After spending a considerable time watching and listening to operas on YouTube I could now easily wallpaper my bedroom with all the Klaus Florian Vogt-hate comments I found. Ranging from “this Walther is gay. Terrible tenor” (which is also homophobic by using gay as an insult) to “they hired that guy to fool the audiences, they can’t be serious” (at least that’s how I remember the comment) to “and this guy tries to sing Wagner. Such a feeble voice” (and he wasn’t even singing Wagner, it was Rusalka) to mentioning him under videos of other, mostly dead, tenors singing Wagner, like “are you listening [,] KFV?” or my personal favourite: “Lovely rich voice. Peep-mouse Vogt could learn a lot from him!”
That shit is disgusting. A lot of singers get hate on YouTube, are you even a living opera singer if there aren’t some elitist opera “fans” hating on you because you aren’t their fave? But no one gets hounded as badly as Vogt, as far as I noticed. Yes, his voice is light, there’s no point in discussing that. But you can notice that, realise you don’t like it and leave. You don’t need to bully him. Or what’s even better then leaving and going back to listening to your one favourite tenor over and over is maybe opening your mind for a new interpretation of the character. For example, Klaus Florian Vogt’s Lohengrin is maybe not only the strong hero, he’s also a young man who isn’t quite ready to fight for a woman and marry her, or maybe is ready but gets overwhelmed by the new world he finds in Brabant. If you still don’t like it, fine, you’re entitled to your opinion. Yet give other interpretations a chance and if you feel the need to criticise then do so politely and without being outright insulting. Also if Klaus Florian Vogt doesn’t even sing in the video you’re watching then don’t comment about him? That’s honestly the most unlogical thing you can do. You can say the tenor in the video is great, please do this when you like whoever is singing, but give everyone including yourself some peace by keeping other singers - no matter wether they’re better or worse in your opinion - out of it. Of course other singers can be mentioned but only if you’re already debating. Don’t use “x is so much better than this” or “are you listening kfv” as your conversation starter.
I also have the feeling some people actively look for Klaus Florian Vogt videos only to hate on him. About this... I don’t even know what to say except that if you honestly think that’s okay you might consider to take some time off the internet and go looking for your common sense and morals.
I’m open for debate but I’m not open for listening to you insulting a singer, a production, an interpretation or anything or anyone else involved in the opera. If you haven’t something nice to say or aren’t able to say whatever it is you want to say politely then just don’t say anything all.
