Enrico Caruso - Donizetti: Deserto in terra (1908)

"Deserto in terra" from the opera Dom Sébastien composed by Gaetano Donizetti.
Recorded by Caruso 10th of January 1908.

This transfer is with the usual needle noise.

For other transfers/restorations on YouTube see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frZZ-h0kceM (most of the noise removed)

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slmy94C-MvU (Marston restoration)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Deserto
• in
• terra
• caruso
• Donizetti
• Dom
• Sébastien
• opera

[Aetion]

Dear Tom, you channels, here and the other one, are wonderful, there is no need to tell it. But they have a serious disadvantage. Once I am in, I cannot find the way out! :-)

Caruso’s voice is really mesmerizing.

Thanks for your uploading.



[tomfroekjaer]

@Aetion: I am so glad to be able to share the "wonder" of Enrico Caruso with kindred spirits like yourself. That's why I keep uploading ! 

[minnie888444]

Wonderful, thanks for posting. A great way for me to get introduced to this aria/opera, which I didn't know. Don't worry about the old recording technology, perhaps you will not believe this, but sometimes I prefer these old records, because today's technology distorts or CAN distort too much.

[tomfroekjaer]

@minnie888444: yes, Monica, these old recordings are genuine or "true" - no technical manipulation and mostly recorded in "one take." 

[tklogan11809]

I know Caruso's supposed to be a God (and he is) but no one can touch Pavarotti in Deserto in terra. The Ds are ringing and gorgeous. Kraus, too, made an excellent recording of it.

[tomfroekjaer]

The young Pavarotti's version of this (1968) is fantastic. One can, of course, compare it with Caruso's version, if one likes, but they are 60 years apart - and 60 years of technical improvements apart.

According to people who both heard Caruso sing live at the opera and on recordings about half of the quality/overtones of his voice were lost in the recordings.

[andyrawn]

TOM ~

May it never end: the astonishment we share in hearing Enrico's voice again, and always again when he spins his golden sound into our music rooms!

A wonderful choice of an aria as well as the choice of a relatively early year from his recording career ~ Bravo!

~ ANDY

[AulicExclusiva]

Gives the word legato a whole new meaning.

Pavarotti and Vargas made excellent versions of this in their youth, but neither had the velvety depth of King Enrico.

[Masknick]

Great recording, thanks for the upload ;)

[Matt75003]

I have just spent half an hour listening to all the recordings of this beautiful aria currently available on YouTube. Some tenors bleat, others bray, yet others scoop and/or turn the words to mush. Caruso alone is worthy of Donizetti's genius.

[tsmlink]

How is it that a man, over a century ago, bearing his soul into a little cone, with limited accompaniment, and with technology that was primitive by our standards, could give us today such paralleled enjoyment? The more I listen to this great Maestro, the more amazed I am at his incredible talent.  What would it be like to have actually heard the fullness of his great voice? I can't even imagine.

[hiyadroogs]

@tklogan11809 If you prefer Pavarotti's version, it's all personal taste after all. But there is one difference; When Caruso & his contemporaries recorded into the tin horn, the aria had to be sung in one take every single time. If the singer or orchestra made a mistake, the entire aria had to be sung again. Caruso therefore may have had to sing an aria many many times before all were satisfied. It was not spliced together from many takes like modern recordings, including Pavarotti's.

[Aetion]

@tomfroekjaer Do keep uploading. Caruso's spirto gentil certainly is thankful to you, as are we who love him.

[LordMgls]

Today, we've heard at S. Carlos Theater (Lisbon Opera House) an opera by Alfredo Keil, celebrating the centenary of Portuguese Republic. I was answering to the comments to my blog's review on the show, and I suddenly remembered this beautiful aria and rendition. Dona Branca is an opera that recalls as well to this sort of theme.