Stefan Zucker sings Donizetti's "Pour mon âme"

[operacaster]

tenor 9216... when you want to be a ''member of the club'' and can't do it for real you try to invent something that lets you in the door.... and if it's something this bad you try to convince people of it's legitimacy. as as evidenced by the few people who defend it and say it's something other than laughable that approach seems to work. but most singers who hear it realize that it's main worth is for comedic relief.  how ya lke mama? florence foster jenkins inspiration....

[AnonBatch]

Wow. This sucks donkey balls.

[thegoalie66]

I am sorry, but this is like atrain wreck. You just keep staring at it. Or listening to it. You have to admit, it has a comedic value to it.

[joanabanyeres]

@thegoalie66 Enjoy it and LAUGH.

[MrSwifts31]

This is a new case of the old disease "The Kings New Clothes" how can anyone take this freaky weirdo seriously?

He must be laughing all the way to the bank,really i thought opera fans had more coomon sense.

I wish I had thought of this scam first,I would be rich now!

[edmoran73]

As a critic Zucker is interesting and informative. As a voice, how on earth does he really believe he is actually coming close to the singing style of the 19thC, and the likes of Jean de Reske. It is painful. Choice and diplomatic words from the critic at the end in saying basically he can't sing for toffees.

[orlando098]

From this, it sound a bit like Zucker has modelled his style somewhat on Moreschi - odd since he is supposed to be a tenor...

[RamirRMA]

Oh my God, if it's the way the guys sang at the 19 century I will kill myself. I know that the high c di petto's rather new to tenor voices, but... IT'S BETTER! GODAMIT

[Slayerplsko]

I don't understand. Is this guy a comic?

[RamirRMA]

@Slayerplsko Make your own conclusions =P

[flaze3]

@Slayerplsko surprisingly not.

[Romeolirico]

Гусак драный! ))))))))))

[Mercutio1016]

Now I know exactly how it sounds to have ones gonads stuck in a vice.

[trem0lo]

3:21 is the funniest lol moment...

Eeeehhhhhh!!!!!

[fabrizzzio48]

Zucker is HILARIOUS!

[verdi17]

Puede ser q

[XKalino]

Most baffling statement at the 2:50 mark: "...tries to revert to the singing technique of the early 19th century." If this were even remotely true, that would mean that the likes of Bellini, Donizetti, Chopin, Rubinstein, to name a few music greats who were admirers of Rubini, were all deaf and likely suffering some mental illness.

[zimnaya]

Caterwauling

[ArcanaMundi81]

Oh dear, Stefan Zucker is just stupid!!!

[aguacun]

¿How much I have to pay to go to listen this man singing?

[VinylToVideo]

If 70% of opera singers sounded like this the 'art' would have died centuries before it actually did.

[MaeWestsKnickers]

Opera is dead? When did that happen?! I think you'll find that it's alive and well and living, well, everywhere!

For future reference, I have no idea of the statistic, but opera WAS dominated by the castrato for a significant period of time. Heard of Farinelli? Moreschi was an old man by the time he made that recording, and was well past his best. Also, please remember that he had his background in choral singing and was not necessarily trained as a soloist.

[MaeWestsKnickers]

Also, Zucker himself might not be your cup of tea, but he does demonstrate mastery of an unusual singing technique. Please try to educate yourself before you generalise, or write off an established and distinguished art form as deceased. Best wishes.

[ReelToVideo]

To clarify, what I meant is if anyone actually did SOUND THIS BAD during those years opera would today not even be around. And from personal experience, the man himself is simply a fairy prick. I do not agree this is any sort of 'technique' used just because he says so. Any, I never said opera is not still around, it's just been dead for about 30 years due to the lack of good singers. Seems strange anyone would argue this given how close some companies have come to bankruptcy. Thanks Bing!

[harmonieautog]

I think the best basis of comparison is a capon just put into a pot of hot boiling water......

[eliasbb]

good one. not that i agree with you, but good one!

[POANSTOA]

omg

[joanabanyeres]

Ach, so Gut!

ha, ha, ha,

[Webarton]

This man is a joke.

[rupepill]

@Webarton despite the wide knowledge of singers and singing, so affectedly shown - this is a sadly tedious joke in very poor taste.

[ideiao]

Horribile!!!Che cazz...e questo???

[bodiloto]

questo e un bellissimo esempio di un critico di .....,bla,bla,bla,lascia cantare un po Moreschi,poi si permette di interrompere la sua voce e riprende con le bla,bla,bla !zucker non ha mai sentito dal vivo la voce neanche di uno castrato,ma parla,ma parla! e il piu grave ancora e che canta,ma canta,ma canta..................orrendo ,mio dio che mondo!!!!!!!!

[manny2many]

I actually thought this was a comedy piece until I looked Zucker's name up on google.

[Lovelytenor1]

Florence Foster Zucker.

[maniacbgd]

LOL!!

[musicalrapture]

genius

[tenor9216]

we could almost say that he has balls to do what he does, but it should be the opposite... but seriously I just don't get it, why would you try to reproduce a sound from 200 years ago if you don't have the voice for it and if it's going to produce such an ugly sound ?

[jaaaaaayynnee]

Check out my videos of Zirach van Bodengraven, Olive Middleton, Sari Bunchuck Wontner, Christine Ireland, Thomas Burns - terrible!!!

I have video footage of Stefan Zucker's mum ( I can't get it uploaded yet - will follow soon ) who even more hideous in voice and face!!! She sounds like a duck with a bad case of nasality!! If you subscribe to me it will let you know when It's on you tube. It's a scream!

There are some serious videos of the Deller consort which are quite nice.

[damechastain]

Oh, Olive Middleton, you make me laugh.

[tauromaniac]

my god what an ugly voice this zucker has hahaha

[shlimeball]

dude look like a lady . . . . .

[syrinx79]

It's funny because when you hear him laugh in the opera fanatic videos, his "voice" sounds real, or natural. Not this fake put on, breathy falsetto... And if he thinks singers really did sing like he demonstrates here, opera would have died a fast and very painful death.

[jamesjmertins]

I have for many years wondered if Zucker is not had a sex change. The speaking voice is false, we won't go into the singing voice but something is strange about this I will say (PERSON).

[tauromaniac]

ur grammar sucks...its not "is not had" but HAS NOT HAD, or DID NOT HAVE... zucker is weird looking but ignorance is worse...

[flaze3]

Zucker's singing is strangled and faked. It makes me question with what authority he speaks about 'good technique'!

[markovican]

My God, his singing made me realize one thing: I definitely prefer him as vocal technique historian and opera expert. I dont know if he can sing better but this is more funny then serious.

[1212625bear]

Zucker sounds like a dying chicken

[gaytenor]

@1212625bear Try a dying capon! Nasty bad!!

[bbrittany]

NOOOOOOOOO WAAAAY!!!! OMG my soul hurts for him.

[joanabanyeres]

He does not know about woman's voice. We have to use chest resonance for dramatic effect, not always, never in Lieder but on opera.With low larynx but maschera sound l have a mezzo voice but sang soprano for choice Many mezzos today, and they are not..

l enjoy singing Lieder in mezzo tessitura , more easy for diction, Really we can discuss this.. there is a way to use low register with great breath , l know that some people criticize , french repertoire,but inevitable for Strauss or Wagner.

[primohomme]

@joanabanyeres

And chest voice is essential for the big bel canto roles

[RamirRMA]

@joanabanyeres No chest voice in Lieder sang by women? It's not what I usually listen. Jessye Norman on Erlkönig is a quick example.

[joanabanyeres]

His feeling over vocal technique is quite awfull. He thinks that to sing with a low larynx is wrong and tell that women with low voice sing in chest voice, voce di petto. He is wrong... the voice for women with big voice has a low sound, sometimes not too good because they did not find the right way of doing it, example is Mrs caballe, wonderful singer but with terrible low notes, just listen to her Gioocnda suicidio, awfull, some women have a wonderful low range, many... so it does exist

[hiyadroogs]

Actually, Joana, he is absolutely right about the womens voices. How much emphasis is applied to the lower register, or voce di petto, is down to the individual singer, - but it would be absolutely impossible to sing in anything more than a husky whisper below the bridging notes without it! Apart from the octave difference in tessitura, men & womens voices are anatomically & functionally identical. Women rarely drop down much below the bridging notes, so the voce di petto is less often employed.

[joanabanyeres]

he is right for some singers, many mezzos, too many and they are not. l have a voice that can sing mezzo or soprano, l sang the soprano one and use chest voice but just in some occasions , when the music is very dramatic as an effect. l also train my pupils the same way,we do not sing an octave below, in fact singing the tenor part for a soprano is quite hard. l  think that voce di petto done with a low larynx and projected in maschera is right., always with good breathing .,

[hiyadroogs]

Joana, certainly i agree that especially for the higher voices, Mezzo, baritone, tenor soprano, too much engagement of the lower register, especially when approaching the bridge, makes the upper voice far more difficult to access freely & comfortably. MDM, used a huge amount of lower register in his lowered larynx technique, to the point where the high register barely engaged at all. He couldn't sing less than fortissimo, & adopted bizarre bodily contortions for notes above the bridge.

[hiyadroogs]

I believe that the lower register, while an important component in the healthy function of all voices of quality & classical ability, - is not so relevant in female voices of mezzo & above, for the following reason. In a 3 octave tenor, the chest reg is responsible for 2/3rds of his range. In a 3 octave soprano, it would be responsible for perhaps 1/3rd of sung pitches, & composers don't usually request mezzo/soprano voices to dig for their lower pitches. Rather to reach for the other extreme!

[primohomme]

@joanabanyeres

Well a soprano could simply not sing a good Norma without a chest voice

[sergeiparajanov]

Zucker's done great service as an historian of vocal technique, but Lord, he sounds awful here. He must have been in very bad voice here. He almost sounds like Florence Foster Jenkins's long-lost brother ...

[RomaSeg1984]

Un vecchio gallo!!!))))))))))

[gnativerson]

FWIW Stefan sounded pretty good imo on his LP which was a excellent recording - this film is very distorted - it would be cool to have a good cd transfer

[Alieaz]

Ahhhhh!

[cornificius22vain]

3:13 LOL

[sebastienchartry]

kelle voix de merde mdr

[tklogan11809]

oh my, a gay version of Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man in that infamous Universal horror drama. Zucker's not a man, not a woman, a freak, a perverse abomination.

[kph11863]

A capon.

[Cavaradossi1981]

hmmm...i prefer Moreschi.just listen to his Crucifixus on youtube! amazing...

[vediamostofilm]

daemon166

thank you! :-)

[BaronVonSiorac]

horrible!

[Pawelp]

Stefan Zucker is a great contribution to the world of opera, he has tons of passion and enthusiasm. But he should not attempt to sing it. He may be attempting to emulate any kind of technique, but the (lack of) quality of his voice will never allow him to make any point in doing so.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Awful, maybe his technique is excellent, but the voice attached to it has got to be one of the worst I've ever heard.

[phantom4087]

He's not using any technique. It's a falsetto voice: I'm absolutely certain of it. See how he breaks when he's singing.

He also spoke in falsetto, so it was more natural to him.

[pearlmuth3]

I just never liked counter tenors and cannot seem to get into even Daniels sound even though he is terrific, same for Castrati Moreschi. Maybe it's an acquired taste. Regards from Chicago.

[VinylToVideo]

Just ghastly.

[virr23]

where is this video from? I really want to know...

[Gerardeus]

somebody kill him please!!!

[100Singers]

PLEASE, spare us this guy!

[Musicuss]

Mamma mia che schifo

[tosca8]

Lasciando perdere il metodo...se la gente sente cantare così non solo si schifa ma non andrà mai più a sentire qualcosa di simile..lasciate parlare di canto solo chi lo sa fare vi prego

[vediamostofilm]

Scusate, io non ho capito una cosa:

chi è che canta in sottofondo?

Grazie.

[daemon166]

Alessandro Moreschi singing "Ave Maria", Gounod

[vediamostofilm]

Thank you!

[RSWire]

Ach Gott. I guess the experiment failed!! Dismally!!

[sincrotto]

Mi sono incomprensibili inglese e tedesco, però non capisco l'ostinazione a voler resuscitare queste aberrazioni musicali come capolavori d'arte perduti, né capisco la ricerca di una tecnica trapassata per trasformare il canto in stridule grida e traballanti gracidii. Forse non riuscendo a far meglio ci si vuole distinguere ad ogni costo. E si riesce solamente a dimostrare ancora di più la grandezza del vero canto tenorile in voce, le schiaccianti vette degli acuti da G.L.Volpi & C. a Florez.

[ingriddoppler]

PITTYFULL!!!!!!!

[TheInquisitive4Ever]

This guy is a joke. No further comment necessary.

[mariahelleberg]

to singlike donzelli one has to have a voice.zucker has NONE. he sounds like a castrato gone bad

[061795]

Someone please tell me that this was some kind of joke. Please.......anyone.

[verdiotello]

Zucker me parece un farsante!!!

[joanabanyeres]

Si que lo es... y tenemos que aguantar a esos locos. Mire a tu vídeo sobre Alagna. Joana.

[1212625bear]

how can a man be so idiot, he sings like a chocked hen

[tenorismo]

He was or is very serious . He belived that he had discovered the right tecchnique to sing they way that the original I Puritani quartet sang.

[joanabanyeres]

How this kind of things can exist, and tenorismo some people think that he did great things for the opera. Watch Divas discuss voce di petto.Hilarious.

[agnellodei]

Yeah, and it's called "speech level singing".

[tenorismo]

He recorded a complete album of bel canto arias . I heard it . lol

[joanabanyeres]

my goodness !

[aguacun]

If just Freud could meet him!

[moondoggyJ55]

yeah it was kinda annoying but still pretty interesting

[joanabanyeres]

It should better if he stops singing .

[Beattietron]

For me Zucker's singing demonstrates not a authentic high tenor, but a the sound of a senile 200-year-old owl that has been kicked very hard in the bollocks.

[syrinx79]

Is this guy related to Florence Foster Jenkins???

[Etnalleb]

Oh My Word ! I have never heard anything so utterly horrible i'm glad he didn't finish. I actually cringed and held my hands over my ears, this voice is not human.

[richterkleiber]

In addition, Zucker emits pitched sounds on conversational inhales, which is excruciating? That is bewildering.

[richterkleiber]

It sounds like Zucker's voice is constantly cracking. Zucker speaks with horrendous affectation, and is one of the most perplexing characters to ever be witnessed. It defies description.

[TrovadorManrique]

3:21 - I can't describe that sound with words...

[jkircher314]

Nonetheless. Stefan Zucker is making a major contribution to the preservation of historic opera. He has a company that restores and makes available great historic opera performances on CD and DVD. He has free newsletters that are filled with interesting information and clips. He's actually a very positive but highly eccentric intellectual. But not a very good singer. Check out bel canto society. He's very committed to the preservation of great singing.

[jrynz]

Quirky in the extreme. If you took away the beard you would take him for a Stefanie :-)

[alceste66]

MI VIENE DA VOMITARE E RIDERE INSIEME

[joanabanyeres]

Che stupido è questo uomo. Puoddarsi che anche lui è come Alessandro....

[alceste66]

he's worst, because he's in twenty-first century....!! he ignores every tecnical progress.

[whamfan87]

One a scale of 1 to Really Horrible....that was really horrible. Is that his style, or is he mocking an era?

[joanabanyeres]

l think that he is taking himself very seriously, and explain to us women how to sing, Look for divas.. he is so funny

[BMessemer]

As if to keep us from peeing our pants, they cut to the musicologist when Zucker really started working himself up. I'm giggling as I'm writing....

[bradleyjenks]

Stefan Zucker is a brilliant, shining example of a certain type of person: Freak. He is a guy who can't sing and so he overanalyzes the singing of others. A ferocious audiophile who speaks at length about how singers "do" what they do, without having the slightest clue how to sing himself.

[mrrk]

I soooooooooooo agree.

[ucrebel59]

See what happens when you can't stop with the peace pipe!

[Francoecacorelli]

What the hell was that????

[joanabanyeres]

He is a great musicologo ah and he also a great critic

[mrrk]

Says who? Zucker himself? The man ( I think he is a man) is a joke.

[alberto111222333]

para mí que el tío intentó darle otro giro al tono...porque canta terrible o es que en su juventud tenía otra voz...pero estilos son eso...estilos...saludos.

[atosov]

Make it stop, make it stop!!

[jkircher314]

I can't stop laughing...

[bellicosejason]

What a terrible voice...Thank God for the Carusso and Pavarotti.

[LeTraveler09]

And thank God for Francisco Araiza. Poor guy he had to be interviewed by him.

[rmceldow]

If singers of the early 19th Century sounded like that, opera would never have survived into the 21st Century. Zucker might be one of the world's foremost opera minds, but one of the world's foremost opera SINGERS he is not--dreadful singing at best.

[TrovadorManrique]

"puhu mon ame quel desse; sue sua flame"...

¿en qué puñetero idioma está cantando? francés no, desde luego.

[oclhie]

está cantando de broma? que horror!!!

[Samurai9]

This kind of singing belongs in the circus alongside Monkeyboy and the Human Figtree.

[igancedo]

I have spent long hours listening to Zucher's interviews of Bergonzi and Corelli. His voice is absolutely outrageously disgusting, though his interviews are interesting and you learn a lot from the singing glories of the past. His vocal material is 0/10...ten times worst than that of Ignacio Gomez!!!!! OMFG.

[LeTraveler09]

AAAAHHHH!!! Poor Francisco who had to be interviewed by him.

[muschnik1961]

Zuckers voice is the most ugliest I´ve ever heard. He is only a joke!

[ariodante76]

I don't esteem people who are so oblivious to how disheveled they look. Honestly, is he trying to look haggard and unkempt?

[joanabanyeres]

I sincerely think that he does not know what is singing in theatre, The divas are absolutely lost except Sra Gencer, they do not know how to answer to S Zucher. Chest voice is used by big women voice, but important is to know how to use it.

[VivaMariaCallas]

Well, after reading the conversations on the BCS website, I think most of the conversations were actually very productive and interesting. Only Pobbe's was uncomfortable and, apparently, she was very open in her conversations with Zucker on the same topics (discussed in the interview) via phone prior to the interview.

[VivaMariaCallas]

Despite what most seem to think of him, I think Zucker should be commended for his efforts. His BCS is keeping the memory of many singers drowned about by the Callas-Tebaldi controversy alive, and provides a unique perspective to opera singers and the art itself.

[joanabanyeres]

I think that may be you are right, but He should not speak in singing terms that he does not know. Voce di petto is the way most big women voices have to use In the low register. Always with technique of course. But he should not sing the way he does.

[VivaMariaCallas]

I'm pretty sure he doesn't sing like this normally. Here, it says that he 'tries' to sing that way (not so successfully!).

The funny thing is that he and Gencer were right: all of the divas who defied the chest voice used it. In fact, the song Barbieri sang in the video was practically pure chest, IMO.

I think those divas misunderstood him. I think they thought he meant chest voice without any use of the mask, whereas I think he meant chest-'powered' low notes (the ways male singers sing).

[joanabanyeres]

OH my dear you really know about voice, Congratulations. In fact Leyla is laughing when he speaks about the others divas. And as you say Fedora sings all in chest resonance.I am pleased having speak with you. But i think that he sings this ugly way, for his speaking voice is sick.

[VivaMariaCallas]

Thank you for the complement; it is a pleasure speaking with you.

I just looked it up of wikipedia... Zucker sang a soprano high A (via chest, presumably), thus becoming the 'highest tenor'. In regards to how he sings, I'm not sure whether he does sing like he does here, but it was described as "the scratching of a fingernail on a blackboard." I think his singing so high caused him to have this problematic speaking voice.

[joanabanyeres]

It's problably his problem.

It's really a pleasure speaking with you, but you are so young and I am so old.

A bientot..

[Pawelp]

The challenge is that people may have drastically different timbres and it's hard distinguish registers. And that's not even taking discussion of registers themselves into account.(Head, chest, mixed, modal..). Some would say there is no such sing as a soprano high A in chest.

[puccinislarondine]

I would agree, one only has to hear his speaking voice to know something is wrong. I also agree that if male singing had continued in the castrati tradition it wouldn't have survived the next century. All that said, I can say that what his company is doing for the preservation of some of the greats like Schipa, Gobbi, Olivera, Corelli, and others is a VERY good thing. He devotes countless hours to restoring recordings that are almost beyond help. So I can overlook his singing (he stopped anyway)

[puccinislarondine]

oops, sorry about the misspelling: Olivero (you know, Magda- I didn't realize until after I hit enter :)) but since I'm here again I do have one other comment- I'm almost glad the 9 high C section of this aria isn't included here. It would've been hard to take- oh and the French seems distinctly un-francais and the breath support seems to be lacking. You can actually hear on certain notes that he holds out something is not sustaining it- I would guess the diaphragm. Sounds like faulty technique.

[epa300]

It's hard for to listen to Moreschi sing. I know he was way past his prime and, in fact, long past the heyday of the castrati and their lost technique, but the sound is so painful. History toalks of them like angels in full splendor. It must have been something miraculous. As for Zucker, that's just about as eccentric and bizarre as humanity comes.

[TenorQa]

I think he was singing to sound like the old cylinder. I don't think the castrati sounded that bad; otherwise, they wouldn't have been castrated. The cylinder record produced a sound that was not very accurate, and Mr. Zucker should have taken that into considartion. I never heard any recodings by Zucker. Does anyone know if he sang like all all the time?

[VivaMariaCallas]

Quite an interesting report castrati, but, unfortunately, Zucker's attempt to sing like a castrato came along with some of the most horrid sounds...

[tklogan11809]

this is priceless.