Joseph Calleja - Ingemisco - Verdi Requiem - BBC Proms 2011

Joseph Calleja, tenor

Ingemisco

Verdi - Requiem

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Semyon Bychkov, conductor

...

Ingemisco tamquam reus,
culpa rubet vultus meus;
supplicanti parce, Deus.

Qui Mariam absolvisti,
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Preces meae non sunt digne,
sed tu, bonus, fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne.

Inter oves locum praesta,
et ab haedis me sequestra,
statuens in parte dextra.

• Category

  Music

[moorfan1]

Bravo. Well said. In person this voice oscillates all around your head, and from 15 feet made my eardrums hurt. A microphone voice this is not.

[jörg artur]

i have heard a lot of singers live in the last 35 years - great opera stars, newcomers and so on. Calleja i have heard live in many roles like Rodolfo, Nadir, Edgardo, in the verdi requiem. He has a unique voice, not small and has no problems to be heard also in big houses without micro. For me, who hes heard from Domingo, Pavarotti to Villazon, Cura a..,o many famous tenors live, i can tell you, he is one of the best. i agree: I dont like micros in the opera house, it kills the fascination.

[Aidan Russell]

So very true. The audience has forgotten how to listen. As much as I detest using a microphone as a performer I detest it even more as a listener. The average concert experience has become offensively loud. An audience today would have no appreciation for the power of Del Monaco or Nilsson because with a microphone Juan Diego Flores can be as loud as Corelli.

[Conrad Siebert]

Did you hear them both live?

[Conrad Siebert]

That's not true. Plenty of singers are still filling the 2000-4000 seat opera halls with sound, including those you mentioned. Perhaps a re-wording is in order: Most of the stars "who make it on Youtube" today are microphone stars.

[Maire Eiblis]

Whether one likes this or that singer is a matter in great part of subjective opinion as well as objective measurable effects.

USA and UK "ears" have a distinct dislike of almost any vibrato, far more than Mediterranean "ears".

Calleja has vibrato. He does not have flutter.

He also has a nasality at times, also not favoured by USA / UK ears.

To say he has a weak voice is factually ignorant.

To suggest he has a microphone voice is worse than ignorant; go listen to him live at an opera.

[AfroPoli]

That's an interesting quote, and really spot on. Zarah Leander had a song which was called "Good microphones". She sang: "Nowadays you just need good microphones and a tiny, tiny voice". Most of the stars today a microphone stars: Florez, Kaufmann, Calleja, Schrott etc.... it's a shame.

[BearClawChrisLapp]

AfroPoli's assessment of Calleja's voice is correct. I wish Calleja all the luck in the world; I'd pay to hear him sing. But to compare him to Bjorling is a ridiculous nonsensical absurdity. The discriminating ear, as well as true opera singers, is fast becoming a thing of the past. We live in the age of pretty singers, small voices and big microphones. The unwashed are then led to the next superstar with advertising hyperbole. Where are the loggionisti when you need them?

[BearClawChrisLapp]

My friend, you and I are of like mind. However, Marilyn Horne predicted our extinction in the following quote: "The microphones are coming. It’s just a matter of time before the older generation that understands what a disaster microphones would be is safely out of the way. And when they come, that'll be the beginning of the end. Who will really learn to sing? There won't be any need to... There is no market for a good sound"

[mario marini]

I heard live both Bjorling and Calleja,Calleja has definitely more volumen than Bjorling