Beniamino Gigli

[TheWisemonkey8]

Remembering this is NOT 'falsetto'... it is true voice with magnificent support...

[Aetion]

It's absolutely beautiful! The old school of singing.

Thank you.

[paddy15]

Gigli is not singing falsetto nobody said that it`s beautifull I`ve nearly got every recording he made

[paulostroff99]

Superb! TY a for posting

[TheWisemonkey8]

This has to be some of the most musical and simply beautiful singing I have ever heard... thank you. Thanks :).

[shogott]

i have an original beniamino gigli vinyl that i got for free.

damn.

[31operafan]

:) I just started getting interested in Beniamino Gigli some time ago, and I think he's one of the finest lyrical tenors in the world. He can hit soft notes flawlessly. This was probably from an early sound film. Gigli looks pretty young.

[wolfganganderl]

Gigli was better than Pavarotti !!!

[kuddelfranz20001]

einmalig schön, unerreichbar dieser Ton

Franz

[inasimidova]

Sonnambula!Nice!

[bigus]

opera houses are designed so that voices can be heard without microphones. however this is a dubbed movie not live. i love gigli but its easy to hear someone when there is is low accompinament behind them. if gigli sang outside next to bjorling or pavarotti you wouldnt hear him because that sound is so soft.

[horowitz109]

Bjorling had not a big voice: it was shining and masterly produced, but it wasn't big. Pavarotti top was boyish and he couldn't use mezza voce in the top of his range. As for technique and volume, Gigli outshines Bjoerling [and please note that I'm a Bjorling fan: he's one of the most refined, golden-toned and stylish singers who ever lived] and leaves in the dust Pavarotti, who was vastly inferior to Bjoerling. In open air concerts, Gigli never used a microphone. Pavarotti always used mikes.

[bigus]

except for gigli sang for an audience a fraction of the size that gigli ever did. i am also a fan of gigli but i disagree that either tenor had better technique. comparable yes but not better. gigli was always easy on his voice and yes sang softly beautifully but pavarotti had better tone and much easier high notes. the reason he is better than both bjorling and gigli to me is because his legato was much better than both as was his phrasing and musical line. also pav could use mezza voce on top.

[TheWisemonkey8]

At the time of this comment over 60,000 people have seen wonderful video and listened to the great Gigli. Is it not wonderful that such talent can still remain so valid and enchanting almost 100 years after the event? The interesting thing is this people will still listen to Beniamino when most of the current popular music is long forgotten.

[TheWisemonkey8]

The voice is golden to be able to fill an entire opera house without microphone is a miracle such a sweat and expressive sound. A wonderful post. So beautiful so beautiful

[bloydaage]

This is fantastic! The problem is, if someone today try this out, it will probably not work out, because this is not the standard stuff, this is abnormal. Its Gigli and it works for him. I dont think you can say it is a way of how to sing this stuff. Then you will ruin many singers. The goal is to find the genuin way to produce your own voice. Gigli could never learn to sing like Corelli and Corelli could never learn to sing like Gigli.

[mrantiquedealer]

Now this is "Sonnambula"!!!

[MrJorgeQ]

el mejor de todos los tiempos al igual que pavaroti

[highnote606]

Does sound beautiful. I agree that we need this type of singing to come back again.

But...

Every note is directed to the same place in the head. So its like coloring every note the same color. That I dont like much. I can see why modern day singers prefer to sing from different places, even if its unhealthy. Its an identity and can last as long as their life does with care. Good enough. Why must we die with a supreme voice?

[EdmundStAustell]

One of the most beautiful things I have ever heard! And proof positive that it is not necessary to sing full voice all the time, especially a tutta forza! He shifts between falsetto and that ravishing mezza-voce of his, and it works. So much was lost when this elegant and beautiful singing fell out of favor and the belters took over. Magnificent video and memory. THANK YOU.

[paulostroff99]

Exquisite singing!  He was easily up there as one of the very best ever,if not the very best-period.

[zol040]

Oh, My God! How beautifull!

[danicemo]

but what did he sing starting this video? is an aria?what´s that beautifilg music?

[Herur22]

It's "Prendi, l'anel ti dono" from La sonnambula.

[Politeama]

Una de las voces masculinas con el mas bello color que he escuchado en mi vida, ademas que poseía un exquisito gusto interpretativo. Uno de los tenores mas grandes que jamas logremos escuchar. Esa es mi modesta opinión.

[mrjoe1955]

Gigli indeed was the greatest, because he could do it all well, and for so long.  Mezza-voce no other has matched and the anima and passion in his singing incredible. Overall the greatest!!

[TrovadorManrique]

Porque forma parte de una película en la que la estrella era Gigli y nadie más. :)

[belcantomania]

Ma perchè oggi non si canta più così?Se oggi un tenore canta così si grida allo scandalo.Che peccatto,che gran perdita!Tempi irripetibili,soppressi dai tenori gigioni ed urlatori che hanno sostituito il belcanto col l'altletismo vocale.

[Aetion]

Thats also my question. Why there arent such great voice anymore.

[Esceha57]

Please, be very carfull on this amazing video of one of the greatest ever.

Of couse rated !

(Granddaddy) Cor

Netherlands

[stefakamelpash]

Absolutely beautiful! This is what a tenor is supposed to sound like. I just love Gigli, and always have. Like millions of other people. Opera lost so much when screaming replaced real singing. This is perfectly loud enough to be heard everywhere in the theater. If only singers realized that.Tenors now try to sing much too loud...it just isn't necessary, except, I suppose, for huge operas with big orchestras blaring away. But there is always a price to paid in the quality of the sound.

[germanchisari]

@stefakamelpash

I like Gigli as well, but it's not screaming replacing singing, Gigli is singing ALL in falsetto, he was one of the greatest at this, remember he is not using his real voice. "Screaming" is singing using vocal chores for you, I hope you learn something about singin the next time you say things you absolutely have no idea.

[joanabanyeres]

Bellissimo timbro di voce, vellutata, sebbene Gigli ha la sua scola non sempre la può imitare un giovane tenore, lui sa come fare la mescola dei registri, questo e difficile.

[Orbazzano]

Il più bel prendi l'anel ti dono di sempre...

[shishishi0000]

Tengo el agrodo y la buena fortuno de a ver visto a gigli en teatro OPERA en el ano 1951 y la verda que ha sido unos de los momentso mas lindo saludos

[ziapengyfence]

He has a very similar voice to Tagliavini.

[WiseMonki]

No, Tagliavini is similar to Gigli ;). Kindest regards,

[sugarbist]

@ziapengyfence Tagliavini's voice was smaller than Gigli's but Tagiavini's voice travelled further than Gigli's in the opera house.Just as Lauri Volpi's voice vibrations possibly travelled further than any other tenors voice .Enjoy

[aguacun]

I like more Gigli when he use his full voice... however for this kind of singing people need to be a master as he was!

[elgrancaruso3]

I have films Gigli, Caruso, Mario Lanza, Joseph Schmidt, Jonh mc Cormack, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette Mac donald.

Deanna Durbin, katryn Grayson, Alfredo Kraus, Maria del monaco, music audio and video of the greatest voices in the history of music, leaving interested write to me

[Rapicienta]

A este hombre, las personas que lo escucharon en vivo, seguro que fue un sueño, que hermosa voz.

[Samurai9]

To produce this sweet, floating sound--at least in the middle range--Gigli used a very small mouth position, as can be see here and in other clips of his live singing. The small mouth increases head resonance, reduces mouth or chest resonance, and relies on very relaxed and minimal breath support. There is a clip on YouTube in which Gigli explains and demonstrates piano versus forte singing.

[Samurai9]

I am a big fan of Alfredo Kraus but I have never heard him employ this kind of head voice. In the Pearl Fisher's aria, for example, Kraus sings the high notes forte, in contrast to the sweet, soft tones of Gigli. Gedda had great facility singing softly in the upper register but the quality of his voice is quite different from what we hear from Gigli in this clip.

[philomelodia]

Magnificent. Is there any tenor actively singing today who can use the head voice like that and actually uses it for the intimate moments of arias that employ the really high notes? There are instances in some of Rosini's operas where a high note is used for intimate and tender moments instead of the way Puccini used it in, say Nessun Dorma where it reinforces heroism or expresses triumph. Lots can do that one but the first one ... Will someone name a singer?

[SteveBell1942]

Yes happily. Whether or not Gigli was better or not is subjective, Since Gigli try Tagliavini, Monti, Kraus,Giminez,Matteuzzi,Di Stefano,and on and on and on.......

[dxhty]

Its a question of bigger opera houses as well. If someone auditioned with a similar vocal production, at least in north america, it would be a non starter. You could audition like this year in year out and never get a job. And truth be told, it did become a bit of a fad, like countertenors today. Tagliavini et al post war. Gigli had some real fire as well, as you probably know. Gregory Kunde is an American tenor who was very good at this repertoire, but it is by neccesity, louder.Comments?

[Aetion]

30/11/1957 - 30/11/2007: Already half a century without Beniamino Gigli.

RIP, Maesto!

[paulostroff99]

Gorgeous!

[Janibeva]

Què dulzura tiene en su voz, encantador.

[796824]

Gigli studied with Antonio Cotogni in the beginning and then with ENRICO ROSATI who also taught many stellar names of that era. The voice teachers today have no relationship to the past and that is the reason for the lack of quality as heard today among all singers.

[Birgitfan]

you are right, there is here other video in which Gigli explain the difference between singing with the diaphragm engaged and without diaphragm, only on the air...it is revealing and not clearly taught today. Today is mostly about stiffness and over supporting, among other defects...

[796824]

Agreed. The teachers today have no concept of what it means to sing a messa di voce or parlato. The entire school of singing reflects the adage of "The blind leading the blind." Young singers are truly the victims of an educational system that is only concerned with the bottom line.

[turandot86]

When this opera was performed?

[OPERASVERKER671]

1943

[mariacallas6]

I have a rare collection of 78's, rel to reel, onto cassettes of music converscated

during world war 11.

Singers today unheard of especially leider... call me

[mariacallas6]

His voice in this aria is total perfection of bel canto , this one particular record

which I have on 78, is unsurpassed. Between him and Scipa and Tagliavini those

notes are not found today. Listen to Lina Pag: and Tag: what duets!!

[aquitius]

If god had a voice it was Gigli.

[mariacallas6]

Youre right, listen to his early deleated recordings.. unbelieveable.

[Samurai9]

It is very interesting to see how Gigli sings in his uniquely lovely soft or head voice. He uses a small mouth position to keep the voice in the mask and reduce "chest" voice. When he shifts to full voice, the mouth opens more and the sound becomes more masculine and full.

[colabama]

how elegant , thanks for posting this beautiful music!

[allinvideo]

La voce più dolce del mondo. Nobody sang like Gigli. Thanks for posting this.

[starrypoem]

Piano, but very clear.

That's a real piano.

[99muddy99]

The greatest tenor. Sometimes when listening to Gigli, I feel as though I shouldn't breathe, lest I miss something immortal.

[blueMmb1]

that's the real bel canto tradition

[14allandall41]

Exquisite

[FABRIZIO82]

So gorgeous. No male singer today can sing that piano. A lost tradition.

[docwaller]

Do you by chance know thne name of the Donizetti-like aria Gigli is singing in this clip from Laugh Pagliacci? It is wonderful bel canto singing and I have serarched everywhere to try to find it on CD. I am pretty sure it is Donizetti, although it could be Bellini.

[pasfresh123]

it's part of the duet "Prendi l'anel ti dono" from La Sonnambula, by Bellini.

[pasfresh123]

The first words you hear are "Prendi l'anel ti dono". Later on, it becomes very coloratura. Other singers to listen to in this are Tito Schipa, Cesare Valletti, Ferruccio Tagliavini. They don't break up the melody as much as Gigli did.

[docwaller]

Thank you. It is certainly lovely Gigli singing -- the kind of singing that endeared him to ordinary people, but not to the critics. He always strikes me as being largely self-taught. He sure had a common touch, though, I saw him twice in London in the 50s when he enamored audiences with that lovely mezza voce, his trademark. He was a more interesting singer than Schipa or Valetti, and probably in a different class. Tagliavini is a dirrent matter. He was a great lyric tenor.

[paulzappa]

Simply ravishing singing. Thank you for reminding me what a great singer he was. The looks of awe may be staged but I'm sure they came easily to the "extras"