Added: 5 years ago
From: gregnz2006
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  • He is related to me on my father's side. He died years before I was even born.

    What can you tell me about him?

    My grandfather had several photos of him in his cantor regalia and a photo of him with a Torah. Unfortunately these were lost during Hurricane Karla in New Orleans. My cousin's son is studying to be a chazzan so maybe the Schmidt voice still lives!

  • He is related to me on my father's side. What can you tell me about him? My grandfather had several photos of him in his cantor regalia and a photo of him with a Torah. Unfortunately these were lost during Hurricane Karla in New Orleans. My cousin's son is studying to be a chazzan so maybe the Schmjdt voice still lives!

  • To hear it really sung well try Kiepura

  • !!!

  • Thrilling!  Maybe the most beautiful tenor voice ever, and a superb rendition!

  • In response to BIGUS. Pavarotti's voice was going downhill for many years. He did not hit the high C in most of his concerts. He cancelled many opera performances. Those with longevity were Tucker, Pierce, Vickers, Caruso, Gigli, Bergonzi, Gedda, Bjoerling, and a few others. They all sang and sang well for many years.

  • @justinsright

    Include SERGEI LEMESHEV as well

  • I'm always surprised by the beauty of Joseph Schmidt's voice. This version is stunning! Thank you for posting.

  • the brave swish people nutral during the war and rich afther what a nice country and what great people {check where the money came from to make it so rich}

  • HE ALSO HAD high d flat-- great top

  • i love his voice, but personally i like it better when it is played faster.

    i think the tempo shows how desperate he is

  • @trombo8 you forgot to take your medication?

  • Try KIEPURA - from same time -

  • Phenomenal! Perfect attacks - no slides, grunts, barks, scoops, etc. Consistent vocal line. Thanks for the post!

  • Someone 2 years ago here said Pertile and Corelli where greater, stupid comparison they where Spinto tenors. Schmidt was not he was a lyric. ---Pertile as great as he was really did not have a high C on stage as is said by Italians. I if you think he did not sing this correctly, don't Listen. Easy answer.

  • Sorry,you should find out if he is singin lower,in b major NOT C. Old recordings are often high,this one sounds Low. He is a great singer anyway. Kári Friðriksson,tenor.(I sing in C on youtube.)

  • Wtf? no, he sings in the original key... have you checked with a pitch pipe (or other object that gives a pitch), or did you just assume ?

  • O God!

    I have heard your "SINGING"

    Please stop it, it´s transboundery pollution.

  • . You cannot really compare a lyric with a dramatic or spinto in this aria as was commented on a year ago. CORELLI AND PERTILE WHERE SPINTO'S and in fact Schmidt as a lyric sings this very well he was a better musician then Corelli anyhow even if he did not sing this on stage and he was a lyric. Could Corelli sing German Lied? No. Did CORELLI HAVE A GOOD CADENZA LIKE SCHMIDT? NO Could Corelli sing in several languages besides french and Italian? No Compare artistry not lyric and spinto

  • Gedda could sing high F above C and does in his recording of Puritani with Sills, big deal at that point no tenor sounds Human and Schmidt had great C's and a good D flat in full voice and who knows in practice how high he could sing, high enough and he had quality.

  • Simply delightfull

  • Absolutely amazingly wonderful

  • Gorgeous legato performance, so much lovely "ring" and "ping" in the voice, and a perfect technique. Tragic story.

  • I think that my favorite "Di quella pira" is Bjoerling's, but this one is close, and I have a special warm spot for my co-religionist Schmidt, whose life was so cruelly cut short.

  • He was a fine singer and nobody with ears can deny that and he is on pitch here all the way plus old recordings can vary. Just beautiful.

  • He is right on target on every not, well done, Bravo

  • Rita, nice message, many nice people like you out their and nice to hear--- he is immortal now forever, they could not stop his voice from being replayed with these great C's Imagine this on a new recording!

  • Yes, sad story dead in a filthy camp at 38 years, great high notes and he had a great cadenza like in La Donna e Mobile, was a fine cantor. I have a cantorial number he recorded privately in Israel in 1934, fantastic lyric with great technique and top notes are with total ease. he was here in USA in 39 to sing, should have stayed.

  • Only Wunderlich, Melchior and Tauber were close to Schmidt.

  • My father who is 81 now remembers Joseph growing up in the same street in Czernowitz. He loves him, I'm so glad he has passed on this great singer to me to enjoy today. Yes, and disgusting that these lives were cut so brutally short. I hope humans can learn from the holocaust, this type of racism should never happen again.

  • Yes Rita, nice post. HE SANG A FEW TIMES IN THE OPERA IN Germany as Rudolfo in La Boheme but even with "3 inch heels" he appeared very short compared to the Soprano. He did many concerts and radio of course in Berlin and the German public loved him so even though he came here and sang in NYC, Carneige hall in 1937 a few times he missed Berlin and went back. Some of Those concerts at Carneige hall in New York City are available on a CD. Regards.

  • On his recordings he is 10 feet tall.

  • I am a German by birth, and my mother told me about Joseph Schmidt who had the most beautiful of all voices but could not perform on stage because he was too small. I hear him here for the first time and am deeply touched. I cannot forgive the people of my country who were able to commit such horrible crimes, but as a Swiss, an Italian, a French could not forgive those who helped the nazis, sent Jews back across the border, reported them and ran transit concentration camps on their own. Thanks.

  • Yes Jackel you are correct about his death and I guess the European spelling, Josef but I have some american labels that use Joseph no matter he was a terrific talent and so many have wrong ideas how he died but basically they caused his death, in other words killed him and nobody can deny that honestly. Years ago I worked for a radio station and played 20 La Donna e Mobile recordings and Schmidt got the most votes, besides great high notes he had a great Cadenza, the end of la donna proves it

  • A fantastic tenor. His voice is strong and dramatic.

    A persecuted man for Nazis who died more or less young.

    If Somebody has other of his videos please upload

    Juan Fernando Sanin E

  • Schmidt is my idol beside Matteuzzi, these both had the best top notes for all time, no one can hit so easy high notes then these both. I m working on this right now, so i will follow my both idols, I sing the Postillion from Lonjemaus with HIGH D, and can hit a HIGH F,F#sharp and G with FULL VOICE!!

  • I'd like listening to you. Really, there's no irony in my words.

    My respect.

  • Me too! At least in my 20's anyway.(I'm 48 now) I once managed to squeek out the B flat above high C once, but I found that G sharp was my natural top. A word to the wise; If there's even a hint of strain in those notes, they are outside your natural range, & you'll damage your cords if you persist in them. Overstraining on notes above your natural top can cause one or both vocal cords to bow, where even your speaking voice becomes gravely & hoarse. That can become a permanent state. Be careful

  • Incidently Florian, Jussi Bjorling had G above C in scale practice. Benvenuto Finelli, my teacher, had a very easy F on the stage. Ivan Koslovsky had F too, which you can hear on Youtube in 'Ecco ridente'. Pavarotti also had F. Listening to his easy D's, I bet Lauri-Volpi had it too. It's not as rare in tenors as sometimes supposed. But since it's only written into the score of one opera that I know of, 'I Puritani', it's not worth wrecking your voice for if it doesn't come easily. Good luck.

  • Pavarotti's F wasn't really a proper voiced F, more of a disconnected falsetto. Pavarotti's voice went up to E flat in scale practice and he didn't use his highest two notes live, I believe.

    Interesting that Bjorling couild go up to G, he also had a strong lower register, I guess a voice with his beauty and range really is a once a century occurance.

  • Pavarotti's F was a coordinated head register note, (Not falsetto!) & to be honest, I think any note above D natural in the male voice SHOULD be sung in that manner. Whenever any tonal thrust is added to it in an attempt to give it more weight & body, it sounds as if the tenors throat is being cut. Such a tiny vibrating surface of the vocal cords is being employed for those notes that it should be sung very lightly. Abuse comes not from the high notes but from how you sing the high notes

  • Thank you for the correction about the F, it's certainly not a pleasant sound however it's reached.

  • The reason that Jussi had such a resonant vibrant low voice is because his registers conformed beautifully in accordance with natures law. He didn't drive the lower register for power & authority, nor did he allow it to trespass through or beyond the bridging notes. He left all notes above the bridge to a well developed head register. With both registers operating within their correct tonal compass, the voice then rewarded him with extended range, & a profusion of vowel colours.

  • While his registers were all perfectly connected and his approach natural, (correct me if I'm wrong) is it not true that Bjorling had more natural strength of the lower register, fuller tones?

    And I have another question, seeing as you know alot about Bjorling, why is it that he was transposing towards the end of his career to miss Cs?

    (not trying to be agressive, just wondering, as people said his technique was flawless)

  • For your first question, Mooorhe, I would say that even in the extended range tenor voice, some 2/3rds of the total tonal compass lies within the working area of the lower register. So it would be logical for that register to be predominant in the majority of sung tones. If we take E above middle C as the start of the 'gear' change, then that only effectively leaves a single octave to the head register in its pure form. Although in pro voices, neither register operates completely independently.

  • For your second question, I believe that all the great voices, of all types, start out with an almost ideal ratio between the two registers & have had their bad vocal habits drummed out of them by discerning teachers with an obsession toward functional freedom, rather than mere artistic effect. Few singers that I can think of have retained this ideal throughout their career. Bjorling darkened & weighted up his voice in his admiration for Caruso, & his upper vocal ease was sacrificed accordingly.

  • I thought that might have been the case with Bjorling, Pavarotti did the same thing in 1974, he started carrying up weight to the top and paid the price as his C became difficult in the '80s and he lost the ability to sing piano properly.

  • It's ironic & sad, that the very technique that facillitates such vocal ease & functional freedom at a singers debut & early career, is then taken as licence to add yet more power, weight & body, until the very technique that allowed the occasional excess, is compromised & begins to unravel. Caruso, Corelli, Bjorling, Pavarotti, Di Stefano, & Carreras, among others, are all guilty to a greater or lesser degree, of laying down their voices on the altar of power output! One exception was Tamagno!

  • Tamagno, when asked by another tenor who had long since lost his voice, 'Maestro, how can you keep singing at such incredible volume, when I, of much smaller voice have lost my own?' - Tamagno replied, - 'Because you sang on your capital, whereas I sing on my interest!' listen to Tamagno at 54, & dying of angina, - it's the voice of a 20 year old... He never succumbed to the trap of adding more & more power. He floated the voice & sang lyrically, despite possessing the biggest tenor of all!

  • The bass/baritone Peter Dawson, was another who retained his debut technique, & kept most of his vibrant youthful sound all the way up to 79!

  • lol pavarotti never had trouble except for his weight, vocally he held his voice longer in better shape than pretty much anyone. his technique was as perfect as you can achieve and every other tenor should aspire to reach pavarotti as the standard. his high Cs were fabulous even in the 90s. the only tenors i know of that had Cs as late in life were Kraus and Gedda and they sounded worse. but they kept their voices in shape at least.

  • both j.schmidt and r.tauber were regarded by

    the Nazis as Untermenschen... How about the Neonazis?

  • No doubt, he was the best of all!

  • YOUR version of "correctness" is subject to interpretation and as far as I am concerned, HE SINGS IT VERY,VERY well!

    Joseph Schmidt was a great tenor! All of the Schmidts in my father's family could SING and Joseph was no exception. He was the BEST we had!

  • La orquesta es espantosa, pero creo que Schmidt tenía perfectas dotes para el papel. Lo que más destacaría es su agilidad: ya la quisiera del Mónaco, que para este papel le habría venido de perlas.

  • This is excellent!

  • ucrebel159,

    I WANT YOU TO NOTICE THAT I DO NOT CALL YOU A PERFECT ASS-HOLE, (OTHERS WOULD).

    QUESTION: WHO TODAY COULD SING THIS RATHER TESTING ARIA WITH THE SAME VERVE, POWER AND PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL VOICE?

    AND WITH EVERY NOTE ATTACKED AND HELD ABSOLUTELY IN THE MIDDLE!!!

    ABSWER: PROBABLY NOBODY.

  • It has been claimed that Bjoerling so admired Schmidt's recording of this aria that he

    patterned his own interpretation upon it. Tauber was another great singer who had a

    warm regard for Schmidt's singing, even to the extent of conducting the orchestra as

    Schmidt sang some of Tauber's own compositions.

  • He didn't have to sing it correctly. He was a German singer, who sang on radio. Nonetheless, this is equal to the best efforts of others: different but equal :-)

  • Whether it is equal or superior to the two mentioned tenors is a matter of opinion. If you'd like to point out that Schmidt sang it incorrectly please edify us by all means.

  • buena versión; buenos agudos... me quedo con Luciano Pavarotti...

  • Pues que quieres que te diga...Pavarotti NUNCA fué Manrico...ni tiene la mitad de "squillo" que Schmidt.

  • A que te refieres con que nunca fue Manrico???, tengo mas de 2 grabaciones y un video con Pavarotti cantando Manrico!!!; si pudieras aclararmelo, puesto que si es asi, he vivido en una mentira por mas de 15 años...

    No solo canto el papel, si no que es uno de los mejores trovadores de la historia; que conste no lo digo yo... si no los que realmente saben....

  • Me refiero a que NUNCA TUVO LA VOZ PARA CANTAR MANRICO.Escucha gente como Filipeschi, Del Monaco, McCray, Corelli, Cecchele,Ledesma,Volpi, Giacomini o Limarilli entre otros y te convencerás de que Pavarotti no es Manrico. "cantó en papel": si..."es uno de los mejores trovadores de la historia": NO. "Los que realmente saben": Yo se. Soy un profesional de la lírica desde hace unos añitos. Sin rencor

  • Conozco a cada uno de los que mencionas, pero sin embargo creo que Luciano está a la altura... pero bueno en gustos se rompen géneros... La realidad es que si supieramos la clase de voz que necesitase realmente un Manrico, deberiamos preguntárselo al propio Verdi... no lo crees. Es arriesgado decir YO SE; en este mundo mas valdría un poco de humildad a pretender tener la sabiduría ad integrum... Sin rencor!!

  • Reitero,"YO SE" y no hablo como "enteradillo" sino con conocimiento de causa, y aunque es cierto aquello de "sobre gustos no hay nada escrito" Luciano no está la altura. "A fronte praecipitium a tergo Lupi". De nuevo, sin rencor...

  • Bueno, espero que tu cantes mejor que Luciano, y que puedas ser el mejor trovador de la historia; luego me mandas un disco tuyo y por supuesto a una presentación en vivo!! Solo asi te podría entender!!

    Que aberrante idea "Luciano no esta a la altura", corrijo a TU ALTURA, bendito Dios!! Espero que no seas crítico musical que publique "profesionalmente"

  • ya he perdido mucho tiempo contestandote...Disfruta de "Fat-Pav". Saludos...

  • Lo mismo te digo, Dios te bendiga y Saludos!!!

  • Non so scrivere lo spagnolo, ma credo di avere capito, sono assolutamente daccordo: Pavarotti non è Manrico; non sono un'esperta, ho solo buone orecchie.

    In ogni caso Joseph Schmidt da tanta gioiae üiacere.

    Cordiali saluti

  • Grazie!mi fa piacere sapere che ancora ci sono delle persone con buone orecchie!

  • Kurt Baum fue tambien un excepcional Manrico. Creo que puedes escucharlo aquí mismo en  You Tube.

  • Positively the equal of any tenor singing this aria. Considering his congenital heart condition and the terrible stresses he must have lived under this kind of singing is truly magnificent! What a heroic man--what a beautiful sound he had. Dreadful that his life was snuffed out by the insanity that plagued the world.

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