"NON SEI MIA FIGLIA" - The 5 best Amonasros from Verdi's Aida in comparison

5 of the best Verdi baritones of all times in 5 live recordings of Amonasro's big scene from act 3 of Verdi's Aida.

1. RAFFAELE DE FALCHI, with Maria Callas (Roma 1950)
2. PAOLO SILVERI, with Renata Tebaldi (Rio de Janeiro 1951)
3. GIUSEPPE TADDEI, with Maria Callas (Mexico City 1951)
4. GIANGIACOMO GUELFI, with Anita Cerquetti (Napoli 1954)
5. MARIO ZANASI, with Leontyne Price (Roma 1970)

About the choice:

A Verdi baritone does not need a dark, woofy sound, he needs a sonorous voice through 2 octaves and a great projection throughout the entire range. He needs the ability to express the meaning of the words. That's why the choice includes Italian singers only. Just to have a great voice is not enough for Verdi.
Amonasro is a very dramatic part where the words play an important role. In this selection, you will hear how De Falchi and Taddei are playing with every single word, you will hear the noble expression of Silveri and the true Italian voices of Guelfi and Zanasi.
Only live recordings were included. It's a pity that there are no live recordings of singers like Granforte or De Franceschi in the role of Amonasro, I am sure they would have been fantastic. There are some good studio versions I did not include: Bechi, Gobbi, Bastianini all do a decent job but can't rival the ones presented here.
I did not include any foreign baritones. Warren and Merrill may have good voices but are out of question due to the unidiomatic style. Anyway, out of the American singers, Bonelli delivered the best version of this particular scene. Germans like Schippers, Hann, Hotter and Bohnen were good, but terribly unidiomatic as well - at least they sang in German and naturally knew how to handle the language. That can't be said about Warren and Merrill. Had they done it in English they would have done a better job for sure.
Other versions that were good but not included: Bianco and Blanc.

I would like to thank Francois Nouvion for the pictures of De Falchi and Silveri. Especially de Falchi is hard to find, and the picture provided by Francois is truly fantastic.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Aida
• verdi
• amonasro
• celeste aida
• radames
• non sei mia figlia
• ciel mio padre
• nile scene
• duet amonasro-aida
• amonastro
• de falchi
• zanasi
• guelfi
• silveri
• taddei
• gobbi
• bechi
• ruffo
• callas
• tebaldi
• cerquetti
• price
• sing-off
• cage match
• verdi baritone
• afropoli
• acuti
• big voice
• verismo

[RabbiDavidDunnBauer]

What studio recording is there of Bastianini in this role?

[AfroPoli]

@RabbiDavidDunnBauer Bastianini, Borsò, Curtis-Verna, Dominguez, Capuana, La Fenice. It is available on CD.

[liedersanger1]

I'm pretty sure the Leontyne Price excerpt is from 1966, her Rome debut.

[AfroPoli]

@liedersanger1 Yes, you are right. I checked again, my mistake.

[XP11XP]

Thank you very much for posting! Good choices!

What is your opinion about Armondo Borgioli? I think there is a live "Aida" with him together with Maria Caniglia.

[AfroPoli]

Borgioli is good, I forgot about him. Have to listen to the recording again. Bellantoni would have been interesting as well. Galeffi is good, too (with Bruna Rasa).

[Imogenn]

Wow!

What wonderful recordings!

Very hard to pick the best one - I thought Taddei to be unbeatable, but Guelfi and Zanasi were brilliant too.

Simply superb singing!

Now could you make a "best of" of "Zu neuen Taten"? :)

[DarrylTaylorCT]

Any list of best Amonasoro's of this era that doesn't contain Robert McFerrin has to be looked on dubiously.

[RabbiDavidDunnBauer]

I have that. Didn't think it was a studio recording.

[MultiOlddays]

whats about jess walters who sang with callas a great amonasro in london. look after this on you tube.

[AfroPoli]

@WiseMonkey888 You're simply too dumb for this channel. Consider yourself banned.

[Beth29252]

For me, it's between Taddei and Guelfi, both of whom were brilliant., followed closely by a very impressive Falchi. All of them though are just great, and have ideal voices for this dramatic . And I have to agree about Warren and Merrill, I love them both to death and while they did do decent jobs neither are quite my idea of Amonasro, and I would say the same for Gobbi, Bastiannini and Milnes too. As for Aidas, best for me are Price and Callas, as much as I do like Tebaldi she is flat at times.

[antoheionn]

Great selection, AfroPoli!!! It was the first time I ever heard Mario Zanasi as Amonasro!! Just one question: what do you think about Anselmo Colzani in Amonasro? Btw, speaking of studio versions, I think Mario Sereni's rendition is one of the best.

[bodiloto]

Stoyan Popov e Ghena Dimitrova !

[TheBarbaraRizzo]

The best Amonasro; De Falchi and Guelfi !