Walter Berry - Fidelio - Ha! welch ein Augenblick

[MrRambaldo86]

He's perfect!!!!!

[ThePartyzerfikkker]

press 4-5-4-5-4-5... for monkeyheadbang :D

[alper5300]

my favorite song FUN xDDDDDDDDD

[Nibelungenherr1876]

Greatest villain aria ever! Pizarro takes shit from no one!

Favorite part: "Nun ist es mir geworden,Den Mörder selbst zu morden!"

[Twjdfa]

magnifico y terrorifica interpretación sobresalta el corazón sin duda el papel para este hombre lleno de colera,ambición beethoven es insuperable

[cannante]

now i know what mignon was talking about. she always said he was a definitive singer. thrilling stuff.

[EMPERORMIKI]

So much Mozart in this ... Beethoven you genius ... you are human.

[j72050]

..the most brutal, murderous melancholy dire pronouncements often sound so wonderful, when genius composers set  them to music....

[Yitzhakhazak]

A good dark voice fitting the evil spirit of the part!

[ironfuscia]

george clooney clone??? he might look like clooney's fat uncle bob, maybe...

[citibank82]

welch ein Augenblick mit Berry, wahrlich böse überzeugend...

[philippesly]

Too bad he's lip synching. It would be nice actually see him sing it

[cannante]

@philippesly i thought that too at first: "zu sein" low c?

if you look carefully, he is closing himself off on the n. its a low note, and a challenge regardless.... but it seems like it is not him singing....

the chest rising is a fascinating view into breathing technique.

pax et bonum

[cannante]

@philippesly then again, unless he just STOPPED singing on 'schrein' on the high d then he was lip synched.

i am once again ambivalent

[dynamicstuff73]

soooooo hoooot!!!!

[babsalaba]

Dear God, that gave me chills. When he first says, "Den Mörder selbst zu morden" his face lit up with demonic glee. Purely awesome.

Don Pizarro is such a great dramatic role. Walter Berry nailed it and without going over the edge.

[xerokine]

i wish i understood german, I want to know what this song is about

[terzinanrs]

He's singing about seizing his moment - unfortunately in this case, the moment to kill Florestan, a political prisoner. I reckon Walter will do it too - that was seriously scary!

[CONTESTAR]

Don Pizarro, governor of the prison where Florestan is held (an unjustly imprisoned defender of democracy) decides that the time has come to murder his prisoner in cold blood.

"Ha welch'ein Augenblick!" "Ah, what a moment!!" Rejoicing at the thought of the moment he will plunge his dagger in the heart of his rival. Pretty brutal... But it sounds wonderful when it is sung! lol

[ErktheEngineer]

Man, he really nailed it. My little boy got scared watching this lol.

[haruwan21]

lol. i was shaking in my boots too!

[jaya1887]

besonders prima finde ich ja die syllabische deklination

[einbenutzer]

awesome !!!!!

[Kriky98]

An amazing performance! Berry's performance, vocally and acting, is fantastic. And I love the male choir at the end. If we just had more people nowadays who dared to sing like this!

[cannante]

@Kriky98 i sing like that.... and i dont change the words in the aria :)

[MarschNZ]

@cannante I like your comments. I was also impressed how he could make such a big sound come out with his mouth shut. I'll bet you can't do that! :)

[cannante]

@MarschNZ

his mouth is quite closed at times, but think of a noisemaker for stadiums, tiny opening big sound.... still ambivalent as to the sound's veracity....but it is definitely him.

[MarschNZ]

@cannante OK. Thanks. O course it is him. :)

[piasecznik]

@cannante Uh. Yeah, it's him, but he's lipsynching. They all do in such movies. Not a Berry-specific things, every opera movie is lipsynched. Just back then opera singers had no training in it, so it sometimes looks pretty ridiculous.

[VorozhkoAndrew]

My free online music library is the place to find this aria sheet music in pdf-format. See link in my youtube profile.

[Timrath]

Best Don Pizarro ever!

[finylvinyl66]

I remember as a kid new to opera thinking of Walter Berry as a genial singer of roles like Leporello and Papageno.

Then I heard his Pizarro on Klemperer's recording of Fidelio and was blown away!

[pinstripe173]

Please believe me! It is Walter Berry! It's a TV Production with the Vocals and Music from a live Recording. His nose is different, since he had special make-up on it. I know this, since I am his son. Best, Berry Junior

[energyglobal]

Pinstripe173 :

Your father was one of the greatest true baritone voices of his time, not only at Staatsoper Vienna ! He is truly missed by all of us. I still remember the sad day when I walked by the House on the Ring and saw the black flag going up on Staatsoper a couple of years ago.

You can be very, very proud of your father !

This clip of singing Pizarro is prove that he was a great one.

Best wishes from Canada !

[1donpizarro]

I recognize very well your father's voice. Your father was since many years (30, I think) a favorite bass-baritone of mine, both in Mozart, Wagner, Beethoven, Schubert and Strauss (I mean both Johann II and Richard). Could you please answer me: I saw pictures of his 1974 Pizarro in the Scala, Milan (with Rysanek as Leonore) and I was really blown away. Do you know if a sound or video recording has been made from this production?

Many thanks!!

[frcluc]

@1donpizarro I Have the EMI Classics digital recording of Fidelio conducted by Otto Klemperer in CD. Great piece!

[ErktheEngineer]

scarier than Darth Vader!! Awesome!

[blondehedgehog5]

Awesome performance!

[DieSonneSinkt]

Amazing.

[pinstripe173]

its him. he has the same ears, the same nose, the same upperlip, same chin cleft.

[MaxxUS08]

I take that back.  It can't be. Look at some of the videos of Berry on the right. Not the same person.

[swanningaround]

I wouldn't like him on my case. I would be very frightened!

[drdre333]

I'm pretty sure that this video is not of Walter Berry. I believe it is an actor. Walter's face looks far different to me. He has a rounder face, and the way he shapes his vowels is different than what I see here. This looks like a lip-synched movie version to me. Berry is definitely doing the vocals though, and excellently too.

[OchsaufLerchenau]

that is berry.. i knew him very well

[drdre333]

Perhaps I am wrong then.

I must note that it is rather hilarious that I present my opinion without even criticizing the performance, and people have given me 2 thumbs down for what I said. These ratings should be reserved for people who are providing unconstructive criticism... Oh well. Different opinions for that too I suppose! lol

[MaxxUS08]

Is this the Schwarzkopf/Klemperor performance from 1961, by any chance?

[DynamoRyan]

Hold something straight horizontally just under his nose. There is literally no tension in his forehead. It's all there in the bottom. That is absolutely wild.

[foropera]

Yes it seems to be easy produced. Horizontal? Could you explain more? For example Ramey sings more vertical to me, and I like it.

(and apart from that I have a doubt wether this film is a post synchro or not, like with Ludwig in Leonore).

[wotan3000]

This is absolutey the way this should be done.

No spreading, just intensity.

Berry is universally acclaimed as the real deal.

[demenciano]

vaya boca más grande

[EmilyGreene1984]

That's amazing! Phenomenal performance! Walter Berry gave me the chills with that glare of his and what a beautiful voice. Gorgeous Don Pizarro! Thank you so much for uploading thi

[BismarcksOtto]

Yeah, remarkably close to Clooney... wow!