musical phrases balanced." (Shibley Boyes, p. 13).

• Recital, Oakland, California: joint recital with Lehmann.  Paul Ulanowsky accompanies both singers.

• Recital, Constitution Hall, Washington DC: joint recital with Lehmann. Melchior's accompanist is Strasfogel; he performs songs by Børresen, Henneberg, Jordan, Alnæs, Grieg, Schubert, Lange-Müller, Craxton, Bransen, and Rogers. With Lehmann, he sings Schumann duets, "Still wie die Nacht" by Bohm, and the end of the first act of Walküre.

Washington Post: "[The duet from Walküre] was sung with a vibrant fervency that aroused the auditors...to an ovational outburst of applause...[Melchior and Lehmann's] reading was dramatically phrased and emotionally cogent.  They had previously been recalled with insistence for their excellent delivery of [the Schumann duets]. [Schumann's "Unter'm Fenster"], thanks to Mr. Melchior's irresistible humor, had to be repeated....Melchior's [solo numbers] were projected with the vigor of voice and authority of statement which make us call a tenor heroic" (Ray C. B. Brown).

• Chicago Civic Opera: Lohengrin. Emil Cooper. Melchior,  Ballarini, Beattie, Bampton, Sharnova, Kozskevich.
  
  Chicago Daily Tribune. "The Melchior voice was in unusually good shape. It rang out with trumpetlike power or ingratiating tenderness, whichever was required." (Barry, p. 20).

Chicago Daily Tribune (Dec. 14): "The most impressive Lohengrin he has sung here" (Smith, p. F3).

• Met Opera in Philadelphia: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Branzell, Traubel. Melchior's 1941-1942 season debut.  Leinsdorf conducts all of Melchior's performances. Except for the performances of Lohengrin, directed by Lothar Wallerstein, Désiré Defrère is the (new) stage director.
  

• RADIO: Eddie Cantor show.

• Met Opera: Tannhäuser. Leinsdorf. Melchior, Huehn, Kipnis, Thorborg, Traubel.

New York Times: "Mr. Melchior [was] in good voice, and [brought] his contribution to a climax with the moving narrative in the last act." (Downes, p. 28)

New York Sun: "Mr. Melchior was in vigorous voice, if many of his tones were hard-driven and metallic" (p. 28)

• RADIO: US Treasury Program over WOR, 9:30-10:00; Alfred Wallenstein, Deems Taylor; Melchior sings Scandinavian songs, including those by Børresen, Sjöberg and Rygaard.

• Met Opera: Walküre. Leinsdorf, Melchior, List, Schorr, Varnay [debut], Traubel [role debut], Thorborg. BROADCAST

New York Sun: "a resonant Siegmund" (Thompson, p. 27)