Even though the German tenor is happy about his recent return to normal stage performances, he enjoyed the lockdown phase as a welcome time-out from his high-pressure profession, he recently told dpa.

In July, Kaufmann opened the New York Metropolitan Opera’s live-streaming programme with a concert behind the closed doors of Polling Abbey in southern Germany.

“It leaves a very stale aftertaste when you sing into an empty room without generating any reaction, without getting anything back,” he said.

Online reactions are not the same as applause, he added.

Streamed concerts were a welcome way to connect with audiences, Kaufmann said. “But now it’s enough.”

The 51-year-old singer, who is known for his light yet burnished voice, had been playing with the idea of a sabbatical before the pandemic.

“I think the coronavirus made it possible,” he said.

Kaufmann used the break not only to spend time with his family in Germany’s southern Bavaria region, but also to record a collection of romantic songs at his home, titled “Selige Stunde” (Blissful Hour).

Following the domestic retreat, Kaufmann said he still had years on the stage ahead of him.

“But I don’t feel that I want to continue like this until I’m in my mid-70s,” he said.

“One becomes more serene, less of a firebrand, one no longer tries to set new records,” Kaufmann mused about his maturing career. “One tries to live more.”