This has been a bad month for Wagnerians.

It was New Zealand bass-baritone Donald McIntyre’s original ambition to become a professional rugby player. Instead, he became one of the leading Wagner singers of his generation. For over two decades, he ruled the waves as the Flying Dutchman. He also sang Wotan, the king of the gods, in Patrice Chéreau’s landmark production of the “Ring,” conducted by Pierre Boulez, for the Bayreuth centennial in 1976. McIntrye died in Germany on November 13 at the age of 91.

Two days earlier, we lost Oklahoma-born, Texas-raised heldentenor Gary Lakes. In common with McIntyre, Lakes’ early ambition had been to pursue a sport (in his case, American football). He was a defensive tackle in high school, but his life’s course changed after he cracked a vertebra.

Lakes sang Siegmund opposite Jessye Norman’s Sieglinde in the Otto Schenk production of “Die Walküre,” conducted by James Levine at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. This was widely-seen on PBS in June 1990. (The Chéreau-McIntrye “Ring” had been broadcast on PBS in 1983.) Among Lakes’ other Wagnerian roles were Siegfried, Tristan, and Parsifal. He died in Pittsburgh on November 11 at the age of 75.

In this noteworthy photo, taken for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 100th season, your eyes will travel right to Lakes. He dominates the assemblage of top-flight conductors and performers who gathered for the orchestra’s gala opening concert on October 6, 1990.

In the front row, we’ve got, left to right, Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich, Susanne Mentzer, and Murray Perahia; in the middle, Music Director Designate Daniel Barenboim, Lady Valerie Solti, Music Director Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Slatkin, and Yo-Yo Ma; and in the back, to the left of hulking Gary Lakes, Associate Conductor Kenneth Jean, András Schiff, and Lorin Maazel; and to his right Sylvia McNair and Samuel Ramey.

It says something that even among these giants, Lakes, at 6’ 4”, towers.

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