Ferdinand Morelli

Ferdinand Morelli was an Italian baritone at the Paris Opéra, engaged as Wolfram for the 1861 Tannhäuser after Wagner was struck by his voice there. He had been drilled to sing the song to the evening star from a rocky ledge rather than from the footlights, against the custom of the house, and thought it a mistake. The first-night audience jeered him for picking up his harp, whereupon he abandoned the staging, walked down to the proscenium and sang it from there. The house heard him out in silence and applauded him at the end.