Beniamino Gigli sings Scarlatti's "Gia il Sole del Gange." 1949

[Thrasher31H]

If this song doesn't make you happy, you have a hole in your soul.

[EdmundStAustell]

@Thrasher31H Ha, ha!  Great comment! Thank you and Happy Holidays!

[loringth3great]

Italian is a man's languge to sing in.

[EdmundStAustell]

@loringth3great No doubt about it! Just a quick look down the list of the most popular singers in the world tells the story. If you want to be a great singer, try real hard to be born in Italy:) (Spain or Russia will do, in a pinch:)

[spatsios]

@EdmundStAustell Or try to be black, that helps to

[patukott]

@EdmundStAustell Russia will do fine for the basses (Finland too, for that matter :))

[SuperLuckydream]

Many,many thanks, dear Edmund! Beniamino Gigli is incomparable and eternal ...

[EdmundStAustell]

@SuperLuckydream Thank you very much! I certainly agree!

[neelsdp1]

Bravo!

[MissStar091995]

Hmm...could work on his breathing and pronounciation a little bit at some points...but other than that, fantastic. A job very well done indeed! :D

[31122051]

Tenore FENOMENALE. MERAVIGLIOSO !!! SUBLIME !!! IMMORTALE !!! **********

[EdmundStAustell]

@31122051 Sì, signore! Sono assolutamente d'accordo. Per me, fu il più grande tenore di tutti i tempi.

[31122051]

@EdmundStAustell : grazie mille per aver dato a tutti noi la possibilità di ascoltare questa BELLISSIMA registrazione. Saluti, con il massimo rispetto.

[operbathosa]

I enjoy listening to all of Gigli's performances. He possesses a magnificent voice that was so easily adapted to any composer's work, and he was a professional just like Caruso. Italian tenors are in my blood. I love them all.

[EdmundStAustell]

@operbathosa  Amen.

[AulicExclusiva]

All these "authenticists" sound suspiciously like what they are: mediocre English church singers. I am certain, with the certainty of faith and instict combined, that great Italian singers of the Eighteenth Century sounded more like Gigli than like Philip Langridge or Anthony Rolfe Johnson...

Richard Tucker also left a beautiful recording of this piece.

[EdmundStAustell]

@AulicExclusiva You are absolutely right. I have always been certain that if Scarlatti, Giordani, Bassani, Handel, Gluck, Caccini and others could have heard their music sung by Gigli, they would say, "Yes! That's beautiful! That's what I had in mind! It is so easy to get lost in the semiotics of transcription, and rely too heavily on printed or manuscript material from the past that says nothing about what those blobs of ink represent in fact.

[Bivolari]

How should one respond to Gigli? Like the Very Proper English, American and German critics who complain of his lake of taste? Or the Italians who recognize one of their own. If all singers sang as the Professors would have them sing there would be no communication to the masses of voice lovers. Janet Baker, Fischer-Diskau, to mention two, may be wonderful singers, but i prefer a large, open hearted, sensuous smile. Someone, perhaps, in on the joke.

[MrLuiscastellanos]

Fantastico !!!! Bravo !!! Bravo !!!!!

[meltzerboy]

According to Steane, these arie antiche, recorded rather late in Gigli's career, may be stylistically out of tune but are sung with love. I would add they are also sung with voice, virtually as pure and luminous as the Gigli voice in its prime. As an aside, in an interview with the late Edward Downes (the music critic and professor, not the conductor), Callas also uses the word "love" to describe her devotion to her art. It is perhaps the most apt description. Thanks, Edmund!

[EdmundStAustell]

@meltzerboy Again, I totally agree. I think there are many, many lessons to be learned by the young, listening to Gigli, who is certainly one of the greatest tenors ever. One does not need to scream. There are places where clavicular breathing works, and you don't have to over-support a gentle sound. And, in this case, renderings of antique airs must serve the music and the sentiment over stereotyped notions of "style" 300 years ago.