The 1922 recording of Lauri-Volpi's "A te, o cara" from I Puritani

To the best of my knowledge, this is the earliest recording of the great tenor's rendering of this famous aria. The rapid-fire vibrato speaks to the early era.

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• Lauri Volpi
• tenor
• opera
• early a te o cara

[kablue79]

Nemmeno Lauri Volpi canta come Lauri Volpi. Questo " A te o cara" e' fuori dal mondo.

[EdmundStAustell]

@kablue79 Sono assolutamente d'accordo. Alcune persone pensano che lui era il più grande tenore di tutti i tempi. Anche se che è un'affermazione straordinaria, penso che potrebbe essere possibile effettuare il caso!

[MrGer2295]

BEAUTIFUL!!! Thank you Sir Edmund for sharing this Wonderful performance.

[EdmundStAustell]

@MrGer2295 Thank you; much appreciated!

[1993MGB]

This recording and Caruso's 1904 "Una furtiva lagrima" are in my opinion the most perfect tenor recordings ever. You may prefer Corelli's "Nessun dorma" (not critizising Corelli, who's my favourite), but this is... no words...

[EdmundStAustell]

@1993MGB  Thank you! You make good points.

[EdmundStAustell]

I have toyed with the idea of translating it myself, but I am just am not sure there is that much of a market, and I can't afford to do it as a vanity press job. Also, having just retired from academia, I don't know that I could that easily rouse the energy any longer:-) I might be convinced if I thought there were a market in the English-speaking world, other than a few academic libraries that have a solid music budget. People don't buy books as they once did, since the cyberworld phenomenon.

[CurzonRoad]

@EdmundStAustell

Would love to see an English translation of his often quoted Voci Parallele. Every now and then there seems to be a rumor that it will be translated.

[EdmundStAustell]

It's possibly picked up by osmosis. I remember feeling the same way for no particular reason I could remember. Then I read a lot of things about him which turned out to be lies....deliberate misinformation concocted by Italian Fascists after the war. The idea subsists that he was a Fascist...he was not. He hated them. But no politics here:-) Thanks again for the comment, always appreciated!

[CurzonRoad]

@EdmundStAustell

Good, fair question. Actually, felt this way before learning anything about Lauri-Volpi, and after all thee years not sure I recall much about the man (on a comical note, he always reminds me of Bill Murray's 1970s SNL lounge lizard). All the same, his later electrical of A te, o cara reigns supreme.