parterre box

34 comments

• David Utterback says:

  He certainly was an incredible tenor at the beginning of his career. I was just listening to a 1954 Cavalleria from Milan where he is still sounding quite good. I wasn’t sure if he was still alive at this point.

  on March 3, 2008 at 12:10 PM
• tenorintraining says:

  Was this illness a hold-over from the home invasion a few years back, or something unrelated?

  on March 3, 2008 at 12:27 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  The era of the great Italian tenors has sadly ended with no replacement in sight. We live under the Latino/Hispanic-tenor dominance but it’s not the same; and it will never be.

  on March 3, 2008 at 12:30 PM
• Carl says:

  It’s true of sopranos and baritones too. No replacements in sight.

  on March 3, 2008 at 12:34 PM
• Grimgerde says:

  How sad and what a shame. Even when he wasn’t in especially good voice he could sing the pants off most of today’s tenors. Thanks heavens we have the recordings to remind us of what we have lost.

  on March 3, 2008 at 12:44 PM
• brett says:

  It’s NOT about replacement. Have we had another Lotte Lehmann? Another Rosa Ponselle? Another Jeritza? Another Florence Foster Jenkins, for frick’s sake?

  Or, whom did Maria Callas, Renata Scotto, and Joan Sutherland succeed?

  I’m fine with it “never being the same.” Tastes change, styles change. We discover new takes on the text, or we unearth lost markings and passages. Would you rather hear a fresh, unique voice who sheds new light on the diva pantheon or see someone making a career of imitating Tebaldi? Aprile Millo probably could have done it, but she made her own path. And we love her for it.

  Opera won’t stay alive by pining for days of yore. Focus should instead be on breaking free from the assembly line output of (generally) American singers.

  By all means, remember the greats–they’re worth it. But applaud someone who dares to be different.

  RIP, Giuseppe di Stefano. May no one try to be the next you, for he can only fail.

  on March 3, 2008 at 12:59 PM
• Grimgerde says:

  Yes Brett, styles change and tastes change, and yes, many a promising career has gone tits up by the “here’s the new Callas” syndrome.

  What worries me is that today we rarely have the singers that have the scale of voice and musical imagination, or the patience to train and learn technique to sing Verdi and Puccini. Having said that, my archives and knowledge tell me that the singers we refer to now as great, the Tebaldis, Prices, Di Stefanos and Bergonzis and so on, were often criticised in their day for not being whoever preceded them. But by and large, they sang with technique, style and passion

  There are a lot of inconsistent, unsteady voices that are being accepted as the real thing. Where will we be in twenty years time, I wonder?

  on March 3, 2008 at 1:30 PM
• l'italiana in bristol says:

  sad, sad, sad. He had the most beautiful tenor voice and certainly the clearest diction ever. And that incredible C diminuendo in Faust/Salut has to be one of the most beautiful and hairrasing sounds ever sung. The era of the Italian tenor ends here for good. Amen.

  on March 3, 2008 at 1:48 PM
• brett says:

  I think the voices are out there; there’s just a flawed training system. Universities, conservatories, and private teachers want paychecks, so the field gets flooded with a lot of cookie-cutter singers. (There are man exceptions, but perhaps not enough.) I’d complain about YAPs, but i don’t know enough on that topic. Also, the biggest voices take a while to mature and be fully understood; what on earth can these singers do with an instrument that’s unfinished until 40 (give or take)? But these are rants for other times.

  on March 3, 2008 at 2:08 PM
• Jay says:

  I can only join with other posters in paying tribute to one of the 20th century’s most remarkable singers. The “Tosca” recording with Callas, Gobbi, Di Stefano, led by de Sabata, but by no means the only non-pareil recording with Callas and Di Stefano. I only heard him once live, during the “L’elisir” encore after the 1973 Carnegie Hall concert with Callas. Both artists still had amazing dramatic presence, even if they both were long past their vocal peaks. Di Stefano pulled a rose out of bouquet and handed it to La Callas as the two performed that encore… a wonderfully charming, stylish, and unforgettable gesture.

  on March 3, 2008 at 2:17 PM