The attractive Lily Pons and the great Giuseppe de Luca performs some large extracts from Rigoleto at the Old Met in 1940. Please enjoy this historical gem!
Ah,de Luca is well on his way to take the G sharp but is obviously too tired and covers it all in an outburst of dramatic melodramma instead and what happen right in the very end of the opera is hidden since the recording ends just before Rigoletto´s tragic climax. Nevertheless a fine document.
Who is the Sparafucile? Who is the conductor? De Luca is of course well past his prime here. But his voice remains beautiful and steady. By all accounts I've read, it wasn't especially large -- certainly less so than the voices of Ruffo, Amato or Stracciarri -- but he produced it so well that it's always full and clear:). As far as I can tell, Pons was an excellent Gilda (she had physical assets that are not discernible here), although her voice sometimes seems muffled:) --
Pons is admirable, and DeLuca is still good, even though definitely already much declining. I bet that at 6:03 he wanted to sing the high A flat, realized that he would have cracked terribly and then started to make those weird exlamations up on the spot.
This is a treasure! Simple magic through all the sound. To think some would be tenor orchestra conductor all round money grabber is planning his own production in Italy for taping in Mantua!
The Rigoletto-Sparafucile duet, sung by De Luca and Virgilio Lazzari, the Vengeance finale of Act II, and the final duet (Lassù in ciel), broadcast from the Metropolitan on Saturday, March 12, 1940.
This was the last time Giuseppe De Luca sang Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera House. He was 63 at the time.
This is a very good recording. It sounds a little muffled but it does not distract from the beautiful voices of Pons and De Luca. Thank you for posting this valuable recording.
Ah,de Luca is well on his way to take the G sharp but is obviously too tired and covers it all in an outburst of dramatic melodramma instead and what happen right in the very end of the opera is hidden since the recording ends just before Rigoletto´s tragic climax. Nevertheless a fine document.
klokheten 11 months ago
Who is the Sparafucile? Who is the conductor? De Luca is of course well past his prime here. But his voice remains beautiful and steady. By all accounts I've read, it wasn't especially large -- certainly less so than the voices of Ruffo, Amato or Stracciarri -- but he produced it so well that it's always full and clear:). As far as I can tell, Pons was an excellent Gilda (she had physical assets that are not discernible here), although her voice sometimes seems muffled:) --
stevevandien 1 year ago
Pons is admirable, and DeLuca is still good, even though definitely already much declining. I bet that at 6:03 he wanted to sing the high A flat, realized that he would have cracked terribly and then started to make those weird exlamations up on the spot.
piasecznik 1 year ago
This is a treasure! Simple magic through all the sound. To think some would be tenor orchestra conductor all round money grabber is planning his own production in Italy for taping in Mantua!
cleanears 1 year ago
The Rigoletto-Sparafucile duet, sung by De Luca and Virgilio Lazzari, the Vengeance finale of Act II, and the final duet (Lassù in ciel), broadcast from the Metropolitan on Saturday, March 12, 1940.
This was the last time Giuseppe De Luca sang Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera House. He was 63 at the time.
AulicExclusiva 2 years ago
This is a very good recording. It sounds a little muffled but it does not distract from the beautiful voices of Pons and De Luca. Thank you for posting this valuable recording.
operbathosa 2 years ago