Search Results for: Giuseppe Di stefano
Recondita Armonia
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th March 2020Tosca has two great tenor arias. Everyone knows the third act’s ‘E lucevan le stelle’. ‘Recondita armonia’, the subject of this article, appears in the first act only minutes after the show has started. It requires a different approach from its more famous brother. It needs a full voiced sound without the filatura and pianissimo…
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Lucia Di Lammermoor – Final Scene
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th January 2018Donizetti’s great opera is often seen as a vehicle for the soprano who sings the title role. But the opera’s last scene, Act 3 scene 3, which follows the Mad Scene, is as challenging for the tenor as the previous one is for the soprano. (The scene is sometimes numbered 2 as the first scene…
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Disciogliea
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th September 2017Puccini’s Tosca contains one of the most beautiful and famous tenor arias in opera – ‘E lucevan le stelle’ which takes place shortly after the start of the third and final act. The line given below (with a literal English translation) requires, for its full realization, an effect which is beyond the abilities of almost…
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Tutto Verdi: Don Carlo
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd February 2017Parma’s Tutto Verdi presentation of Don Carlo was sent up the road to the Teatro Comunale di Modena. I suppose this was appropriate as this opera has more versions than a tenors has phobias. But one of them is called the Modena Version, which obviously was the one presented here. It’s the 5 act opera in…
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Tutto Verdi: La Forza del Destino
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th November 2016Parma’s production of Verdi’s epic opera is one of the weakest in its march through all the master’s operas. Forza is often criticized as the weakest of Verdi’s latter masterpieces because of its episodic nature, its length (when given uncut), and because of its “dry” patches. In my opinion, none of these criticisms apply when…
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Recording of the Week: Leonard Warren 10 CD Set
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th July 2016Leonard Warren (1911-60) was the greatest baritone I ever heard. In the major Verdi parts no one else was close. He had everything. A voice of immense size, incomparable high notes, and a velvet control over his great instrument. He made his career at the Met, appearing at that great house 657 times between 1938 and…
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Finale 7 – Lucia Di Lammermoor Act 2
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th December 2015The finale to Act 2 of Donizetti’s masterpiece starts immediately after the conclusion of the famous sextet. Edgardo has stormed into Lammermoor Castle outraged that Lucia is about to marry someone else. She has been tricked into agreeing to a marriage favorable to her brother’s straightened situation. When Edgardo is shown the marriage contract that…
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Di Stefano Sings Neapolitan Songs
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th January 2015The Neapolitan songs that everyone knows are the longest running popular songs in Western music. Tenors appear to sing them more often then other vocal ranges. To bring them off requires a combination of characteristics that are almost never found in one singer. These are: fluency in the beautiful Neapolitan language, perfect diction, beauty of…
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Recording of the Week – The Maltese Tenor
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th January 2012At first I thought that this album featured Humphrey Bogart. Then I thought it was about a small dog. At last I realized it was tenor Joseph Calleja’s (born Jan 22, 1978 – yet another January birthday) newest album of arias and duets. He’s from Malta and some PR person had a goofy idea for…
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Lucia Di Lammermoor in HD – Again
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th March 2011Today the Met brought back its production of Donizetti’s masterpiece Lucia Di Lammermoor. It was telecast just a little over two years ago with Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala, and Mariusz Kwiecien in the principal roles. This time the opera had a new set of performers – Natalie Dessay, Joseph Calleja, and Ludovic Tézier. The production…
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