Fedora Barbieri sings "O Don Fatale" from Verdi's Don Carlo

From a 1958 live recording featuring Barbieri, Jon Vickers as Carlo, Gre Brouwenstijn as Elisabetta, Tito Gobbi as Rodrigo, and Boris Christoff as Philip. Carlo Maria Giulini conducting.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• dramatic
• mezzo
• soprano
• aria
• verdi
• don
• carlos

[mariasarda]

A great artist....

[Zva26]

Fedora Barbieri didn't sound very comfortable with those top notes even in 1950, when she made her Met debut. Nature played a cruel trick on her. She was more a contralto than a mezzo, and her highest comfort note was about a G above the stave. She could, however, go down into the basement notes with no problems whatsoever. I admired her a lot, but this performance of "O Don Fatale" is pretty bad.

[luigceru]

La Barbieri resta una grande artista ma credo che il suo talento trovi terreno d'elezione in altri ruoli. Anche l'altra registrazione di quest'aria presente su youtube lascia un po' perplessi: gli acuti sono presi alla "speraindio" e nei gravi c'è la tendenza al parlato.

[luigceru]

Credo che il metro di giudizio tra presente e passato utilizzato da chi rimpiange il secondo sia decisamente iniquo. Se uno dei cantanti di oggi si fosse azzardato ad apportare anche solo alcune delle modifiche ad un brano come avviene qui, verrebbe subissato di critiche e tacciato di inadeguatezza in nome di un passato glorioso in cui regna solo la perfezione.

[Tenortalker]

Barbieri must have been truly special and committed in her singing for those who heard her live to remember her with such adulation. Simionato is admired, refered to with affection, but Barbieri is adored even without the top notes! Would Verdi have forgiven her the omited notes given her conviction and honest approach - we will never know. Ferrier managed to take her voice to the High A with gentle coaching - was Barbieri's problem nerves as well as technical limitation? I wonder!

[TerrancePogue]

Looking at the score and speaking to mezzos this role is a true dramatic mezzo.... its just this aria which has a few high notes but the rest of the role is regular mezzo range

[Wolfcrag85]

In the recording of Don Carlo from Florence with Cerquetti, Lo Forese, Bastianini, Siepi and Neri (1956), she could still reach the top notes. From there onwards, forget it.

[Zva26]

Walter Legge (the famed musicologist and husband of soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf) referred to this role as a graveyard for mezzos. A very famous and legendary mezzo (I forget who) is quoted in a book saying that, "Eboli is a dramatic soprano role, or for a dramatic mezzo with a very extended upper range". Many heavier sopranos, such as Callas, Nilsson, Dimitrova, and others sang this aria as well. For Nilsson, those top notes were child's play.

[ebecalleri]

Grandissima artista!

[carlo331]

Già nel '58 non aveva gli acuti...

[denissettantotto]

secondo me, senza acuto finale .... non è "o don fatale" ...se fate attenzione salta anche l'acuto nel secondo "ti maledico".....ma resta sempre uno dei grandi mezzo s.