| Vittoria! from Tosca: The ultimate Cavaradossi sing-off |
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This scene from Act II of Tosca is one of the
Cavaradossi's defining moments. It starts
with a completely exposed high note which
should be held as long as possible, followed
by an extremely dramatic arietta.
Presented chronologically, the twelve
contestants are:
1. Beniamino Gigli, 1938 (with Maria Caniglia
as Tosca and Armando Borgioli as Scarpia)
2. Jussi Bjoerling, 1957 (with Zinka Milanov
and Leonard Warren)
3. Franco Corelli, 1957 (with Zinka Milanov
and Giangiacomo Guelfi)
4. Mario del Monaco, 1959 (with Renata
Tebaldi and George London)
5. Giuseppe di Stefano, 1962 (with Leontyne
Price and Giuseppe Taddei)
6. Renato Cioni, 1964 (with Maria Callas and
Tito Gobbi)
7. Jose Carreras, 1976 (with Montserrat
Caballe and Ingvar Wixell)
8. Placido Domingo, 1981 (with Renata Scotto
and Renato Bruson)
9. Luciano Pavarotti, 1985 (with Ghena
Dimitrova and Ingvar Wixell)
10. Giacomo Aragall, 1986 (with Kiri te
Kanawa and Leo Nucci)
11. Giorgio Lamberti, 1990 (with Nelly
Miricioiu and Silvano Carroli)
12. Roberto Alagna, 2001 (with Angela
Gheorghiu and Ruggero Raimondi)
There's more! Click on the responses to hear
Richard Tucker, Neil Shicoff, Salvatore
Licitra, Gianfranco Cecchele and others!
Did I forget anyone? If you have any other
favourites, post them!
Tags : Puccini Tosca Vittoria Tenor l'alba vindice appar gigli bjorling franco corelli roberto alagna pavarotti domingo opera |
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Affichage : 21827
Durée : 538 s |
| José Carreras - E LUCEAN LE STELLE |
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Taken from ESTRELLAS DE LA OPERA, Spanish
television. José Carreras singing in Teatro
San Carlo in Napoli. Tosca, famous moment of
Act III
Tags : classica |
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Affichage : 1391
Durée : 545 s |
| Pavarotti (Never seen before video!!!) as Mario Cavaradossi |
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Luciano Pavarotti at his best
Earlier life and musical training
Luciano Pavarotti, was born on the outskirts
of Modena in north-central Italy, the son of
Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and singer, and
Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker.[3]
Although he spoke fondly of his childhood,
the family had little money; its four members
were crowded into a two-room apartment.
According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine
tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a
singing career because of nervousness. World
War II forced the family out of the city in
1943. For the following year they rented a
single room from a farmer in the neighboring
countryside, where young Pavarotti developed
an interest in farming.
Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were
his father's recordings, most of them
featuring the popular tenors of the day —
Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito
Schipa and Enrico Caruso. Pavarotti's
favorite tenor and idol was Giuseppe Di
Stefano[4] and Jan Kiepura. He was also
deeply influenced by Mario Lanza, saying, "In
my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies
and then come home and imitate him in the
mirror."[5] At around the age of nine he
began singing with his father in a small
local church choir. Also in his youth he had
a few voice lessons with a Professor Dondi
and his wife, but he ascribed little
significance to them.
After what appears to have been a normal
childhood with a typical interest in sports
— in Pavarotti's case football (soccer)
above all — he graduated from the Schola
Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career
choice. He was interested in pursuing a
career as a professional football (soccer)
goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to
train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in
an elementary school for two years but
finally allowed his interest in music to win
out. Recognizing the risk involved, his
father gave his consent only reluctantly, the
agreement being that Pavarotti would have
free room and board until age 30, after which
time, if he had not succeeded, he would earn
a living by any means that he could.
Pavarotti began the serious study of music in
1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a
respected teacher and professional tenor in
Modena who, aware of the family's indigence,
offered to teach him without remuneration.
Not until he began these studies was
Pavarotti aware that he had perfect pitch.
In 1955, he experienced his first singing
success when he was a member of the Choral
Rossini, a male choir from Modena that also
included his father, which won first prize at
the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen,
Wales; he later said that this was the most
important experience of his life, which had
inspired him to turn professional.[6] At
about this time Pavarotti first met Adua
Veroni, whom he married in 1961.
When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan,
Pavarotti became a student of Ettore
Campogalliani, who at that time was also
teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend,
Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with
Luciano's in the cigar factory. Like
Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic
greatness; they were to share the stage many
times and make memorable recordings together.
During his years of musical study Pavarotti
held part-time jobs in order to sustain
himself — first as an elementary school
teacher and then, when he failed at that, as
an insurance salesman. The first six years of
study resulted in only a few recitals, all in
small towns and without pay. When a nodule
developed on his vocal cords causing a
"disastrous" concert in Ferrara, he decided
to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his
immediate improvement to the psychological
release connected with this decision.
Whatever the reason, the nodule not only
disappeared but, as he related in his
autobiography, "Everything I had learned came
together with my natural voice to make the
sound I had been struggling so hard to
achieve."
Tags : pavarotti puccini cavaradossi lucevan le stelle classical opera tenelli tenor shafajinskaia rare recordings |
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Affichage : 17242
Durée : 646 s |
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