Lawrence Tibbett sings "Il Balen" from Il Trovatore

This is a rare recording of Tibbett singing Luna's aria, although he never sang the role in its entirety. It shows both the glorious management of the breath and dark velvety timbre, but also his tendency to sing wide-open above the passagio(which is very dangerous). The legato and his feeling for phrasing is absolutely magnificient.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Primobaritono
• baritone
• aria
• opera
• Il
• Trovatore
• Dmitri
• Hvorostovsky
• Bryn
• Terfel
• Leo
• Nucci
• Sherrill
• Milnes
• Verdi
• Giuseppe

[rexeterna]

can you explain what you mean by him singing wide-open above the passaggio? it seems pretty clear to me that he is indeed covering here.

[primobaritono]

He sings a wide-open high F at 2:59 ...he does sing a great covered high G though afterwards.

[mosifchi]

Tibbett kind of looks like Leonardo Di Caprio in some of those pictures. Of course more manly

[primobaritono]

I agree completely!! When i saw "The Aviator" with Di Caprio I thought to myself that he would be the ideal actor to play Tibbett in a film. However I doubt they will ever make a movie about Tibbett...too bad...he was such a tremendous artist with a very interesting biography!

[stevevandien]

If we now have a Verdi baritone of anything approaching this quality, I haven't heard him -- what an artist Tibbett was --

[primobaritono]

You are so right. I've heard many excellent lyric baritones in the opera scene today, but there's no great Verdi baritone left. Besides, vocal fachs (a dubious subject to begin with) have shifted it seems. Tibbett would today be considered a bass-baritone by the color and weight of his voice. Robert Merrill was primarily thought of as a LYRIC baritone...what does that make Hampson?

[valentine0591]

@stevevandien Giorgio Zancanaro

[bedove77]

Ritmo "slentato",and I don't like at all this rendition.Some bad point (2'59"" and later) with squeezed,blatty,opened notes. Tibbett is splendid in everything else you posted, here really not.

For me,best "il balen" I heard is from Carlo Galeffi.Ty the same!

[carolus9able]

Without a doubt Tibbett's voice is the greatest baritone ever. None can compare!

Careolus9able

[perhegg]

@primobaritono And he shouldn't. It doesn't sound very nice. Everything above D-D# should be covered.

[TomYarbrough]

I like Hampson OK, but he does't compare with Merrill and he doesn't even come close to Tibbett!

[lafca88]

Ammaliante voce sembra veramente un innamorato voce notevole.

[diarci]

So much of the joy in listening to Tibbett is (as with Ponselle) the sheer beauty of the voice itself and we sometimes forget the artistry of his interpretation. I personally rank him with Titta Ruffo and no one else. I love Robert Merrill's voice - like warm butterscoth - but as an interpreter he is simply not in that league.

[AfroPoli]

I have never heard this before, thanks. The G in the end is sublime.

[legatofancier]

@primobaritono - Curiously enough, I've seen Merrill referred to as a Bass-Baritone in print. This may be a response to the way his voice darkened and took on additional weight in middle age. By today's standards, I suppose that Tibbett would be regarded as a Bass-Baritone. His voice is not unlike Bryn Terfel in certain respects. The notion of vocal fachs seems like a slippery slope. Especially when you consider how much voices change over time.

[seektheforce]

@primobaritono Hampson is probably a tenor.