Tosca: "E lucevan le stelle" sung by Björling and Caruso

The famous aria sung by Jussi (live at Carnegie Hall in 1955) and by Caruso (studio recording - unfortunately never live...) in February 1904 - 51 years earlier

My own very biased opinion: I love Jussi and his superior and grand lyrical voice, but when I listen to Caruso in this poor recording from 1904, I think that he was an exceptional genious, not surpassed by any tenor since - including Jussi. If you listen carefully, Jussi is singing this aria very closely Caruso's interpretation.
The recordings we are left with are very poor compared to the electrical and later recordings, but still one can hear end sense how great he was as a tenor and empathetic spirit. People who heard him sing live at the time never forgot that velvet voice.

Text Italian:

E lucevan le stelle,
ed olezzava la terra
stridea l'uscio dell'orto
e un passo sfiorava la rena.
Entrava ella fragrante,
mi cadea fra la braccia.

O dolci baci, o languide carezze,
mentr'io fremente le belle forme disciogliea dai veli!
Svanì per sempre il sogno mio d'amore.
L'ora è fuggita, e muoio disperato!
e muoio disperato! E non ho amato mai tanto la vita!
tanto la vita!

English translation:

And the stars were shining,
and the earth smelled sweet,
the garden gate scraped,
and a step brushed the sand.
She came in, fragrant,
and fell into my arms.

Oh! sweet kisses, oh! languid caresses,
while I, trembling, released her lovely features from their veils!
My dream of love has vanished forever.
The moment is gone, and I die in despair!
And I never have loved life so much!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Puccini
• Tosca
• lucevan
• le
• stelle
• Italian
• opera
• Björling
• Caruso

[VocalMechanics]

I could not agree with you more, Tom. Caruso takes us to a place unavailable to us and forever non-existent if he did not live and sing. One in a million? Ha. One in the evolution of the human species. Thank you for all your good work.

[tomfroekjaer]

@VocalMechanics Jussi was one the greatest lyrical tenors ever and an absolute genious. But for me Caruso was a miracle....

[oldoperafan]

Gigli said that O dolci baci has to sound like another violin, which with a piano accompaniment is not possible. Here I have feeling Caruso understands the doomed mood of the aria better, but perhaps you can only hear that once you have listened to numerous other interpretations.

[VocalMechanics]

I forgot why I brought up Tet. There are times when she reminds me of C. She throws her voice out there with equal panache, and lets you know it and it has nothing to do with C. She's singing. The music she sings doesn't lend itself to the swashbuckler within, but I've heard it. On the car radio I heard a guy, acoustical era, that made me think C wasn't the only guy doing this stuff. His name was Zenatelo. That was a one time happening. Enough.

[VocalMechanics]

Given a voice of supernal beauty, a musical instinct (genius perhaps) capable of finding and fulfilling the composers every intention, singing is a physical act, which has nothing to do with one’s voice and musicality. Caruso is doing something the other fellas are not, and ramifications of that fascinate me. Of course there is Tetrazzini. Even C knew when he sang with T, he best be on point. She could steal the show. Tet never gave C that consideration. I have come to love Tetrazzini.