Re: Greatest Notes from the Greatest Tenors

[MrOldmartin]

最后一个部分，Tucker的那个高音c几乎破掉了，他的高音及­其驾驭能力实在不怎么样，几乎和Domingo一样差,而且Tu­cker的C很少见，即使是B一般也很短，在我看来，高音之于男­高音，虽然不能决定一切，但是依旧很重要，特别是对于戏剧男高音­和重斯宾托来说，更是如此，因为音量大、音色厚重、胸声浓，因此­，高音就比较困难，而Tucker的高音能力更是这类大号男高音­之中较差的……，让人听着很不舒服……，真正厉害的男高音，特别­是大男高音，不仅要具备强大的音量、厚重的音色和穿透力，高音也­需要稳定，Monaco,Corelli和Bonisolli都­是这种强力的全能型戏剧男高音，另外Achille Braschi更是如此，此人可以认为同时具有Monaco的音­量、Giacomoni的音色和Bonisolli的高音能力，­这是最强的男高音了。

[Maripudelmonaco]

HABER PUESTO UNA GRABACION DE DEL MONACO, QUE NO SE SABE SI EXISTE, ES UN INSULTOM A ESTE MARAVILLOSO  TENOR, QUE TIENE ENTRE SUS GRABACIONES NOTAS ALTAS IMPRESIONANTES, COMO SU "VITTORIA, VITTORIA, O DUO 2* ACTO ,FANCIULLA, DIRECTO MAGGIO MUSICALE FIORENTINO.

[petereuropa]

@tranxuantr I don't mind beeing a jackass. When I listen here to the high C of Corelli in Turandot. it's fantasic! That is one opera that was tailored for Corelli. But in romantic Italian operas, he is just not my favourite. He was the only one who could marry Turandot = Birgit Nilsson. But that was a challange between two giants on the Battlefield.

[animandes]

Oyendo a Alfredo Kraus se entiende a la perfección lo que una vez dijo el genial Albert Einstein respondiendo a lo que podría considerarse en el Universo como "absoluto". No dudó el sabio alemán: la estupidez humana. En el concierto de Caracalla en 1990 y los que le siguieron, se impuso el mezquino interés mediático y pesetero. Un insulto al talento, no haber invitado al mejor tenor de todos los tiempos. Es hasta cierto punto comprensible: A QUIEN LE GUSTARÍA QUE LE HAGAN SOMBRA.

[tklogan111809]

Tuckers sounds nasty, his Italian is atrocious.

[rhapsodyaaa]

esa grabacion de callas y del monaco no existe, las unicas partes que existen de esta opera es del ultimo acto.

[esclarmonde1]

Why leave out Aragall ? He was the greatest tenor of the 20th century and all his contempories acknowledged it.

[cocoazedodoinferno]

He does D5 at final with her

[rhapsodyaaa]

la grabacion de mario del monaco y maria callas es falsa, exiten una pequeña grabacion pero no de esa aria¡¡

[petereuropa]

Great tenors that had no problem to sing C with cuore, with great feeling from the heart: Caruso, Gigli, Björling and present time Pavarotti R.I.P., Domingo. Corelli had a cold heart, that's why he sings Calaf very good.

[dayanvolpe]

mario del monaco the most powerful!!!

[luiszaoo]

There are no words to describe the amazing felling i get when i hear to Maestro Corelli, ...im speechless

[ladyopera69]

CORELLI!!!!!

[stevenfudd]

franco was the greatest ever...

[reeferisme]

Josef Traxel could hit a D without any effort to speak of.

[delmonachiano]

The high notes in Turandot belong to Mario. 

[josuecorelli]

NADIE SE LE COMPARA AL MAESTRO CORELLI

[hibyeeee2]

Who here has the biggest and loudest voice?

[tranxuannghia]

Corelli of course

[messerg]

The high C of Tucker in clip n.7 is not as big and beautiful as Corelli's high Cs, and as you write in the comment. However, Nilsson high C in this clip is terrific!!!!!

[Mooorhe]

That del Monaco clip is the fake Buenos Aires clip from 1949.

[Etnalleb]

A Super video of 3 of the Greatest Tenors Ever. Corelli is just astounding it's no wonder he missed the following notes. It's too bad you left out the other Franco (that is Bonisolli) He could match all 3 here in power , timbre and resonance plus Bonisolli had a High D which none of these tenors possessed. No soprano not even Nilsson could over power Bonisolli .

[GermanOperaSinger]

Corelli sang high D's in Poliuto with L. Gencer. He almost always took the C# in the Trovatore trio.

Bonisolli and Nilsson were not of the same generation and I don't believe they ever sang together. Did they?

[Etnalleb]

My apology I wasn't aware Corelli sang a High D i guess that makes him all the better. Regardless of what people think about polls and how contrived they are most people had a chance to vote for Tenor of the Century and Corelli won by far over all the other tenors. Stefan Zucker didn't fix it for Corelli despite what others might think. As for Bonisolli & Nilsson i don't believe they ever sang together but i and many others would have paid big bucks to see that. They might have bit each other.

[muchogustavo1]

@Etnalleb yeah...Bonisolli!!!! but also the one and only MARIO FILIPPESCHI! KING OF TENOR ACUTI ! ! !

[richiedrr]

NnFfBb is right. There's a tiny crack in Tucker's High C. But who care?

When I was young I thought he was a pig, but wouldn't we be lucky to have the likes of him now?

[thedukeofjazz]

THE GREAT CARUSO

[Dionaysia]

Thanks for the lesson and reminders, especially about Richard Tucker. He seems to be concerned with the opera instead of with showing off. Impressive. Reminds me of several sopranos quoting Toscanini about each note having the right to leave.

[65attila]

You are right about Corelli after the high notes. In a 1959 performance with mary curtis Verna holds the Vittoria almsost as long as Corelli but Jussi has more than enough breath to make the rest of his music clean and clear without any compromise. But Franco is exciting - BRAVI

[halavey]

If it's 1956 Tosca then it was Tebaldi with RT and if 1958 then it was Stella, probably the 56 with Tebaldi. Both the met.

[halavey]

I heard Del Monaco live and it was bigger then Corelli and ON HIGH B TUCKER WAS ALSO LARGER THEN CORELLI AND SANG WITHOUT SCOOPING, AS FAR AS HIS LIPS AND TEETH WHOL CARES, SOUND IS MOST IMPORTANT AND THE WAY HE USED HIS VOICE.

[halavey]

Tucker did not crack at the end of the high C with Nilsson he was at the end of his breath but never cracked at all and he was 50 here. Some High C tenors like jussi who died at age 49 where avoiding the high C live by then and Tucker sang a better high C then this 10 years later at age 60 with Cruiz Romo in the same duet on a met brdcst.

[aida2004]

Tucker noooo!!! parece que esta vendiendo globos

[leadoffeohippus]

Who's playing Tosca in the Tucker clip?

[NnFfBb]

I'm not saying this to put down Richard Tucker, but if you start at 2:25 and listen till the end of the C, (under Nilsson's voice) he cracks the end of it. Of course, as you pointed out, he has sung much better.

[ali1082]

From the three Tucker had the biggest top

notes. MDM had the biggest voice overall.

Also Tucker's top notes are very beautifull, Corelli's are bit shouty. MDM's were also quite beautiful.

[crwv]

It has sounded to me as though mdm, followed by corelli, followed by tucker had the largest voice.

Also, I've heard from first hand accounts that del monacos voice was insanely larger than the rests in all aspects.

[bigboytenor]

I have videos of Tucker and it seems odd that he tends to pulls his lips in over his teeth a lot. A great singer though, no doubt.

[gaytenor]

High notes are important of course, and Tucker had, in my opinion, great ones but, more importantly he had a great sound that could be lyrical when needed. De Monaco had an exceptionally monochromatic sound that can really wear out its welcome fast. Corelli had a really beautiful voice like Tucker with a top that was softer in texture and more based in the head. As for Roland Vilazon sad! Has anyone noticed how Vilazon moves like a HaHa House inmate?

[pearlmuth3]

Yes Tucker sang the C even in 1974-- 6 mos before he died as calaf a better C then this at age 60 and in 1970 at age 56 with Arroyo ending the ballo duet live. He also sang a great high C with Cruiz Romo in 73 in a live Ballo from the met at age 59, better then this one also but he never had a problem being heard with Nilsson and thats saying something. here Live with Nilsson he is 50 years old.

[RudySunseeker]

Corelli is r-e-a-l-l-y gliding into the note in all his three excerpts. Although I don´t rate high note singing among the most important parts of a tenor´s craft, if you want to listen to a perfect example of the art, go to "Jussi Björling Ich hab´ kein Geld."

[Mooorhe]

Wow, Tucker's C was good until just before he let it go - ouch.

[OettingerCroat]

yah, sounded a bit yelled at the very end. but he was keeping up with maestra Nilsson quite well, I must admit.

[Mooorhe]

Her high C is like a cannon... it's just inhuman, lol.

[maestraconway]

Villazon is being replaced for the Met's telecast of Lucia.

"The Met: Live in HD" series reaches hundreds of movie theaters and other venues in the US, Asia and Europe. It would have been a major push for the tenor's career...

Are we witnessing the fall of a tenor?

[OettingerCroat]

THAT tenor? i most certainly hope so...

[forallyouknow]

Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen...

[petrof4056]

Lemeshev made the greatest notes. not this tenors

[GermanOperaSinger]

Lemeshev was a wonderful Russian lyric tenor whose sound did not remotely resemble these three powerful Italian voices...it is not right to compare them. Lemeshev had a much more beautiful sound than these three but it was different. Not as thrilling.

[OettingerCroat]

you would call Tucker an italian voice? I mean yah, it sounds more Italian than it does Wagnerian, for example, but i thought he had a distinctly American sound, and a beautiful one...

[danicemo]

Not Callas in In questa reggia is Inge Bohrk,I have the Cd

[Dekyi1210]

No, it is Callas, the 26-year old Maria in a live recording from Buenos Aires from 1949, Serafin conducting.

[tomfroekjaer]

Sorry to butt in as the opera ignoramus as I am, but I personally don't find it important if some tenor has/had the high C or B.

For me only the quality of his communication counts - how he moves me.

[OettingerCroat]

agreed...

[MANHATTANBEEFMAN]

Tucker is the best of the bunch....None compare to Pavarotti - the greatest control and command in a true Tenor (no spinto hacks or baritone impersonating tenors need apply).

[04faddy06]

They must all have piles!!!!!!!

[pearlmuth3]

Yeah, that would be a tough one to get 1961. met opera, where any brdcst? I have his calaf with Ross who also had a very big voice, 1973 and i have his ballo with nilsson and the high C at the end of the duet was fine from 1963 but he also did a 1965 Aida brdcst with her. Then in 1966 he did it with Price as Aida and at the end of act 2 he sang a interpolated high C that stopped the show for over 1 minute of applause it was a brdcst and he was not one for doing that stuff, a shock.

[dmar5143]

corelli simply thrills with magnificense

[Laeliapurpurata]

OMG go Nilsson!

[MANHATTANBEEFMAN]

Quite surprised Corelli sounded this decent here.....not his usual spinter hack self.

[pearlmuth3]

I like the Tucker C with Nilsson here ae it was 1963 and he was already 50 years old but still had it. I have heard him sing even better high C's even though he was not noted for it.

[pearlmuth3]

yes I heard tucker do that with ross and he held his own with nilsson perfectly but she was a tenor destroyer if she wanted to be!

[arturovilla02]

i love jussi but his voice was smaller than this three voices

[arturovilla02]

these three tenors match nilsson, jussi was great but in turandot nilsson eats him with tomato sauce

[GermanOperaSinger]

In Turandot, she even ate Corelli with tomato sauce, and everyone else who sang Calaf with her...and Bjorling never sang Turandot in the house but did record a great version of it.

[Mooorhe]

I picked up a copy of the Bjorling version hardly used at a junk sale for the equivalent of about 80 dollar cents. It really is good, you can just about hear Bjorling at the end of In questa reggia, but you really get the feeling that she could have completely drowned him out if she'd wanted to; what a strong voice.

[marokt]

No, no!

Be fair!

Corelli always had a great fight with Nilsson is high notes. In one day Nilsson won, in other Corelli. (You can conroll it at corelliavoice in youtube).But the constant winner was the public.

[muchogustavo1]

@GermanOperaSinger Nilsson ate Corelli in Turandot??!!! listen to "gli enigmi sono tre" avaible on youtube and you'll discover not only that Nilsson didn't eat nobody, but Corelli OWNED HER!

[oznegrella]

The difference of singers is how they can sing a frase with musicality and with which material they do it. M.d. Monaco had the heaviest but also the most voluminous voice because he worked a lot on this.

[rootbeer281]

I really think that you should've included Jussi Bjorling in this.

[Mooorhe]

If you look at the tenors in this video, they are all very heavy tenors. Bjorlings was a lighter lyric voice. His heavy roles were nothing compared to these 3's.

[erialm]

I wonder if Tucker could have done the same with Nilsson in Turandot, where the roles (Turandot and Calaf) are far heavier. In Questia Reggia is itself a heavy scene and the high C is more thickly orchestrated so to speak. And I doubt Nilsson went "full throttle" with a role like this (albeit she admittely didn't do that in Turandot either)

[GermanOperaSinger]

Yes he sang with Nilsson in Turandot several times and matched her decibel for decibel on the C...there are live recordings to prove it.

There are some other Turandot live recordings of Tucker where he literally drowns out the soprano (not Nilsson of course) completely on the C...Nilsson could knock out most tenors completely, 'full throttle' or not.

[OettingerCroat]

yah dude, you gotta get us a Tucker/Nilsson "In Questa Reggia" uploaded! :-)))

[Mooorhe]

I've actually been looking around for a Tucker/Nilsson Turandot... I haven't found anything so far.

[mariagalvany]

Very interesting!I never heard Turnandot with Richard Tucker.

[mariagalvany]

I really like Richard Tucker. He really keeps up with Nilsson. I also like Corelli nd his HIGH notes. They were so large he could really keep up with Nilsson,he can be heard (hardly) but can be heard. And also I like Mario Del Monaco.

[Artisticz]

aside from Mario del Monaco - was basically a fanboy fest of correlli & tucker

[khrmf]

Please put also from Mario Del Monaco high D-flat from trio from Il Trovatore and also high C from Di quell pira, also High B from Nessun dorma, high B flat from Otello and Norma. Also put High C from Bonisolli from Di quella pira.

[tonyantony1]

It's not a matter of opinion, the recording has been analyzed oscilloscopicly . Both the 1949 and 1954 recordings of in questa regia have audible clicks on the last syllable of the word "fresca".In fact,Callas's high C isn't audible because it's taken from the Decca stereophonic recording of Turandot. It's Borkh who sang the high C deliberately smudged by the creators of the recording.

[GermanOperaSinger]

You may very well be right...I didn't make the recording, and got it as such, so please don't blame me, as I didn't realize. Is the del Monaco C live?

[tonyantony1]

Dear GermanOperasinger,  I don't blame you for the fake recording.I blame those who created it in an attempt to make money by pulling the wool over recording collectors's eyes.Del Monaco's high C is taken by his studio recording with Bokh as Turandot.I'll send you an enlightening article.

[Joeleole]

I am glad someone else knows the spurious circumstances of that recording! A total fabrication!

[tonyantony1]

In 1949 del Monaco's high C wouldn't cover Callas's voice.Callas at that time had a huge voice ,even in 1955 Norma he didn't overpower her and her voice had become smaller after the weight lost

[tonyantony1]

It's fake.

[ucrebel59]

CORELLI!

[comey717]

well i just finished hear what is the famous turnandot with corelli and nilsson . and she woon on that high C. like i said before How can u drown somebody out just one time. nope she had a bigger High C. and Corelli didnt want to except it

[tonyantony1]

The live recording of Turandot with Callas and del Monaco is fake.

[comey717]

it is?

[tonyantony1]

Yes it is.Del Monaco didn't sing the high C in the line ti voglio

ardeeeeeeeente d'amor according to del Monaco's friend who attended the performances.Callas's interpretation of in questa reggia is taken from her 1954 recording and del Monaco's voice is takem from a studiao recording of Turandot.Callas's phrasing is identical to her 1954 recording.

[phantom4087]

No it isn't

[comey717]

That high C in un ballo was great . corelli was blown away by her c's.  but he aways denied it . Any ways wat a terrific b natural . excellent high note

[tehen162]

"corelli was blown away by her c's. but he aways denied it"

Nilsson wrote differently in her biography: "I think in most cases Corelli won the fight on high C"

[comey717]

that wouldnt make any sense whatso ever. I have a live recording of her and Corelli in the Met in 1961. and she totally drowned him out in that one. Which was known to everyone as the day he bit her. how can you sing higher than somebody just one time? makes no sense. his microphone was put higher and that you can compare because when you hear her sing a C and hear Corelli sing a C if you compare hers are bigger. corelli was blown away but he always wanted to be higher.

[tehen162]

You know it better than Nilsson, don't you? Who is she after all? But you can read several accounts on operasites about their performances saying the same as Nilsson.

He did not bite her. Again Nilsson about the story: "I stayed on our mutual high C, until everything went black for me. When I

could see clearly again, Corelli had disappeared. Bing tried to

calm Corelli (one act remained!) and told him that he now had his chance

for revenge.

[tehen162]

cont. In the next act when I through his kiss transform from an ice

statue into a loving woman he could bite me. Corelli immediately got into a better mood ...Courage failed him in the last moment, because he neither kissed nor bit

me. Bing, in fear of what might happen, had already left the opera house.

When the stage director later told me about Bing's coup against me, I sent the following telegram to Bing:

Have to cancel next performance STOP severly bitten STOP Birgit

[comey717]

and i wasnt talkin bout that i was talkin bout the high c coparison. If u dont like that its true then dont read it. simple has that.

[tehen162]

This is a resonable advice. If I not read it how could I decide wether I like it or not?

[comey717]

it isnt your businees its my opion nobody sayed or wrote nothing to you

[v2eqi]

Wrong.Corelli bit Nilsson(although this was probably just a publicity stunt) in Philadelphia.

[flicfan416]

I always thought that was Di Stefano... considering he was pretty stuck up, but it you're right.

[GermanOperaSinger]

The way I see it, and I've heard several live 'questa reggias' from Nilsson and Corelli: Corelli would usually hold the C longer than Nilsson, but Nilsson's C was indeed larger than Corelli's...although not so much that she would drown him out; he was heard, but Nilsson always had an edge over him in terms of volume...now the incident where he bit her was when she held the C longer than he did, which he didn't like because usually it was vice versa.

[comey717]

Thnxs  GermanoperaSinger for clearing up everything

[tehen162]

This is interesting. He did not bite him as the quote by Nilsson proves it. In his book Bing wrote the same as Nilsson about the incident. I agree that Nilsson had an edge over him in the most part of the range but not on the high notes. There are several live recordings proving it.

[comey717]

yes she did. but she know tat they sounded great together she made him happy by letting him go higher than her. and you can tell they up his voice too.

[fabrizzzio48]

Thanks G O S, fot hard work and this post. I get the most from Tucker's unique capacity to sttacatto, after his vitpria. Few singers use it, but it's so crucial in many arias to aaccent a note, it awakens the audience. Monaco used too, but it was one of Tuckers greatest assests, he used extensively.

I have NO problems with his accent.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Absolutely correct, in fact he used it so much that some idiots will claim that he couldn't sing legato, which is complete rubbish, he had a beautiful legato as well...as for his accent, I don't know if he has one as I am not native Italian, but there are a few stories relating to this:

On the Met opera quiz they had a 'guess the tenor' or whatever and they brought an 'expert' to try to figure out which tenors were singing; they played Tucker and he said, "I don't know who this is..."

[GermanOperaSinger]

"...but he sounds Florentine!" And he was told, "Yes, a Florentine from Brooklyn!", which then everyone burst into laughs. In his debut in Italy in Gioconda after singing 'Cielo e mar' the Italians all rushed up to him and asked him where he had learned his perfect Italian...he replied, "In Brooklyn!"

So, according to these stories, his Italian was flawless.

[fabrizzzio48]

Many thanks for the anecdotes and response. I am not proficient in Italian, but I have never gotten the sense from him that he had accent roblems ever, unlike someone commenting.

Best.

[tomzoricic]

Where did you get this recording of MDM and Callas? Fantastic!

[sospello]

Certainly a high note is no full measure, but it is part of the heavy load of the tenor to come through well building to the high and sustaining it without forcing. Del Monaco sounds stressed and pinched here as he can above A; Tucker has some overemphatic enunciation (concern about sounding "Italian"?) although the high is splendid; Corelli's highs to B, often C, are miracles of power to spare and brilliant timbre; overplaying fiato can diminish the next phrase while sharping the high (#1).

[OettingerCroat]

great assembly GermanOperaSinger, your contribution to us opera fans on Youtube is unparalleled. thanks!

5/5

[redsox2213]

Yeah, that is the Parma recording recording. Possibly my favorite Tosca I own. THANKS!

[teachertenor]

Franco Corelli, excepcional demostración del dominio de la técnica vocal operística de la verdadera escuela del Bel Canto italiana,era el único de los tres que dominó con sabiduría los matices de la expresión y el apianar la voz con gusto. Mario del Mónaco, exigió al máximo su voz (tutto forte), nunca pudo apianar. Richard Tucker, se nota que no es Italiano,y lo que sí es ridículo en Tucker, es no averse preocupado en sacar esa "Horrible ERRRRRRE arrastrada"..-

[romeoelas007]

Es mas horrible el "horror" ortografico que tuviste...es HABERSE, no averse. Sos un loser.

[kgus123]

Thanks for these worthy clips.

The Tucker "Tosca" clip was particularly exciting, do you have more info on the performance? (The Baritone sounded like Leonard Warren)

[GermanOperaSinger]

This was the famous 1956 Tosca with Tebaldi, Tucker, and...you guessed it: Warren.