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From: GermanOperaSinger
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  • Italian tenors are the best

  • Absolutamente perfecto...electrizante...mara­villoso...!! bravoooooo!!!

  • House brought me here. Gorgeous recording.

  • bravoooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooooooooo

  • Bravo

    Belissimo

  • BRAVO

  • ¡Exquisito Beniamino!

  • Nostalgias de una maravillosa voz .

  • Genius, thanks.

  • Luciano Pavarotti once said that there were three tenors that had been even better than himself - "Beniamino Gigli, Enrico Caruso and Jussi Bjorling."

  • @fotobosse

    I heard him say on Letterman, that Caruso was the greatest.

  • @babystinky It then seems that Luciano Pavarotti changed his mind more the once, depending on what kind of mood he was in.

  • mi chiedo come fosse questa magnifica aria cantata da Caruso...

  • Hmmm, I always thought Pavarotti was best with this aria, but now I am not so sure.  This guy is pretty good. I'll have to listen to Corelli now.

  • @montelatici "This guy" is one of the greatest Opera singers ever :D

  • me emociono

    

  • En mi opinion personal Gigli representa y esta ubicado dentro de los 3 mas grandes tenores de tods los epocas y este Nessum Dorma es una muestra.

    Tato

  • THE BEST VOICE OF THE WORLD . hE MAKE ME PROUD TU BE ITALIAN. THANK FOR POSTING.

  • Showing how it's done right. Thank you for posting.

  • il non plus ultra!!!!!

  • maestro de maestros beniamino salve cesar

  • a shortage of taste would be just about the last thing I'd expect to hear about Benn ya Meee No. My grandmother (1895-1986) heard both Caruso and Gigli, from the 'teens to the 1920's and 30's. She told us she did not notice any discernible drop off in quality from Immortal #1 to the next Immortal. That no one in her circle of opera fanatic friends went around saying about Benya that "Yeah, he's good, but he's no ... "

  • @atlatahuac wow i envy your grandma big time. god bless

  • meine Mutter durfte ihn erleben.... und meine Schwester ( 4 Jahre alt ) nahm die Blumen wieder mit, die meine Mutter mitgebrachte :-)

  • @ecmodell Fresche Göre-deine Schwester.

    Super Stimme.

  • @MrMusikkenner vielleicht hat sie die Blumen mehr geliebt als seine Stimme *fg

    ja, er war sicher einer der Größten!

  • QUANDO NON CANTI LIRICA SEMBRA IMPOSSIBILE COME BRANO,SE SEI TENORE CAPISCI CHE NON è UN BRANO IMPOSSIBILE

  • Beniamino, si hoy estuvieses con nosotros.....que lujo el poder disfrutarte. Desde chica aprendi a quererte. gracias por todo lo que nos dejaste.  regi1948

  • A LA  GORDA NO

  • Mas su misterio está encerrado en él !!! ...........El misterio de su magia cantando ,quién puede opinar sobre ese misterio ? Grandioso Gigli !!!

  • Y hablando de control y de Corelli, hay que decir que su control y moderacion de su portentosa voz, muchas veces no era el adecuado y se le "iba la pinza", aparte que su timbre en ocasiones no era muy bello: unas veces era caprino y otras lobuno...pero cuando estaba en vena no habia otro como el gran Corelli¡

  • Si comparais en el 1'02" el timbre y el color del vibrato de Gigli es superparecido a la version de Domingo del Met del 88' que circula en YT. Haced la prueba y vereis. Gigli y Domingo tenian una tesitura en la parte tonal media muy parecida y con gran control de esta.

  • His voice sounds pretty worn here, reminds me of DiStefano in his later years shouting through the passaggio. Too bad, Gigli was one of the greatest.

  • why did hollywood disgrace this guys name w/ a crappy movie?

  • so strange that people are commenting on old opera singers that died in 1957. Everyone's a critic. Opera Fans are worse than Rock Critics. Wow.... Found this online. Beautiful song... beautiful voice.

  • he sounds horrible compared to franco corelli.

  • 'The best is a realm not an individual person!'

  • THE BEST TENOR OF ALL TIME IS ENRICO CARUSO!!!!!!!

  • @Heldenbariton1 Yes, I can only agree with you that Enrico Caruso was the best tenor ever, but he never sang sung Nessun dorma - for obvious reasons.....

  • @tomfroekjaer what do you think are the reaons?just curious..

  • @bandong1234567890 Caruso died before Puccini had composed it.

  • @bandong1234567890 Epic fail. LOL

  • Not Gigli at his best. Phrasing is off, a bit of the Uh! and some scooping.

  • Hear Kiepura on you tube" Vienna live" Turandot to get an idea of what one of the

    originators of the the role sounded like - none come near for brilliance  and

    passion of this great singer . He is the standard of comparison .

  • Excuse meeee!!?????, better than than the UNIQUE DRAMATIC TENOR Mario del

    Monaco, Gigli was trully great, but you cannot compare. You must have too listen more of del Monaco´s legasy.

  • Absolutely amazing.

    

  • he is one of the best! instead of Mario del Monaco. BRAVO!!!!

  • Yes by far the best tenor ever and probably will always be is Franco Corelli. If God has a voice I would imagine it to sound like the singing voice of Franco. The first time I ever heard him I was awestruck and had to run out and try to buy all his record albums which was back in the early sixties. I can thank my mother for introducing me to opera . She and another friend of mine also think he is the best.

  • Bravo for perfection and eternal beauty! Thanks for posting this Gigli master work.

  • It's flawless ... like he doesn't even need to make an effort.

  • Wow! This is something special. Also my dads favourite tenor

  • I am Italan, so the decision maybe difficult, but personally between Gigli, Bjoerling, Caruso, Dpmingo, Carreras, Del Monaco, Di Stefano, Pavarotti, Vickers, villazon and many other good tenors, by far, but really by very far, the n.1 in the last 100 hundred years is Franco Corelli, wrongly not sufficiemtly supported bi media, record industry etc, not last critics who should be the most competent....

  • @scopizzo

    You´re right...Corelli is the very best!

  • @JerryJimmson Stop saying that one is the best. My favorite tenor is Mario lanza, but that is just a matter of taste, because they are all great.

  • @Masknick

    A Matter of taste? No...Corelli is the best

  • @JerryJimmson Why do you think he is the best?

  • @Masknick

    Best Singer!

  • @JerryJimmson lol, you can't explain me why you think he is better than the others?

  • @JerryJimmson Sorry my friend Jussi Bjorling is the best And i like Corelli too

  • @bkeay100

    And i hate Bjorling...because his Voice sound like a sick cat

  • @JerryJimmson And I hate you because of your stupid statements.

  • @Masknick

    You hate me? Wow! It hurts me...

  • so hot, unbelievable

  • I wonder who Puccini had in mind for this back in his day?

  • @leiamae007 Puccini probably had Caruso in mind and was probably saddened that this aria came too late for the tenor sent to him courtesy of God, as Puccini once put it and probably believed.

    Gigli does a great job, but I believe Caruso would have had another benchmark recording had this been available for his amazing 1904 recording session.

  • Hard to compare Gigli, Caruso and Pavarotti. Certainly the three best we have recordings of. As much as I like Pavarotti, I think Gigli had the "sweeter" voice and just as strong and technical.

  • During the final high C, when the music stops at 2:32, at 2:35 you get the huge percussion at the back and the final is sung my a chorus, and not just by strings. Gigli's version is spectacular!

  • 1 800 holy crap.. what a voice

  • I have to say the Weshman Sir Harry Secombe had the voice to top the lot good as this is

  • Excepcional, es obvio y no cabe dudas que teniendo una grabacion del 40, como esta, suena como el mejor hasta la fecha, es un cristal!

  • why listen to rubbish modern pop music when you have timeless beauty such as this?

  • Awesome as always!!!

  • Just listened to a Pavarotti performance of this great aria here on YT (more than two million hits). It's very good and I like it, but it is not really a performance in the same league as this one by Gigli. But if you don't know, your go with the flow - and miss the really great ones in the process....

  • recorded in London 4th October 1949 GIGLI was 59 -first issued record DB21138-with chorus and the philharmonic orchestra conducted by Stanford Robinson

  • Number one number two number three... this is art, not a math test! Is it ever possible that only the Romans was so sapient to say "de gustibus non disputandum est"?

  • :) This is a late recording. Gigli's voice had taken a bit of a decline by then, but I still like this. Not the best recording of Nessun dorma I've ever heard (Pavarotti sings the best Nessun dorma of all), but I won't complain.

  • Can't touch Bjorlng in my opinion...there is just something about the timbre in Jussi B's voice that is fantastic. I'd agree with the great background on this.

  • His voice is so sweet. Maybe not as strong as Caruso and Pavarotti but he is in the top three of ALL TIME.

  • @montelatici Pavarotti never had a strong voice,he had a microphone voice, I heard him in opera and he didn't have any strenght

  • For me, Gigli had the most perfect voice and technique ....

    Pierre

  • @opera1232010 Dear Pierre ! For me: BENIAMINO GIGLI WAS THE BEST TENOR !

  • @wolfganganderl The best tenor of the century is Nicolai Gedda. In French,German ,Italian ,Russian,Swedish, He had it. His voice lasted until the late seventies. I heard him in Germany in the early sixties in Tamino, the Duke(Rigoletto) Werther(he was so much better than Alagna even in French) The Tenor! not the most powerful but the best musician!!

  • @vivegedda Gedda was indeed a great tenor with a beautiful lyrical voice , but to classify him as THE greatest tenor of the 20th's century .... What about your other Swedisch genious Jussi Björling or Enrico Caruso who founded the basis for all later tenors?

  • Corelli + Caruso...

    They are the only ones who give me any sense of willpower or triumph..

    This was very frail, and that's being civil.. This is just my opinion.

  • did beniamio was a dramatic tenor?

  • @mauriciomille No.. He was a lyric..

    BUT HE TRYS SO HARD TO BE LIKE FRANCO IN THIS ITS FUNNY.

    Heroic style

  • @sdi1111: this recording is from sometime between 1930 and 1940 when Franco Corelli was anywhere between 9 and 19 years old. So you you really think Gigli was trying to be like Franco Corelli? That's like saying Caruso was trying to be like Juan Diego Florez..

  • @tomfroekjaer yeah your right, sorry i didnt mean to imply that he was practice to his tracks or anything..

    i just meant the way he trys to sing this..dramatically, hes ok,, but i think he should have tried something different..

  • @sdi1111: OK, get what you mean.

    BTW, I think Puccini had Caruso in mind for the role of Calef and Caruso was (amongst other things) a dramatic tenor. Unfortunately Caruso died before then and Puccini too before the opera was finished.

  • @sdi1111 thanks,,,,

  • @mauriciomille: no, lyrical.

  • @tomfroekjaer thanks, lyrical is the one who performs arias without acting and his voice is based most of the time sharping voice isnt?

  • @mauriciomille: apparently the definition of a lyrical tenor is this: A warm graceful voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy and can be heard over an orchestra. Examples Gigli, Björling, probably Pavarotti. Some tenors can't really be classified; e.g, Enrico Caruso.

  • @tomfroekjaer thanks, and dramatically is stronger and heavy voice isnt?

  • @mauriciomille: yes, that's right. According to Wikipedia: Also "tenore di forza" or "robusto" – an emotive, ringing and very powerful, clarion, heroic tenor sound. Voices like those of Enrico Caruso and Mario del Monaco.

  • @tomfroekjaer: I would classify Caruso as the Picasso or van Gogh of tenors. He was a non-conformist who had the ability to bare his soul like no other.

  • @wiseroldfart: agreed ! Never came across any tenor that spoke more to my heart.

  • Divin!

  • Why are you people on here comparing singers? To compare singers in the manner you're doing is not only idiotic, but completely pointless. Different voice types, different musicians and completely different techniques in some cases. Each of these singers is remembered for their own reason, and I for one have yet to hear your names mention in music history. Just appreciate the artistry and stop acting like children.

  • Awesome.TY for posting.

  • Sublime Beniamino!

  • Joke Poll: I studied tenor singing very deep, I also sing by my self.. listened to all famous tenors... I put Pavarotti above all just like sun in compare with planets. Pavarotti had most controlable and right way of singing if You know about resonanse, support, ballance, color, volume. Also his style, manor, articulation, diction is above all tenors existed. Everyone has his pluses and minuses, but Pavarotti's "package" makes him as etalon for tenor singing. Belive me!

  • @grinvaldsjanis I like Pavarotti as well&you make some accurate comments.But his voice wasn't as suited for some of the more spinto roles as perhaps CorelliOR MDM were,like Forza ,Chenier, Ernani,Trovatore & even Tosca.Gigli was able to make these transitions to the spinto roles easier than LP. I must say that Pavarotti had a wonderful carreer&reignited opera because of his carisma& great voice. He also made NESSUN DORMA more popular then it ever was by making it 1 of his signature pieces.Enjoy

  • @sugarbist If he puts Pav 'above all just like sun in compare with planets', there's no way in hell he has studied tenor singing 'very deep'. He hasn't even touched the surface. He's listened to all the famous tenors? As in the 3, I'm assuming? Really funny comment and he's making a fool of himself.

  • @GermanOperaSinger Pavarotti was wonderful, but grinvaldsjanis's comment is  a lttle out of our galaxy and i expect him to reply when he comes back to earth.

  • gigli é gighi....para todo o sempre....amém!

  • Unbelievable version and I compared Corelli, Bjorling and I love this version best of all, not to take anything away from the other two.

  • MARIO DEL MONACO IL TENORE DEI TENORI

  • grandemente potente e preciso..a scapito dell'articolazione delle vocali!!! cmq immenso!

  • he was the greatest tenor of all time, wonderful sound, perfect

  • Ouvrir,ouvrir,toujours ouvrir:Pas toujours très beau!

  • o.0!!!!!

    he had a very wonderfull technique, he was transmitting the sentiement, he are my second faorite tenore, the 1° is lucciano pavarotti!, he had a glitter voice! very glitter, i love this technique.

  • A master class is his interpretation!!!. A sweet heroic full voice!!!!...what else can someone say about Gigli?...just superb!!!!!

  • Comment removed

  • who sings the origanal nessun dorma

  • While I'm no opera expert, I really like this version in spite of its imperfections. It seems at times that he's yelling rather than singing, but considering his age at the time, wow!

  • simply WONDERFUL,the bawling way in which this aria is performed in the current day should come with a health warning.Gigli was a great lyrical tenor

  • It might be possible sometime, probably not very soon, to hear a tenor as good as Gigli, but it will never be possible to hear one better.That's my opinion.

  • A really wonderful rendition by the great Gigli. Thanks for posting.

    BTW is there anywhere on YT Non piangere Liu with him pls?

  • I liked Gigli because his singing was like a lion. The air came from deep down in his stomache-like a lion.

  • If caruso came in above Gigli... Something was wrong with the voters.

  • Comment removed

  • Excellent version! I was a little wary at first because of the age of the recording, but this is probably now my favorite version of Nessun Dorma.

  • best

  • Bravisimo Beniamino!!!!!

  • To my taste, di Stefano is more sweet and romantic.

  • DIO STESSO SI SENTE IN VOCE SUA

  • soy nuevo en este tipo de musica, cada vez me gusta mas!!

  • Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

    P.S. I still think that Corelli is the Calaf. But this performance went into my heart!

    Yes, Puccini wanted him to Simg, as I remember Gigli says this in his biographical book.

  • Bravo!

  • ¡¡¡Imposible no conmoverse!!!!

  • Superlativo...Por lejos la mejor interpretacion por calidad vocal, tecnica y sentimiento...Maestro Gigli por siempre a la vanguardia...y regalando su talento...Bavisimo...

  • I like this very much, he was a close personal friend although i never actually met him

    FIVE STARS

  • Listeners to "Opera Fanatic" on WKCR-FM voted for Favorite Tenor of the Century. 47 singers received a grand total of 600 votes. Gigli came in 4th place. The first five places were:

    1st: Corelli, with 185 votes or 30.8% of the vote

    2nd: Björling 177 (29.5%)

    3rd: Caruso 69 (11.5%)

    4th: Gigli 50 (8.3%);

    5th: Vickers 17 (2.8%)

    They obviously didn't know what they were talking abaout :-)

  • Yes, The Bel Canto Society is mostly just Corelli fans. The poll wasn't really accurate since only the Corelli fans knew it existed, and that's why he came out on top. According to the this poll Stefan Zucker was a more popular tenor than di Stefano! If you know anything about Zucker you'll find this as funny as I do.

  • Zucker more popular than di Stefano ! You'd have to be a fruit cake to do that :-)

  • Is Zucker really a tenor? I mean...his speaking voice is like dying...

    Can he really sing??

  • @GermanOperaSinger Thanks, I was wondering about that. Corelli was an outstanding tenor, but, the best of the 20th century? The other votes for Caruso, Gigli, and Bjorling are much closer to the mark.

  • @GermanOperaSinger Zucker shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as any of these great ones. It's a bad to joke to do otherwise.

  • @GermanOperaSinger And where is Alfredo Kraus!!!! The Best Bel Canto singer of the XX century without doubt.

  • @tomfroekjaer Caruso as number 3

    Really wow

  • @tomfroekjaer the number one is MARIO DEL MONACO

  • @andyroma72: if you say / think so. All a matter of opinion - like all art. For me the greatest tenor was Caruso, but that's just my opinion. Unfortunately Caruso didn't have the opportunity to sing Nessum dorma - although Puccini intended the role of Calef for Caruso. But they both died before this great opera had its premiere.

  • @tomfroekjaer I agree. Corelli has a genuine power and strengh, but what may be missing is the fragility and the humanity

  • @tomfroekjaer i listened to most versions of this and pavarotti seemed the best.. i was super high when watching them and i felt a stronger connection in pavarotti's voice.

  • @warrboy24: That's very good. Art is all about personal experience. If Luciano gives you the ultimate experience, that's great! But please be tolerant! If some other person thinks that Gigli, Schmidt, Björling, Del Monaco or whoever gives them "a kick" - that's great too - for them !

  • @tomfroekjaer This poll is an absolute joke!!! To compare Corelli to the likes of Caruso, Lanza, Gigli, Bjorling and Di Stefano to name a few is an insult to these great tenors. Yes Corelli had a good voice but he was a dramatist and patter merchant who shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as these greats because he fall short of their heights by a very long way. As mentioned he was good but without doubt grossly overrated.

  • @bigttim1: well, I don't think either that Corelli has anything to do in the company of the other tenors mentioned. But apparently some people think so - which is OK with me. Everyone entitled to their own opinion. Don't think the survey is representative in any way ....

  • @tomfroekjaer No they didn't. Caruso is number one and in his own class. Gigli is number two.

  • @zebraaable: yes, that's about right. Caruso was something special - lyric, spinto, dramatic. He sort of had it all including an exeptional empathy. Björling wasn't bad either.

  • @tomfroekjaer Agreed. Björling is for me the other one of the three tenors. As it is Christmas, I sometimes think of Björling as number two, but nuver nuber one - that is always Caruso for me. :)

  • They obviously had a much better idea than you...

    Corelli is the best ever and im glad it gets acknowledged.

  • @sdi1111: if you have the opinion that Franco Corelli was the best ever tenor of the past century - better than Caruso, Gigli, Jussi Björling, Joseph Schmidt, Pavarotti and all the others that's fine with me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and is right from their own viewpoint.

  • @tomfroekjaer: I'm guessing they were mostly women. I can see why Corelli would appeal to so many of them. He had a great voice and great stage appeal. I'm sure he had more undies and hotel keys thrown at him than Tom Jones.

    For pure listening, I prefer Caruso and Bjorling. If only there were flawless digital recordings of Caruso and Bjorling at their best...

  • @wiseroldfart: Corelli certainly looked better than Caruso, Björling, Gigli, Schmidt, Pav, etc. :-) That could account for it. His voice was also great, but he he never left a lasting impression on me. - Unlike Caruso, Björling, the young Pavarotti and others.

  • @tomfroekjaer I think he should hAVE BEEN No.1 with Mario del Monaco ,my opinion of course .

  • @Bartelseddy: Hi, Unfortunately the comments on YouTube are not threaded so one is never sure which comments are comments to what ...

    When you say "I think he should have been No. 1" I therefore don't know who you are referring to.

    Corelli? Caruso? Pavarotti? Gigli? - Sorry, but since I've made several comments, I don't know !

  • @tomfroekjaer Hi,I was refferring Gigli. Thx for replying .

  • @Bartelseddy: Thanks for clearing that up (that you think Gigli should have been no. 1 on the list) - getting specific so that others may have a chance of following the thread :-)

    I think that in this aria Gigli is fantastic and I love and always have loved his beautiful lyrical voice.

    For me personally the "Voice of the Century" is Caruso - but all opinion...

  • @Bartelseddy: basically I think people are entitled to choose their own favorite regardsless of "everybody knows" and "the critics say" ... What really counts is what YOU think.

  • @tomfroekjaer  They are kidding aren't they?

  • I'm sorry but i prefer this version to Pavarotti's.

  • You don't have to be sorry, Shyrk! Many other versions of this beautiful aria are better than Pavarotti's (in my opinion) - including this one and the ones from del Monaco, Björling and Joseph Schmidt. Pavarotti - the young Pavarotti - had an incredible voice, but later on it was all a commercial show...

  • Why on earth do you feel you have to say sorry?

  • He sings the most fantastic Nessun Dorma,but I must also say that this is the No1 and most beautiful choir I've ever heared in this aria.

  • Please stop comparing Paul Potts to any of the "Great Masters", The guy is OK. but first give him some time to work on singing his Vowels correctly, In Opera as appsurde as it may sound, even the Consonants are sung. Nessun Dorma is the best example,When you listen to the part" Vincero", you here a short vowel "e" in between the"n" and the"c"; So it becomes "Vinecero". Gigli was and still is the Great Master to sing his consonants as well as his vowels.

  • I mean Paul Potts is in a different league to this guy

  • You're joking right?