José Mardones - La Calunnia - Il barbiere di Siviglia - Rossini

José Mardones (1869 - 1932) probably was the greatest bass voice in history. Ponselle said, "He had the greatest bass voice I ever heard. Nobody could even come close to that sound. It was like the lowest pedal on the pipe organ of a great cathedral - a real basso profondo. He had everything vocally: a huge voice, excellent technique, and a top that could go way up into the baritone range." You can hear such a strong falsetto coordination in the sound without giving up any lower register, except to sing quietly. Perfect chiaroscuro! No thickness or woofiness. For me he is like Ruffo in bass form.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• José
• Mardones
• La
• Calunnia
• Il
• barbiere
• di
• Siviglia
• Rossini
• opera
• aria
• profondo
• bass
• bel
• canto
• dramatic
• basso

[saiserieht]

Can you point out for me that high G at the end? I don't seem to be able to find it ...

[MrCafiero]

@saiserieht Actually, you are right. I had copied part of another description I had written of him and missed taking that out. Thanks.

[Slayerplsko]

@MrCafiero and what was that aria you were originally referring to?

[MrCafiero]

@Slayerplsko I believe it was Il lacerato spirito.

[MrCafiero]

@joanna4659 I think he was great, but I think they have voices that are not really comparable to each other.

[joanna4659]

@MrCafiero By any? What do you think about Adam Didur - basso cantante? In my opinion he's the number one...but Mr. Mardones is also great, of course.

[MrCafiero]

@bassoprof Did you actually read what I wrote in the description?

[bassoprof]

To MrCafiero: Would It not be more proper to say ''Mardones probably was one of the greatest basses in history until his death in 1932?'' We do not have a chance to hear any music performed before the invention of recordıng.

[MrCafiero]

Of course there is a way of knowing what to listen for. But of course the recordings don't fully capture the sound either.

Ponselle is not the only one who made such remarks about Mardones. Also, there are quantitative qualities about his singing; the agility, range, power, ability to change dynamics - which all combined surpass other basses. That is not opinion. Whether or not someone likes his timbre is certainly opinion. Lastly, I did use the world "probably". This is not Nuremberg.

[BorisGodunov]

There's no way to know "what to listen for" in these old recordings, really--you just can't get the real effect of their voice. Heck, you can't even get that in digital recordings now!

As for Ponselle, when did she become an infallible goddess? I'm not saying at all that Mardones wasn't great, but let's be realistic and note that it was just an opinion, and one by someone who was obviously a longtime friend and colleague who might not have been unbiased.

Ponselle never heard Lablache. ;)