Enrico Caruso - Faust Salut! Demeure chaste et pure

[MrGer2295]

Fantastic performance!!!

[31operafan]

The video monitor showed Gigli in some opera (I don't remember which one it was). It was at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. There was an exhibit in which old film clips were displayed on monitors. This was an unexpected and pleasant surprise! :)

[31operafan]

Fantastic! :) I love it when Caruso sings these tender songs. When he does, he strongly reminds me of Gigli. In fact, sometimes I cannot tell the two apart (they even look alike in some ways; just look at their photos side-by-side)! xD One day, I heard a familiar voice coming from a video monitor. I thought "Is that Caruso? No, it can't be; Caruso died before sound films existed. Then can it be...Beniamino Gigli?!" I turned around, and to my surprise, there was Gigli!

[bodiloto]

Sublime !***********************infini­te .

[kjpportland]

Good job on this one, Tom. I have the original 12" GP pressing. Do you use any tube equipment in your processing? Just curious.

[bially5]

mmmmmmhmmm??

Schön ist anders!

War vor 100 Jahren vielleicht ok, aber das haut heute niemanden mehr um, auch wenn's ein Caruso gesungen hat

[Danetenor]

first time ever hearing him sing a high c:S

[tomfroekjaer]

Ja, det høje C var ikke hans kop te i begyndelsen af hans karriere, men han lærte det hen ad vejen.

[Danetenor]

hey en dansker;)

nah men høje c er jo heller ikke det vigtigste:p

[gpin1779]

The high C begins with voix mix and goes to real tone in crescendo, sounding brilliant

[Webarton]

HOLY SHIT MANG sounds like good singing, cant really tell from the recording tho.

[theycallmezach]

@Webarton it really is

[jbeer82]

Enrico Caruso is and has always ben a very influential singer in my life. who cares about reverb but the singer himself will always be a significant part of my life. try E'i marricordo e nupule i know in some part it very high

[arturovilla02]

his best high C is in butterfly´s duet

[Protoplasym]

Guys,

There is another rendition of this piece by Caruso that is MUCH better... Youtube won't let me link to it for some whack reason... but do a lil searching and find it.

This version is TERRIBLE compared to the version I speak of.

This version has HORRIBLE room Reverb 'and' Carusos' performance is less than stellar in this version.

[tomfroekjaer]

Caruso only recorded this aria once - on 11th of February 1906. What makes the difference is the restoration or lack of same. The original 78 recordings are the best as far as I'm concerned, but one has to bear with or ignore the scratching. I've just posted another version (gently restored) as a video response.

[Protoplasym]

BS... the version I speak of sounds completely different. There is no horrible Room Reverb present for starters and Caruso sings it way better.

[tomfroekjaer]

Protoplasym, pls send the link to me as a private message (click on my username and then Send message) - YouTube doesn't allow links in comments.

[Protoplasym]

Honestly... now that I think about it...

Yeah... Bjorlings' performance of this might be technically better/smoother... but something about Carusos' Tone always gets me unlike ANY other voice out there.

If not for his Vibrato, then simply for his pure emotion that he brings to it.

He's unmatched by any as far as emotion being brought out in a voice.... imo.

[tomfroekjaer]

I feel exactly the same way about the emotion. There is something undefinable about him. Maybe because he's so involved in the singing. He said he never heard himself sing - only on records.

[ilbacioditosca]

It is an excelent high C!!! It is the first time I heard Caruso singing it. Even he was enough soft to be in style.

[tomfroekjaer]

Caruso didn't particularly like the high C, but when he did it, it was with style :-)

When auditioning for Tosca, he asked Puccini to please not ask him for the high C and Puccini agreed saying that tenors can get so fixed on it that they stop singing. The audition, by the way, resulted in Caruso getting the role of Cavaradossi with Puccini mumbling: 'Who sent you to me - God himself?'

[ShawDAMAN]

I believe he sang high C here and in "Spirito gentil-" do you know if he does in any other recordings? :)

[tomfroekjaer]

Sorry, ShawDAMAN, I don't know. In fact I'm an operatic ignoramus - couldn't tell when someone is singing the high C ...

[ShawDAMAN]

Well, I have no perfect ear... but anyways you can always check it on an instrument, or at worst, with a recording you know has a high C in it like Corelli's Di quella pira or something. ;-)

Thanks :)

[tomfroekjaer]

Thanks. No, in fact I haven't found anymore Caruso high C's than the ones you already mentioned. But actually Caruso was not a tenor, not a baritone, not a basso; he was a singer who had the vocal characteristics of all three combined.

[ShawDAMAN]

Interesting you should say that. A vocal coach I was reading about once said that it was his opinion that classifications like "tenor," "baritone" etc; don't really exist in nature but are just terms created by classical music/opera to try and deal with the human voice. Lanza is another one who could sound extremely baritonal at times.

[neronnenn]

Magnifico!

[petrof4056]

I don't when we remastered an old recording. It's an ideal to have a good quality for the Caruso's voice but we can't change.

Otherwise, Caruso is splendid!

[iltenoredramatico]

this is amazing.

[sebreathnach]

Used to hear it on a Sunday morning -- coinciding with the duty of going to mass.. At least this is how I remember it... Not a coincidence, I suppose...Love the role of the strings...

[tomfroekjaer]

I have tried to answer you several times and finally I found out why my answers are not posted: I referred to an external link which YouTube doesn't accept. So here it is in encrypted form: en + dot + wikipedia + dot + org slash wiki slash Enrico_Caruso. There is an explanation...

Best, Tom

[Danetenor]

Has this been transposed? as far as I've understood hed did'nt have the high C?

[cornificius22vain]

Yes he did, but it was not his cup of tea, like in Domingo's case.

[GermanOperaSinger]

To my ears, this is in the correct key. He sings high C near the end.

[OettingerCroat]

yes, it's totally correct... and a typical glorious Caruso note it is!