OTELLO Esultate - "Mystery Tenor" - "Who Done It?"

ESULTATE / Ora e per sempre addio -- by G. VERDI. Verdi is seen standing on the left in the posted illustration.

There is an impressively large number of opera fans and experts on YouTube whose knowledge is all but encyclopedic.

The fact that many of you represent opera as it exists/existed in nearly all parts of the world brings to YouTube as comprehensive a group of operaphiles as can be found in no other venue on the face of Earth.

Based on surfing the opera postings, it seems that OTELLO is one of the more popular of Verdi's creations. Accordingly, the collective knowledge of you who now read this message is staggering.

Listen carefully to this tenor's rendition. Let's see how many can identify this Otello of yesteryear.

Post your comments and possible identification.
Who is the tenor?
Why you think your choice is correct?

When the number of hits reaches 200,
or it becomes obvious that "the cat's out of the bag," I'll modify this commentary to provide the answer. This posting put on YouTube simply "for the fun of it."

==== = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
THE CONTEST CAME TO AN END on Monday, April
14th, 2008 when the number of hits reached
205.

THREE operatically-inclined YouTubers knew
the mystery tenor is JOHN O'SULLIVAN.

From the getgo, JWS2718 was well aware, as
he has an excellent video elsewhere on
YouTube of O'Sullivan singing "O muto asil"
from Rossini's William Tell. Be sure to hear it.

JEICHACKER and RUPEPILL were right as rain in all their comments. Well done, you three, whoever you are!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• gmmix
• Otello
• tenor
• Verdi
• exultate
• esultate
• opera

[TrovadorManrique]

Ha, ha, the man in the photo is Victor Maurel... Tamagno was a giant of man, not like Verdi!!!

Amazing this O'Sullivan... this is much better than his rendition of O muto Asil and of Dillo Ancor, the sound is more compact.

[gmmix]

Good point...Tamagno was indeed a bigger man than Verdi, at least in stature!

[jeichacker]

It is John OSullivan. I looked up the recordings on Amazon and found these selections. He ranks among Tamagno and Del Monaco in sheer power. The character standing with Verdi behind the mask looks like Iago, perhaps baritone Victor Maurel, who created that role in the premiere of Otello in 1887.

[gmmix]

I'm stunned by this person's detective work.

The character standing by Verdi is indeed the baritone Victor Maurel, the Iago in the premiere. In truth, I wasn't expecting ANYONE to know the mystery man in the illustration was Iago, and NOT Otello!

You caught me!

[rupepill]

My vote is for John O'Sullivan, the great Irish tenor. The role of Otello was one that he sang, his voice seems to have the same massively brilliant quality as has the mystery tenor's, and finally you recently left a comment about Mr O'Sullivan's singing of O muto asil (as far as I see, the only example yet of his singing here at YouTube), so your hearing his voice might have stimulated this particular post and competition.

[gmmix]

As usual, Rupepill's powers of deduction are

impressive and correct in all regards.  Well done, my friend.

[hiyadroogs]

Ha ha ha ha - Paul Potts! Ha ha ha - A man who needs a microphone & electronic amplification just to make himself heard in the prompters box!

[karlfriedrich]

it is Paul Potts

[1947Rollo]

Credo anch'io si tratti di John O'Sullivan.Un bel Otello.Grazie

[zfranklyn]

the ring and brilliance of this voice!

[gaemp]

@karlfriedrich no, Shakira...:))))

[aguacun]

Amazing and huge voice despite recording conditions of the time... how it should be live!

[Aetion]

@gmmix How do we know that it is the man in photo the one who is singing?

[gaemp]

hmmm... very difficoult to recognize him... but he's Italian anyway

[federic017]

Non so' chi può essere ma è senz'altro un tenore con le palle...un saluto

[bacassa]

is this Antonio Paoli?

[bacassa]

Thank you SOOOO much for this!!!!! SUPER POWER love it