Salvatore Baccaloni sings "Udite, o rustici" from L'Elisir d'amore.

[sartrific]

Look at and listen to Terfel in Elvis/Dulcamare! Unsurppassed! In both acting and singing!

[EdmundStAustell]

@Firuzens I don't think I have a Pasquale with him in it, but I will take a look around. I DO have the aria "O wie will ich triumphieren, from Mozart's Abduction From The Seraglio, which is already posted. I'll have a look for the Pasquale.

[EdmundStAustell]

@Firuzens Thank you very much for an excellent comment. You nailed it! You describe his success exactly.

[sospello]

I have read he was quite a character and enjoy his recordings very much. Since he was apparently was, as you say, a great comic presence onstage, I only wish there were filmed examples of him in action in this excerpt. One of my favorite filmed footages of the "Udite" is the b/w one with Taddei and I think Baccaloni would be a treat to see performing Dulcamara.

[EdmundStAustell]

He was apparently wonderfu, from what I hear. Some other singers didn't like him too much, because he was notorious for stealing scenes:) I see him as kind of a Jackie Gleason type.

[racheleleeba]

I enjoyed this introduction to Baccaloni. Your sidebar comments are very entertaining, too.

[EdmundStAustell]

Thank you. Baccaloni was a lot of fun. Just his presence on stage would light things up. We all adhere most naturally to the Olympian heights of tragedy in opera, I suppose, but a laugh once in a while is good for the soul, not to mention one's sense of perspective:)

[EdmundStAustell]

He was a lot of fun, and a much needed comic presence--right straight out of the Commedia dell'arte tradition, which lies at the heart of a huge number of Italian operas.

[Bivolari]

A beloved singer and wonderful comedian. I have him in a L'Elisir air check from the Met with Sayao and Tagliavini. He leaps out of the speakers. So immediate, so wonderfully funny and so very human.