Caruso was a baritone,
Eugenia Grimaldi
Caruso did not have the high range of
Martinelli,Lazaro,Gigli;Escalais,etc.He sang Vecchia Zimarra in the
theater and also Pagiacci's prologue.Where are his high d's in Puritani
and La Favorita?The duets of Forza and Otello are remarkable, because
the voices sound so similar that they could be classified as baritone's
duets.Where is the high C in Boheme?There is not lyricism in his records
after 1906.By 1918 the voice was very dark and without lyricsisim.He was
a propaganda phenomenon,as Lanza in the 50's and Bocelli at the present
time,as it happens with the circus prone,three tenors.Could you imagine
Corelli,Di Stefano and Bjoerling singing together?It would had been to
be in paradise!
Caruso remind me of Renato Zanelli,who had a similar tone to Caruso when
he sang as a tenor,but he was a natural baritone really.
So.why to criticise Domingo that much, if he really did the same that
Caruso did?
Comments,please.
Thank you,
Rubberbandgirl83
>
>Comments,please.
Somebody is having lots of fun stirring us up here in RMO.
Also, I have read a number of times on this NG that "many of the great tenors
were baritonal, many of the great sopranos sounded like mezzos in their lower
register", etc.
Caruso's voice may have been dark, but there's very little to suggest that he
was anything other than a tenor.
Those are *my* comments.
Rubberband Girl
Mike Richter
>
> Caruso was a baritone,
... and Melba was a mezzo.
Many tenors have done without a high C without being arbitrarily
reclassified just as many baritones can sing that note without being
mistaken for what they are not.
It is remarkable that those who heard Caruso did not complain of his
Fach but with the benefit of eight or ten decades of ignorance, some
today see clearly.
Just for your information, Albert da Costa had a similarly dark voice
(though there were few other similarities, to be sure), yet approximated
the high F in Puritani on recording.
Skip
"Mike Richter" <mric...@cpl.net> wrote in message
news:3B5543F0...@cpl.net...
Skip
Domingo can only wish he was anything near to a Caruso..
bocelli only wishes he could sing like Lanza.
"Eugenia Grimaldi" <egd...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:18660-3B...@storefull-621.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
TheDivo
L'Elisir d'amore. . .hardly a baritone role. > Caruso was a baritone,
Commspkmn
Wasn't Caruso's final performance on Christmas Eve, 1920, as Eléazar in La
Juive (BTW, also not a baritone role)?
Ken Meltzer
TheDivo
>Juive (BTW, also not a baritone role)?
>Ken Melt
You are absolutely correct. After doing some research I was amazed to see what
Caruso's final 2 weeks of singing included. He did sing Nemorino on Dec. 11
followed 2 days later with Don Alvaro, and on the 16th he sang Samson. He
cancelled Nemorino on the 22nd and sang that final La Juive on the 24th. Quite
a schedule for a dying man!
ARodolfo
singer that he could sing bass, baritone, or tenor. I know there's a story
about him helping a fellow cast member in the last act of Boheme. The Colliine
was having an awful performance vocally. And Caruso with his back to the
audience sang the aria for him while Colline mouthed the words. Apparently the
audience never knew.
Whether or not one is a bass, baritone, tenor, etc depends more on the
tessitura of the individual than if the singer can sing a high D or a pedal
C.
respectfully,
arod.
.
Commspkmn
<< You are absolutely correct. After doing some research I was amazed to see
what
Caruso's final 2 weeks of singing included. He did sing Nemorino on Dec. 11
followed 2 days later with Don Alvaro, and on the 16th he sang Samson. He
cancelled Nemorino on the 22nd and sang that final La Juive on the 24th. Quite
a schedule for a dying man!
>>
Yes, particularly for a baritone singing all those tenor roles!
Best,
Ken
A Tsar Is Born
"Rubberbandgirl83" <rubberba...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010718024035...@ng-bg1.aol.com...
I believe he started out as a baritone, as did many of my favorite tenors
(Carlo Bergonzi, e.g.), and he was always uncertain above B.
Which shows just how much high notes matter.
As for sopranos who were really mezzos: Ponselle also was hit or miss above
B, and was probably naturally a mezzo, could have added ten years to her
career if she'd made the mezzo switch c. 1937, ditto Callas c. 1960 and
Sutherland c. 1984, but Sutherland (who began as a mezzo) was nearly 60 and
very very rich by 1984, so why did she care? In fact, they were all rich,
but the refusal of Ponselle and Callas to change fachs left their lives kind
of empty and probably lessened the pleasure audiences might have derived
from them.
But these categories all came late (mezzo sopranos and baritones did not
exist in 1800; range was something personal to the singer) and the human
throat has been around for a long time.
Ortrud and Adalgisa were written for sopranos.
Mezzos often sing Lady Macbeth and Zerlina and Musetta.
Baritones sing Figaro and Don Giovanni.
So?
Hans Lick
atsar...@hotmail.com
Don Paolo
posting your feelings - I hope you have plenty of asbestos, or other
flame-retardants on hand; you'll need them!
I have not listened to Caruso for many a year; but you have motivated me to
do so, which I shall accomplish as time permits with a most discerning ear.
From what I can remember, you just may have a quite valid point as far as
his being an essentially baritone voice singing tenor parts.
I do not believe that Caruso was a "propaganda phenomenon", simply because
there were a slew of other good tenors around at the time; but perhaps they
did not sing at the Met, or USA. Domingo, on the other hand, did not have
viable "rivals" for his spinto repertory (Corelli, Bergonzi & Vickers were
past their best, Tucker died, & I don't know what became of Labo), & hence
received the hype & publicity that the gullible public eagerly swallowed,
catapulting him to undeserved stardom.
Just my views.
Regards,
DonPaolo
Eugenia Grimaldi <egd...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:18660-3B...@storefull-621.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
Skip
"Don Paolo" <donp...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:9j4ccu$ogp$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
Geoffrey Riggs
"Eugenia Grimaldi" <egd...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:18660-3B...@storefull-621.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
>
> Caruso did not have the high range of
> Martinelli,Lazaro,Gigli;Escalais,etc.He sang Vecchia Zimarra in the
> theater and also Pagiacci's prologue.Where are his high d's in Puritani
> and La Favorita?The duets of Forza and Otello are remarkable, because
> the voices sound so similar that they could be classified as baritone's
> duets.Where is the high C in Boheme?There is not lyricism in his records
> after 1906.By 1918 the voice was very dark and without lyricsisim.
I might agree that there was a degree of "flow" to his singing that abated
to a degree circa 1915.
Personally, I prefer those recordings that come from 1904-1907 and those
recordings that come from 1911-1914, where the voice itself is somewhat more
moving as a sound, even though the easy line, while easy enough in absolute
terms, doesn't quite match the ease of 1904-1907 (I find a bit of a blip in
1908-1910, IMO, where the singing itself seems comparatively unvaried and
unengaged.....curious).
He may have very well become a baritone with many colors by the time he died
(after all, Nemorino, his lightest role at the end, doesn't spend too much
time in the stratosphere). But I still believe that he made/established his
initial fame as an unquestionable tenor.
Let's not forget that there is a perfectly lyrical high C in his 1906 "Salut
demeure," an authentically musical "unmuscled" note on "presence." True, he
did transpose the "speranza" in the "Che gelida manina," thereby showing
that his top was not ideally resilient for a true lyric, and he couldn't
depend on it all the time. But that doesn't mean he wasn't a true tenor,
since he was capable of a lyric C on occasion, and, above all, the general
coloring of his voice at the outset was emphatically that of a spinto tenor
at most, nothing darker, IMO.
Respectfully,
Geoffrey Riggs
==================================
www.operacast.com
TheDivo
>>theater and also Pagiacci's prologue
He also reportedly sang Beppe's aria in Pagliacci and no one recognized his
voice. So what does that prove?
Commspkmn
<< He also reportedly sang Beppe's aria in Pagliacci and no one recognized his
voice. So what does that prove? >>
It's obvious—Beppe is actually a baritone role.
Karen Mercedes
the fach-police haven't insisted that gelding be reinstated for the sake
of operatic correctness!
KM
............................
NEIL SHICOFF pages
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ To hell with life as snug as hand in glove. +
+ - Ho Xuan Huong +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MD
Eugenia Grimaldi wrote:
--
THE VOCAL RESOURCE:
http://www.ups.edu/faculty/mdelos/vocal.htm
HOMEPAGE:
http://www.halcyon.com/nwac/
Karen Mercedes
technologically daring or visionary (or both) than his contemporaries: he
immediately recognized the potential of Mr. Edison's machine, and
exploited it. Certainly other singers followed him into the recording
studio, but he maintained the advantage of being first and recording more
than any of the others, so that it was Caruso's name that became a
household word and synonymous with opera even in households that had never
before visited an opera house.
The fact that he was also a phenomenally GOOD singer not only helped
guarantee his acceptance among the wider popular audience, but also helped
promote a popular public taste for opera, because they associated it with
him and his high standards of quality.
What is so interesting is that the "Average Joe" unschooled in opera in
1905 still seems to have been far more discriminating than his counterpart
today. In 1905, I doubt a certain blind tenor would have heard outside the
small number of charitable souls in his village who tossed him a coin as
he crooned away on the church steps.
michael farris
Karen Mercedes wrote:
> I think a part of the Caruso phenomenon was because Sig. Caruso was more
> technologically daring or visionary (or both) than his contemporaries: he
> immediately recognized the potential of Mr. Edison's machine, and
> exploited it. Certainly other singers followed him into the recording
> studio, but he maintained the advantage of being first and recording more
> than any of the others, so that it was Caruso's name that became a
> household word and synonymous with opera even in households that had never
> before visited an opera house.
>
> The fact that he was also a phenomenally GOOD singer not only helped
> guarantee his acceptance among the wider popular audience, but also helped
> promote a popular public taste for opera, because they associated it with
> him and his high standards of quality.
Absolutely true, he wasn't the first recorded superstar, but the first who's
recorded fame hasn't diminished (who listens to Galli Curcia today?)
>
> What is so interesting is that the "Average Joe" unschooled in opera in
> 1905 still seems to have been far more discriminating than his counterpart
> today. In 1905, I doubt a certain blind tenor would have heard outside the
> small number of charitable souls in his village who tossed him a coin as
> he crooned away on the church steps.
ooohh now _that's_ mean! Accurate, yes, but mean.
-mike farris
david melnick
been there saying that it was Caruso who introduced a "modern" verismo
expressiveness to older bel canto roles, and that that was part of the reason
for his great success. I would guess the repertoire s/he had in mind included
roles such as the duca, etc., as well as Donizetti roles. I have no idea
whether the person was right, but you who explore 100-year-old tenors more
extensively than I do may be able to verify or refute the notion. (I would do
my duty and listen more systematically to my Richter-roms, but will there ever
be enough time?)
Sincerely,
David
P.S. I immediately thought of that anecdote when I heard the intermission
broadcast last season that contrasted the "French" and "Italian" traditions
(both wonderful, IMO).
Tyrrath
>B, and was probably naturally a mezzo, could have added ten years to her
>career if she'd made the mezzo switch c. 1937, ditto Callas c. 1960 and
>Sutherland c. 1984, but Sutherland (who began as a mezzo) was nearly 60 and
>very very rich by 1984, so why did she care? In fact, they were all rich,
>but the refusal of Ponselle and Callas to change fachs left their lives kind
>of empty and probably lessened the pleasure audiences might have derived
>from them.
Huh??? Callas and Sutherland were dramatic coloratura SOPRANOS. Ponselle was a
spinto SOPRANO. Many sopranos begin as mezzos because they start out in choral
music where warmth and fullness of voice are not prized and correct vocal
production (which enables them later to produce great or at least good high
notes) aren't encouraged. Todd Duncan related the story that when Leontyne
Price first came to him as a student, she told him "I sing alto in the
choir..." Heh.
Ian Graham
<ench...@herodotus.com> writes
>As for sopranos who were really mezzos: Ponselle also was hit or miss above
>B, and was probably naturally a mezzo, could have added ten years to her
>career if she'd made the mezzo switch c. 1937, ditto Callas c. 1960 and
>Sutherland c. 1984, but Sutherland (who began as a mezzo) was nearly 60 and
>very very rich by 1984, so why did she care? In fact, they were all rich,
>but the refusal of Ponselle and Callas to change fachs left their lives kind
>of empty and probably lessened the pleasure audiences might have derived
>from them.
I certainly agree about Callas, but can't agree about Sutherland. One
of the interesting things about JS's later career is that it was the
lower part of the voice which effectively disintegrated while the top
remained (comparatively) intact.
Listening to her later performances she has real difficulty filling out
the lower notes with full tone. The high notes, however (including at
least one E flat in her 1988 "Anna Bolena" at ROH) were still amazing in
the theatre. Of course they were not what they were ten, never mind
twenty years before, but there was still no-one who could produce the
high notes to match her. Even listening to recordings of her later
performances now they were still something for a singer of her age.
IG
--
Ian Graham
Mike Richter
>
> "Rubberbandgirl83" <rubberba...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20010718024035...@ng-bg1.aol.com...
> > >Caruso was a baritone,
> > >
> >
> > >Comments,please.
> >
> > Somebody is having lots of fun stirring us up here in RMO.
> >
> > Also, I have read a number of times on this NG that "many of the great
> tenors
> > were baritonal, many of the great sopranos sounded like mezzos in their
> lower
> > register", etc.
> > Caruso's voice may have been dark, but there's very little to suggest that
> he
> > was anything other than a tenor.
> >
> > Those are *my* comments.
> >
> > Rubberband Girl
>
> I believe he started out as a baritone, as did many of my favorite tenors
> (Carlo Bergonzi, e.g.), and he was always uncertain above B.
He started out as a tenor and remained a tenor. In the early days, the C
was good, if not spectacular. (Try the "Salut, demeure chaste et pure".)
Many other tenors avoid high Cs and Bs, particularly in their later
careers. Tito Schipa carried his own scores to accomodate the
limitations of his high notes; I've heard no one suggest that he was a
baritone.
Andre Edouard
Andre
Karen Mercedes
of them is Frederica von Stade, who has always struck me as a very shrewd
soprano who has managed to capitalize on a rather good middle and lower
register to exploit the market for lyric mezzos to play pants roles (vs.
competing with the umpteensquillion aspiring lyric sopranos out there).
This doesn't make her any less fine a singer - but it does make me wonder
sometimes whether she would have gone anywhere near as far had she sung
true to what her voice type truly seems to be. There are a few other
"lyric mezzos" who I believe are truly lyric sopranos "getting away with
it" - more power to them!
I always wondered, too, whether Jessye Norman wasn't really a high
dramatic mezzo rather than a true dramatic soprano. Thoughts?
At the other end of the spectrum, the entire "bass-baritone" category has
always seemed to me a peculiar invention. No-one has ever been able to
explain to me the real difference between the average bass-baritone and
the average basso cantante. And, unlike "mezzo-soprano", there don't even
seem to be many roles written (or categorized) specifically for
"bass-baritone". They're either bass roles or baritone roles. So the
"bass-baritone" label seems to me almost an apology by these men for not
being able to choose which fach they will sing in - sitting on the fence,
again? Or am I being ungenerous? Does the "bass-baritone" really exist?
ARodolfo
>From: MD mde...@home.com
>Date: 7/18/01 2:03 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <3B55DDFE...@home.com>
>
>You are an idiot.
>Eugenia Grimaldi wrote:
And why is that? Ms. Grimaldi asked a question and wanted people's opinions on
the matter. The only idiotic post I've read in this thread thus far has been
yours. Please, take your flaming elsewhere.
ARodolfo
>Date: 7/18/01 10:33 AM Central Daylight Time
Ack!!!! That's quite a schedule for a living man. And if there's a performer
today that can sing that variety I'd love to hear him/her.
arod
VocediVendetta
"Caruso was a baritone"
--------
No he was a tenor (a great, great, great tenor) who had a marked baritonal
tinge to his voice.
"So why to criticise Domingo that much, if he really did the same that Caruso
did?"
--------
Caruso = The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Domingo = a broom closet in the corridor outside the Sistine Chapel
REG
"Commspkmn" <comm...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010718115558...@ng-ck1.aol.com...
REG
history:
The fact that Ponselle was both a little short at the top, and had
psychological fears about the C', doesn't make her a mezzo..if you listen to
the Villa Pace recordings from the early 50s, she is clearly not a mezzo,
and the voice had somewhat stabilized to the point where she could again
sing up to an A' as a soprano...she could not sustain the tessitura she had
two decades earlier, but it is not a mezzo sound as we would describe it.
I am even more mystified by your thinking that Sutherland would have been
able to make the switch - as she transposed down she became more inaudible
in the middle voice...Callas had a big hole in the middle voice by 60...she
still sang Norma (with the C"s in the Pollione duet in the second act,
although she avoided the C" in the Ah bello because it was so exposed and
out of kilter with the rest of the voice), Tosca, etc till the end of her
opera career. A short soprano is not a mezzo....the question is where the
break is, how the voice is produced above the passagio, where the sustaining
power is. Adalgisa was written for a second soprano because, essentially
till Viardot Garcia (and this is potted history and not perfect in details)
the distinction was between soprano (a broad term, as you indicate) and
contralto. I don't think it's true that mezzos "often" sing Lady, Zerlina
and Musetta in particular. Lady M can be sung by a mezzo making compromises,
but it's not "often" done....Christa was moving away from mezzo in those
years, as were Grace and Shirley V....Cossoto I don't think ever sang it
live....a few of the German singers did it. Zerlina is a light voiced role,
it doesn't go above a Bb, but aside from Bartoli I can think of very few,
not "often"....and where is a mezzo often singing Musetta???? The only one
I can think of is Supervia who did in the FILM of Evensong, which is quite
different (and maybe transposed).
"A Tsar Is Born" <ench...@herodotus.com> wrote in message
news:3b55b...@news.starnetinc.com...
REG
early on, but the voice is so weighted to the middle and the top is such a
complex vocal production that I think it's a possibility at least. Von Stade
I don't think of as being able to really sustain a soprano repetoire, any
more than Jackie could for half a dozen years until she settled on Mezzo.
But I suspect that in another time and age we would have thought of Flicka
as a (boring) soprano.
"Karen Mercedes" <dal...@radix.net> wrote in message
news:Pine.SV4.3.96.101071...@saltmine.radix.net...
REG
extraordinary middle voice...the closest thing I can think of in women
singers is Flagtstad
"Karen Mercedes" <dal...@radix.net> wrote in message
news:Pine.SV4.3.96.101071...@saltmine.radix.net...
Andre Edouard
AE
MD
and the Golden Gate Bridge was really a tunnel.
Mike Richter
>
> There are a few singers I think really are "on the fence" fach-wise. One
> of them is Frederica von Stade, who has always struck me as a very shrewd
> soprano who has managed to capitalize on a rather good middle and lower
> register to exploit the market for lyric mezzos to play pants roles (vs.
> competing with the umpteensquillion aspiring lyric sopranos out there).
> This doesn't make her any less fine a singer - but it does make me wonder
> sometimes whether she would have gone anywhere near as far had she sung
> true to what her voice type truly seems to be. There are a few other
> "lyric mezzos" who I believe are truly lyric sopranos "getting away with
> it" - more power to them!
Oh, I think Flicka has always sung in her Fach - but it may not be the
one the world thinks it is. Many of her signature roles such as
Cherubino and Oktavian have always been a battleground for sopranos and
mezzos; they belong to both or to either.
>
> I always wondered, too, whether Jessye Norman wasn't really a high
> dramatic mezzo rather than a true dramatic soprano. Thoughts?
I'd disagree here, too. In this case, one does have a dark tone to the
voice, but I believe she would not have lasted as long as she has if she
had sung mezzo from the beginning. I believe she is in a noble tradition
of sopranos such as Regine Crespin.
>
> At the other end of the spectrum, the entire "bass-baritone" category has
> always seemed to me a peculiar invention. No-one has ever been able to
> explain to me the real difference between the average bass-baritone and
> the average basso cantante. And, unlike "mezzo-soprano", there don't even
> seem to be many roles written (or categorized) specifically for
> "bass-baritone". They're either bass roles or baritone roles. So the
> "bass-baritone" label seems to me almost an apology by these men for not
> being able to choose which fach they will sing in - sitting on the fence,
> again? Or am I being ungenerous? Does the "bass-baritone" really exist?
Most who are labelled bass-baritone have trouble with the top of the
baritone and the lower range of the basso. There have been a few under
that label - George London, Jose van Dam and Thomas Quasthof come
immediately to mind - who could handle most baritone and most bass roles
without difficulty. I would think in general that a bass-baritone would
be a baritone with substantial bass coloration in his voice and easy low
extension.
It's interesting to me that there was a school of French basso cantante
in which the sound was baritone (usually, not particularly dark) until
the bottom dropped out.
david melnick
Mike Richter wrote:
> There have been a few under
> that label - George London, Jose van Dam and Thomas Quasthof come
> immediately to mind - who could handle most baritone and most bass roles
> without difficulty.
There was also Ben Dollard's bass-barreltone voice. :-)
Geoffrey Riggs
"ARodolfo" <arod...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010718185959...@ng-ch1.aol.com...
Ahem..... Although, frankly, I am a bit ambivalent about Domingo
personally.......<G>
Cheers,
Geoffrey Riggs
====================================
www.operacast.com
Andre Edouard
AE
Valfer
Caruso's voice on records sounded overly dark, but not so in the theater.
He remembered Caruso's voice not as the largest nor the highest, nor the
most beautiful among the tenors he heard. What set Caruso apart was his
expressive singing, or "acting with the voice", and his fearless way of
singing. He cracked a good number of high notes, but the ones he sang well
were spectacular. This is what endeared him to his audiences and sometimes
irked picky critics. There was no propaganda machine as there is today.
Caruso simply delivered a total effort every time he performed.
I started singing as a baritone, until I found a good voice teacher who
trained me properly as a tenor. I have sung tenor now for twenty-five
years, and my voice is still quite workable. I have read that Bergonzi,
Melchior, Zanelli and most of the tenors who began as baritones had the same
experience. One should not generalize in the case of singers, as every
voice is a world of its own, but I could say that most of the tenors singing
the heavier repertoire have a little "baritone" in their voices. There's
nothing wrong with this, as long as the singer cultivates the tenorly
"squillo" which gives his voice the required projection.
Valfer
>
GRNDPADAVE
A violin played on the G string is still a violin. A cello playing its highest
harmonics is still a cello.
Enrico Caruso had a gorgeously even and extended range.
But his instrument was more akin to a violin than to a cello.
The beautiful, golden sound gave him a more virile resonance than was typical
of tenor voices of his contemporaries.
Leonard Warren was a baritone who had little difficulty in singing tenor arias.
I would have loved to hear Warren singing "Esultate" because in addition to
his beautiful upper extension he commanded tremendous volume without loss of
legato.
==G/P Dave
ARodolfo
>Date: 7/20/01 7:20 AM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <20010720082028...@ng-ma1.aol.com>
>
>This is one of the sillier threads to appear in r.m.o.
Sillier? I think not. I don't know the motivations of the original poster. But,
a lot of darker toned tenors are thought to be baritones. Discussing this may
help change that perception in the minds of some.
btw..You gave a wonderful yet different example than other posters.
respectfully,
arod
Carl Fehlandt
that he started as a baritone. The voice is as light as, say, early Di Stefano or
Carreras.
GRNDPADAVE
>Date: 07/20/2001 10:49 AM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <20010720114914...@ng-ms1.aol.com>
I realize I should have given a reason for classifying this as a silly thread.
Arguments over classification I always find numbing.
We have seen arguments as to whether DON GIOVANNI is a tragic opera or a comic
opera. Of course it is, like life itself, both.
Does calling Caruso a "tenor" or a "baritone" change *anything* about the sound
of his voice or how we perceive it?
I am listening to Domingo's superb Don Alvaro in the Levine recording. The
role calls for a great range. Domingo is able to give a full voiced finish to
phrases whether they end high or low. He does this while preserving the
dignity and tragic awe of this wonderful character.
Milnes' top was especially brilliant at the time of the recording and it gives
the impression that Carlo and Alvaro could have been soul brothers -- both
proud while one is forgiving and the other implacable.
Whatever you call their voice types has no impact on my perception of the sound
and sense of their singing.
Same with Caruso.
==G/P Dave
ARodolfo
>Arguments over classification I always find numbing.
You and me both, Sir!
>Whatever you call their voice types has no impact on my perception of the
>sound
>and sense of their singing.
>
>Same with Caruso.
>
>==G/P Dave
.....what he said. =)
MD
would be more accurate. Yes indeed, Caruso took on a darker, baritonal timbre to
his voice as he aged. So did Ponselle, if you listen to the gypsy song she
recorded at home in 1957!! But Caruso is, was and always will be a tenor.
ARodolfo wrote:
--
THE VOCAL RESOURCE:
http://www.ups.edu/faculty/mdelos/vocal.htm
HOMEPAGE:
http://www.halcyon.com/nwac/
ARodolfo
individual's approach to singing as well as the physical shape of the body
(instrument) .
For example, Corelli and del Monaco used a lowered larnyx approach in their
singing. When I listen to Caruso I hear similarities. And from what I've read
of his writings and approved writings on technique, it seems Caruso also used
a similar approach. One of the results of such an approach is that the tone
does become a little darker hmmm .... richer?) in quality. There are some
dangers involved vocally with such an approach as Corelli himself stated in the
Jerome Hines' book, "Great Singers on Great Singing".
arod
Don Paolo
I rather believe that we need some frame of reference, which classification
handily provides.
DonPaolo
ARodolfo <arod...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010720161718...@ng-mi1.aol.com...
Operatunenity
>> explain to me the real difference between the average bass-baritone and
>> the average basso cantante
A bass- baritone and a basso cantante can have exactly the same range, the
difference is that a basso cantante will have his passaggio a half a tone lower
than a bass baritone, and this determines tessitura.
Caruso had a tenor passaggio, therefore, no matter how baritonal his sound,
his top was a tenor's top and his tessitura was higher than a baritone's.
Passaggio and tessitura are what determine a voice type more than range.
Color and range are important, but secondary to the former.