Figaro48's channel

For Everyone's Information: The song is called "Oh leave me not to pine" and is sung by the character Mabel, a soprano, in Act II of "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert & Sullivan, written in 1879. Joan Sutherland and Linda Ronstadt had a go at it, but Jude sings it perfectly for its spot in t...

What a hot surprise! Where's the rest of it?

Bocelli better than Caruso??? What a naïve conclusion. This whole comparison is jejune exercise. Also Bocelli is strictly a microphone singer. When he attempted an opera on stage it was a huge disappointment.

When London/Decca announced Joan's recording of TURANDOT it raised plenty of eyebrows, but it turned out to be a wonderful performance. I don't think she ever tried it on stage, though.

She runs the gamut from ordinary to painful. I don't get it. Maybe she is simply too young to support what little voice she has. She might develop when she grows up but I hope she's saving her money.

Tebaldi spoke English a little bit better than this recording would suggest. What IS she singing at 1:40? It isn't "golden chances." But it was a glorious voice and I loved her. Heard her at the Met in Gioconda, Tosca, Chenier, Adriana, Falstaff & Otello. There has been no one to take her place.

Esecrabile.

This is the aural definition of "legato," but who is setting him up on the violin? Could it be Misha Ellman? Just a hunch.

In 2000 they elected a smug, ignorant man to the presidency and in 2010 they elected a bunch of smug, ignorant men to Congress. And then we have sociopathic billionaires like the Koch brothers who weren't elected by anyone. The super rich have delclared class warfare and they are winning.

Sherrill told me that he got the idea of putting the high B natural into the "maledizione" from the tenor aria "Folle di gelosia" in TABARRO which has a similar cadence. Was he trying to teach Plácido a thing or two?

I love all the various comments from the voice pedagogues. While some of them, individually, sound more or less sane, when taken together they produce an outright hilarious effect. And years ago I heard Alan Jay Lerner try to sing at one Of Dominic Dunn's parties and he had no voice and couldn't...

Voce secca?! Well, perhaps at age 71 the voice is just a trifle dry but he was one of the greats. And did you ever see those back-flips he did in Pagliacci? Anyone able to catch the fast spoken words after the concluding laugh?

How nice to be transported back 31 years to a night in the Bronx I remember so well! I still have the program. Sereni never sang this role at the Met, only this single concert with Devia, and the conductor is David Stivender, who normally performed as chorus master in those days. Mario had a rich...

I remember this performance! Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. June 25, 1980. A chance to hear Sereni sing a role he never sang in the house. Devia was Gilda and Dalmacio Gonzales, the Duke. David Stivender, Met chorus master conducted. It was very windy that night and somewhere in the 3rd act...

I was in the chorus when she sang this MACBETH and also LUCIA around the same time in Newark and Trenton. She was unique and unforgettable but also a very down to earth person with a good since of humor. She had us laughing during a rehearsal of the banquet scene. Her way with certain phrases wil...

@DrBukk Not while I understand facts and reality.