Mario Ancona - I Puritani - Ah! per sempre io ti perdi - Bellini

Mario Ancona (1860 - 1931) was one of the most beautiful baritone voices in history. Once again we hear perfectly balanced vocal registration, clear vowels, balanced chiaroscuro, and very little constriction. The role of Silvio from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci was written for him. This is a true bel canto voice based on the true bel canto principles of balanced vocal registration. Enjoy!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mario
• Ancona
• puritani
• Bellini
• ah
• per
• sempre
• io
• ti
• perdi
• opera
• baritone
• bel
• canto

[MrCafiero]

@Figaro48 AGREED!!!

[Figaro48]

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 carry a tune in a dump-truck. He tried to sing a duet of "How to handle a woman" with Kitty Carlisle. She was a pro but he was a train wreck. Wanted to leave the room but was transfixed.

[legatofancier]

@MrCafiero - Alan Jay Lerner (lyricist & librettist of MY FAIR LADY & CAMELOT, among others) was a "him". Joking aside, I wonder if there are any reliable test statistics for people's hearing in the Western Hemisphere prior to World War I (or up until 1925, with the advent of electric recording). Of course, I've talked to older singers who also observed that there was a fuller, easier production of voices by singers in th early to mid 20th Century. There's no contest on that point.

[MrCafiero]

@legatofancier I cannot say I agree with her. People's hearing is not damaged. It is easily testable. People that heard the great singers and also heard the singers of today could tell the difference. Tebaldi herself noted a huge difference. As have many others.

[legatofancier]

@MrCafiero - Alan Jay Lerner, the lyricist & librettist, made the observation that singers could indeed fill theatres in his era. However, industrial & urban noise has damaged most people's hearing to the degree that we do not hear the singers as well as audiences did in earlier times. It's just food for thought. Of course, I'm not denying that singers of The Golden Age ( and there really was one) had a musical & vocal culture that only exists in fragments today.

[MrCafiero]

@seektheforce It didn't even begin to capture the full sound. Ponselle said the same about Caruso's voice and her own. What you hear was just a fraction of the sound. You need really good equipment including really great speakers that can specifically handle the voice. I find horn speakers like the Klipsch to work best.

[seektheforce]

@MrCafiero So the horn that these great behemoth singers sang in, really dampened their sound down a ton right? It seems like all of the voices that I've heard from these old recording techniques, sound small with the exception of Titta Ruffo. Is there any way to Really hear what their voices sounded like?

[minnie888444]

Just beautiful. Thanks 1 million for posting. 

[MrCafiero]

@fuzzie1000 You cannot disagree with facts.  Sorry.

[fuzzie1000]

Lets agree to disagree. One thing we do agree on is the quality of Ancona's voice, and that of many other that you mention. I to am a huge fan of "the old way". So lets not split hairs, and just agree on the pleasure it is to listen to these great masters of yesteryear.