Gedda made his debut at the
Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm as part of the vocal quartet in the premiere of
Der rote Stiefel by
Sutermeister in November 1951. In April 1952, at the age of 26, Gedda made his triumphant debut in a principal role in Stockholm, performing Chapelou in Adolphe Adam's
Le postillon de Lonjumeau, alongside
Hjördis Schymberg. The 'Ronde du Postillon' in the opera, ("
Mes amis, écoutez l'histoire"), is considered one of the most difficult tenor arias in all of opera, as it calls for a demanding high D from the soloist. An early appraisal of Gedda's singing was offered by
Walter Legge, after first hearing him sing for the role of
Dmitry in a planned recording of Musorgsky's
Boris Godunov. On my arrival at the airport I was asked by a swarm of journalists if I were not interested in hearing their excellent young Swedish voices. Naturally I was interested, but I did not expect either the front page stories that appeared next morning or the mass of letters and almost incessant telephone calls asking to be heard. I had to ask the Director of the Opera for a room for a couple of days to hear about 100 young aspirants. The first to sing to me (at 9.30 in the morning) was Gedda who had, I believe, sung only once in public. He sang the
Carmen Flower Song so tenderly yet passionately that I was moved almost to tears. He delivered the difficult rising scale ending with a clear and brilliant B flat. Almost apologetically I asked him to try to sing it as written –
pianissimo, rallentando and
diminuendo. Without turning a hair he achieved the near-miracle, incredibly beautifully and without effort. I asked him to come back at 8 that evening and sent word to my wife that a great singer had fallen into my lap and to
Dobrowen that, believe it or not, this 23-year-old Gedda was the heaven-sent Dmitry for our Boris. As a result of the audition with Legge, Gedda was contracted for three
His Master's Voice recordings –
Boris Godunov, Lehár's
Die Lustige Witwe and
Das Land des Lächelns – as well as Bach's
Mass in B minor and a Swedish song recital accompanied by Bendix. He was based in France at this time, and began an association with the
Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1954, starting with Belmonte in Mozart's
Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Vincent in Gounod's
Mireille, then Orphée in Gluck's
Orphée et Eurydice, Thespis and Mercure in Rameau's
Platée, and Ferrando in Mozart's
Così fan tutte; several productions being recorded.
Diapason magazine described him as the greatest French tenor of his generation, both for his essential casting in
Faust and Offenbach's
The Tales of Hoffmann, but also for his role in the re-emergence of interest in French grand opera, which owed much to his ability to match the requirements of roles such as Arnold in Rossini's
Guillaume Tell, the
Cellini and
Enée of Berlioz, as well as the title role of Meyerbeer's
Le prophète. In 1966, prior to assuming the role at
Covent Garden, Gedda said that Cellini was one of his favourite parts; when he prepared the role for the
Holland Festival production in 1961 he became totally absorbed in
the historical figure of the 16th-century Italian goldsmith and sculptor. After his U.S debut as Faust in Pittsburgh in 1957, Gedda made his
Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of
Faust the same year, Gedda's only foray in Wagner was the title role in
Lohengrin in Stockholm in January 1966, where one critic wrote that his "command of intonation and rhythm contributed to an overwhelmingly beautiful impression right from his unaccompanied appearance in the first act". He was supposed to sing Lohengrin at the
Bayreuth Festival in 1967, but his engagement for an American television film of
Faust in the summer of that year prevented it. A singer of unusual longevity, Gedda was active well into his late 70s; in May 2001 he recorded the role of the Emperor Altoum in Puccini's
Turandot and the role of the High Priest in Mozart's
Idomeneo in June 2003. ==Concert==