Search Results for: Giuseppe Di stefano
Di Stefano Sings Schubert's Ständchen
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th June 2010Schubert and Giuseppe Di Stefano is not a common association. But here he is singing Schubert’s Ständchen (Serenade Di Stefano) in Spanish. It’s from the soundtrack of a Mexican movie made in 1953. Below are the Spanish lyrics he sings followed by the original German. After these is an English rendition. So what we have…
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The Recordings of Enrico Caruso 1919 – 1920 The End
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th May 2009This is the eighth and final installment of my cursory tour through the recorded legacy of Enrico Caruso. The last two years of Caruso’s recording life contained relatively few operatic numbers. As mentioned, there wasn’t much left for him to put to disc. In February of 1919 he got together with Giuseppe De Luca and…
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Medicine and Opera
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th March 2009Reviews and comments on medicine and opera by Neil Kurtzman. Recent posts: Forgotten Miracle The Obesity Paradox The Ultimate Problem Dietary Salt Reduction and Cardiovascular Disease Simon Boccanegra in HD Recording of the Week: La Sonnambula Lucia in Miami Passionate Intensity Terrorism and Healthcare Reform Massachusetts Health Care Reform – What Does it Mean? Merry…
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The Recordings Of Enrico Caruso 1911 – 1913
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th March 2009Caruso returned to the recording studio in November of 1911. Two of the arias he recorded were from Leoncavallo’s La Boheme. This opera might have had a chance at modest success if Puccini’s extraordinary setting of the same story hadn’t appeared at about the same time. In Leoncavallo’s version Marcello is sung by a tenor.
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The Recordings of Enrico Caruso 1908 – 1909
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd February 2009More than a year separated Caruso’s last recording in 1907 from his first in 1908. In July he recorded (for the second time) the quartet from Rigoletto (Bella figlia dell’amore). His colleagues were Marcella Sembrich, Gina Severina, and Antonio Scotti. This recording finds him at the peak of his powers. Notice how the acoustic horn…
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Golden Days – Mario Lanza
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th April 2024The title above is that of a new CD containing 23 selections sung by the late tenor. Why another Lanza disc when so many are already available? These have been remastered and converted to Digitally Extracted Stereo (DES). When listened to on a good audio system the effect is magical. Lanza’s voice is even more…
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Victoria de los Ángeles
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th September 2022Victoria de los Ángeles (1923-2005) was a Catalan soprano who had a voice of haunting beauty. Though most of her roles were the mainstays of the Italian soprano repertory, she had a rich middle and lower register that allowed her to sing mezzo roles such as Rosina in Rossini Barber and the title role of…
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Miguel Fleta
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th December 2021I’ve briefly touched on the singing of the Spanish tenor Miguel Fleta (1897-1938), but until now have not devoted a full piece to him. His career was as brief and brilliant as the firing of a flashbulb. I want to mostly focus on his singing rather than his story. There are several excellent biographical sketches…
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Vissi d’Arte
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st December 2021Giacomo Puccini knew as much about the workings of the theater as anyone whoever entered one. Accordingly, his mature works are models of dramatic cohesion. He lashed his librettists like galley slaves until they gave him scripts that satisficed his very high standards. These standards are why he produced only 12 operas in 40 years…
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Opera Villains
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th September 2021Here are 11 opera villains – nine from Italian operas (Mozart’s an honorary Italian), the remaining two from Russian works. In making these choices I’ve excluded supernatural characters like the various depictions of the devil. I’ve also disregarded all German operas as it’s too hard to tell the villains from the heroes. The most prominent…
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