parterre box

44 comments

• Kuda kuda says:

  He repeated the cabaletta in staged opera performance too. I remember seeing it on European TV and not believing my eyes and ears. Unfortunately I have no idea where/when this took place.

  on April 22, 2008 at 5:42 PM
• -Ed. says:

  Somehow I missed his career. I should get out more. Or not. The Wiki entry for him says he came to be known as “Il Pazzo” (The Madman) late in his career, following years of fine work. How sad.

  on April 22, 2008 at 6:38 PM
• leontyneschiava says:

  How about that little jump at the end….cool!

  on April 22, 2008 at 6:46 PM
• operaddict says:

  Exciting! This guy knew how to whip a crowd up into a frenzy. He is gone now. Who can get a roar from an audience today like that? With a dramatic voice and delivery?

  on April 22, 2008 at 7:31 PM
• Francesco says:

  Oh, come on… he had a fantastic voice but where the musician? and why he argue with the director to get his bis??

  This is the most vulgar thing i saw in many time.

  on April 22, 2008 at 7:38 PM
• SilvestriWoman says:

  Well, Francesco, as Netrebko is proving, musicianship still has nothing to do with it.

  on April 22, 2008 at 7:48 PM
• armerjacquino says:

  Francesco- I wonder if there’s any point singing ‘Di Quella Pira’ without a bit of vulgarity?

  It’s no accident that it’s the only aria in which Mario ‘what does mf MEAN?’ Del Monaco is the benchmark.

  By the way, a pal of mine with a nice gurgly soubrette voice used to sing this as a soprano as an encore in concert. She swore that it sat beautifully in her voice. Interesting fact- this aria sung by a soubrette sounds JUST like a frothy bit of Lehar. Try it.

  on April 22, 2008 at 7:48 PM
• mrsjohnclaggart says:

  Well, ‘fantastic’ seems a bit of a stretch in re his voice. He has a good very Italian timbre and tried hard to build what initially was a small high voice into a Del Monaco type roar. His few Met appearances suggested that at least in that size house he lacked a lot of heft, though he did have squillo. I saw him make a better impression in Rome (small house) but even there it was not the thrusting sound of the tenors he was imitating. He did however have a top and that could be fun since he knew no shame (but if he had had say, Shickoff volume it would have been better, and that’s not LOTS of sound). I think for some reason he projected best in San Francisco but the phenomenon still owed something to queens who had never really heard a HUGE tenor voice (Del Monaco, Corelli, Vickers unchained, Penno, and to a lesser degree Tucker in top form — though he was at a bit of distance from these others). Both the mighty Slatinaru and the even mightier (and more fearsome) Marton drowned him out in Tosca, and Bonisolli had less voice when he returned as Manrico.

  on April 22, 2008 at 8:14 PM
• fb says:

  Franco was always a bit vulgar, but WHAT a voice.
  He was famous for crazy actions on the set like dumping the sword as Radames into the orchestra after Sinopoli refused to repeat his aria; similar Aida situation where he came to the dressing room of Maestro Guadagno in the first intermission, picked him up from the floor and hung him up by his suspenders on a coat hanger without one word; or asking Eve Queller and her staff for a red apple at Carnegie as Arnold in Tell, if she wanted him to continue act three in cold NYC at 10PM at Carnegie (thank Good the deli across was still opened and the got him one). When the voice became insecure, he split with his wife and become a monk in an Italian monastery and only few month before death returned to stage as Lloris in Fedora and Calaf. I remember sitting next to him in the company box in a Turandot performance (Martinucci was singing) when he jumped up in the middle of Nessun dorma and in loud voice screamed to the audience, “io non canto come quell’ c – - – o” (I don’t sing like that d – - k) walked out and slammed the door on the way, interrupting the whole performance.
  But if he was well, he could sing like a miracle. I feel sorry that he was pazzo.

  on April 22, 2008 at 8:20 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  He died at 65. Does anyone know what from? He sang with Caballe, Sills and Moffo. They all are dead now with the exception MC. It seems that Bonisolli was bypolar and I’m wondering if was ever treated with psychotropic drugs like prozac or lihium. I never saw him live but his voice on recordings sounds rather crude although he clears the high notes.

  on April 22, 2008 at 11:10 PM