Back in the early part of the last century when verismo was king, its inherent style couldn’t help but spill over into operas from the preceding decades.  It’s with great joy that I am able to give you Carmen, sung in Italian, from La Scala in 1931.  I love this kind of stuff.

Aurora Buades is a true, deep mezzo not afraid to use her chest voice at any moment, and was quite well known as a great Carmen of her day.  Apparently her only other recording is as Dame Quickly, so it’s that kind of mezzo, not the Cherubino type.  Aureliano Pertile is regarded as one of the greatest lyric tenors of the 20th century, a fact proven by his many recordings, although in addition to this Carmen, his only other complete opera recordings are Il trovatore and Aida.

Stylistically, this performance is all wrong, but it’s great fun, especially Buades’ no-holds-barred approach to the title role.  No one would dare sing Carmen this way today, but I’d kill to hear someone take that chance.

Georges Bizet: Carmen

Orchestra e coro della Teatro alla Scala
Lorenzo Molajoli, conductor
1931

Sung in Italian

Carmen – Aurora Buades
Don Josè – Aurelanio Pertile
Micaela – Ines Alfani-Tellini
Escamillo – Benvenuto Franci