I had the pleasure of hearing him do this live last year. and it was at a masterclass in a rehearsalroom. sound was wreally massive. It was incredible: 70 years and a huge sound and singing with an ease: like he was wistheling on the pavement! and that top C. astonishing!!
By the age of 70 most of today's crop of singers, including tenors, will probably have retired. He's an amazing performer, so humble, so human and touching.
A short story you should all heed: John McCormack met Enrico Caruso by chance on a street in Boston one day and asked: "How is the Greatest Tenor in the world doing?" Caruso answered: "John, since when did you become a baritone?" Twp men who had great admiration for each other, who respected and admired the others incredible skills. Musicians appreciate what God gave us, whether they are great stars, or just good enough to be buried in the ensemble like me. Please be gracious of others.
He does not have the vocal apparatus of a baritone, he covers at F#, and his tessitura is that of a tenor. This cannot be faked, a baritone cannot sing a tenor's tessitura for a long time.
I have just had a quick search for Corelli and Del Monaco singing Che Gelida Manina. I am using these two as benchmarks as they are renowned as great tenors and have voices with similar weights to Giacomini's. on ALL live recordings i can find they have transposed the aria down a semitone. on many studio recordings however they have sung high Cs
My assertion was that this Aria was often transposed by Tenors with fuller voices. NOT that Giacomini always sang the high C. I also asserted that Tenors will often be able to sing High C's in the Studio but be less likely to live. With your last post i can assume that you do no know of an instance of either Del Monaco or Corelli singing this aria live WITH the high C I can then assume that my point is made.
Just want to make a point that the music was set a half step lower than written with the resulting high note being a B natural rather than a High C natural, something often done to accommodate older singers when needed. Thus the argument of singing a High C is a mute point!
Just to clarify this is a semitone down - not an unusual transposition. But what matter, if this really is Giacomini at 70, it's staggering. And it definitely IS Giacomini. Fabulous singing for a much younger man, but for a 70 year old....shouldn't be allowed.
That reminds me of a story I heard of Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas. Tebaldi was trying to learn the lead role in La Giaconda, and asked the Met GM to find her the best recording. The manager, aware of the rivalry between Callas and Tebaldi, recommended Zinka Milanov's recording. The GM came back the next day to hear Tebaldi listening intently to Callas's recording asking "Why didn't you tell me Maria's was the best?" :-D
Half tone down… Only Caruso was authorized by Puccini HIMSELF to down the high C to a B natural. But why not? I’ve always said that even dramatic tenors may sing Rodolfo, in their young age… 🙏🙏
Where? All three have done it in a studio but live? A very different thing! I am quite happy to take a lesson from someone wiser or more mature than myself. Indeed, how else would one become wiser? However you should take care not to confuse your arrogance with wisdom.
As per your july 19th reply to my concern about your inexperience, you followed up with a search proving my point by finding Del Monaco and Corelli both singing the High C natural in this aria. Take a lesson from wiser and more mature practioners in the future by listening to them without need to retort. Do remember that Giacomini only sang the High Bnatural in this performance, and I'd be interested to know if you found him singing it in the original key.
I agree with you that this poster/recorder went too far with shouting BRAVO's, BRAVO's, etc... This was not a repeat 'BRAVO' performance, and believe me, I do like Giacomini!
James , that Corelli and Del Monaco sang the aria with a High C is established in fact, and your point is not made at all, thus you argue in vain. I need not point to the examples on You Tube to prove my point, as you've not shown one example of Giacomini singing said aria with the High C.
Giacomini (probably studio recording)With High C uEFf4Fn8XKs (put in search box) Corelli live with High B fsULB3v5Ga4 Dg833IjsHig Del Monaco with High B 3H4VmT41reI HENJ1uzPolE
James: I don't know how you arrived at your assertion that the aria is almost always transposed down, even for young singers. I've been in and around the world of opera for a lot longer than you've lived, and I can tell you personally that what you assert doesn't 'wash'! At 70 yrs. of age, it's understandable that he'd take it down, as the muscle tone is definitely not what it once was by evidence of this performance!
show me del monaco or corelli singing this aria live with a high C! I must apologise profusely for my gramatical error! Why must you bring up my age? do you have no evidence? There is no need to make assumptions about who i am or what my experience might be, I will not do the same to you inspite of my young age! Please show me Del monaco and Corelli singing Che Gelida Manina live with a high C and i will willfully admit that i am wrong!
Lets think of a few big names who transposed down Corelli Del Monaco Pavarotti (sometimes) i could find many more but considering the fact that these are probably the best of the tenors in the last 50 years i consider my point made. Lets not be flippant, the fact that i am younger than you does not make me any less capable of watching youtube videos! Please direct me to a Dramatic tenor who sung high Cs in this aria. I can only think of one, Giacomini!
he is incredible to sing this difficult at 70!!but this is a very lyrical area!!his voice is too dramatic and to force full to give this area they proper beauty and lyricism.
@thehix oh I thought you were talking about the everything, not the high C. Yes, i agree placido domingo was never very comfortable with the high C since he was born baritone. But anyway : /watch?v=1eMtK2-0GOU
@delmonaco21 Galouzine has that sound and Ramon Vinay has that sound but Vinay has more of an extremely baritone color and a giant tenor squillo enough for singing Wagnerian operas for Giacomini is an Italian robusto dramatic tenor and Vinay is a crossover of a robusto dramatic tenor and schwierig heldentenor.
Sad, that opera houses uses old and burned out singers. He SOUNDS OLD and no beauty left in the voice.... He had a GREAT career . He should only teach...
Spoken by one full of himself, I might add! You said show recordings, not live performances, and you've yet to show me Giacomini singing a high Cnatural in this aria, thus take care you don't load those guns too quickly, young fry!
@dendrix01, ....sentir vergüenza de Don Placido Domingo? Me parece que no sabes lo que dices. Giacomimi es un gran tenor y tuvo una gran carrera en la ópera, vale. Punto. El resto de tú comentario sobra.....como tú. Eres de ese tipo de gente que solo sabes insultar a un gran tenor y un histórico de la ópera sin motivo, y te crestas gracioso o entendido....cualquiera sabe. Mi desprecio a ese tipo de comentarios.
Actually ..it is a high B natural...and at 70 ...fabulous.....!!!!!!! Why not...Pavarotti in the middle 80's...transposed most of his C's down to B's !!!! (King of the high C's) Bravo, bravissimo Giacomini !!!
Lovingly sung, but the voice by this performance shows its age with uneven vibrato. He may have cleaner vocals withing him to present, but this performance of a lyric tenor aria is not his best work since he was clearly a dramatic tenor, among the best!
If you truly meant to include studio recordings then you can consider yourself correct also. In either case you should expect no more reply from me. You have shown yourself to be arrogant and contemptious of those who oppose your views clearly believing that you have attained a wisdom no one could match! Have you not heard that a truely wise man recognises his ignorance?
James, your youthful inexperience is glaringly obvious, as Corelli never transposed down for recordings, nor Del Monaco, and Pavarotti only for his last farewell recordings at benefits after he was sick for a good while. If you think you know better, you come up with the goods, so to speak! I'm not being flippant when I note your age and inexperience, and the likely hood that you've never sung any operatic roles! Giacomini sings a high B natural rather than a C natural here! "sang" not sung.
Incredible. Most dramatic tenors can shout their way through Otello when they are 70 (and have no voice left) ... but Rodolfo, mamma mia.
The one tenor with a true touch if baritonal timbre who didn't have to sing baritone roles toward the end of his career.
I had the pleasure of hearing him do this live last year. and it was at a masterclass in a rehearsalroom.
sound was wreally massive. It was incredible: 70 years and a huge sound and singing with an ease: like he was wistheling on the pavement! and that top C. astonishing!!
Grandissimo “Bepi” Straordinario come Artista e come uomo. RIP ❤
Amazing.... especially at that age. Almost impossible! Great talent, great voice, great interpretation!
By the age of 70 most of today's crop of singers, including tenors, will probably have retired. He's an amazing performer, so humble, so human and touching.
what a tenor! Still singing this well at 70. He must have a spectacular technique.
Potenza pura.........e assoluta. Imbattibile. Interpretazione , consona alla potenza.
Beautifully put!
o my God,a tenor is living in our days!
A very humble man…fino alla fine.
thank u for this
i saw him in his prime!!and
he was fabulous!!
WARNING TO ALL!
TURN THE VOLUME DOWN AT 4:49!
Great singing!
@dendrix01 70 years old Giacomini sings better than (Do???)mingo has sang in his entire life.
BRAVOOOOOOOO BRAVOOOOOOO BRAVOOOOOOO BRAVOOOOOOO
that was 4 times you screamed about it,and my ears hurt bcoz of it.
nice,great job
@FFCKH Can you provide me at least one recording of Domingo singing a high C without straining ?
Great singing!
A short story you should all heed:
John McCormack met Enrico Caruso by chance on a street in Boston one day and asked: "How is the Greatest Tenor in the world doing?" Caruso answered: "John, since when did you become a baritone?"
Twp men who had great admiration for each other, who respected and admired the others incredible skills.
Musicians appreciate what God gave us, whether they are great stars, or just good enough to be buried in the ensemble like me.
Please be gracious of others.
He does not have the vocal apparatus of a baritone, he covers at F#, and his tessitura is that of a tenor. This cannot be faked, a baritone cannot sing a tenor's tessitura for a long time.
WOW AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
best tenor EVER!!!!!
lLOOKing at his picture only he looks like someones kindly grandfather......then he staets to sing and then, WOW mille bravo
I have just had a quick search for Corelli and Del Monaco singing Che Gelida Manina.
I am using these two as benchmarks as they are renowned as great tenors and have voices with similar weights to Giacomini's. on ALL live recordings i can find they have transposed the aria down a semitone. on many studio recordings however they have sung high Cs
Wunderbar!
Grande grande...
Bravo Giuseppe Giacomini!
My assertion was that this Aria was often transposed by Tenors with fuller voices. NOT that Giacomini always sang the high C. I also asserted that Tenors will often be able to sing High C's in the Studio but be less likely to live. With your last post i can assume that you do no know of an instance of either Del Monaco or Corelli singing this aria live WITH the high C I can then assume that my point is made.
Sorry, I was excited, I actually cut the volume on the Bravo in editing but it seems it wasn't enough
Just want to make a point that the music was set a half step lower than written with the resulting high note being a B natural rather than a High C natural, something often done to accommodate older singers when needed. Thus the argument of singing a High C is a mute point!
Just to clarify this is a semitone down - not an unusual transposition. But what matter, if this really is Giacomini at 70, it's staggering. And it definitely IS Giacomini. Fabulous singing for a much younger man, but for a 70 year old....shouldn't be allowed.
hahaha! I would scream BRAVO like you too~!! lollllllllll
Even if you don't take his age into account i completely agree with you!
70? OMG!!!
Señores, aquí el tenor
That reminds me of a story I heard of Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas. Tebaldi was trying to learn the lead role in La Giaconda, and asked the Met GM to find her the best recording. The manager, aware of the rivalry between Callas and Tebaldi, recommended Zinka Milanov's recording. The GM came back the next day to hear Tebaldi listening intently to Callas's recording asking "Why didn't you tell me Maria's was the best?"
:-D
True !!!!
Half tone down… Only Caruso was authorized by Puccini HIMSELF to down the high C to a B natural. But why not? I’ve always said that even dramatic tenors may sing Rodolfo, in their young age… 🙏🙏
Yes, the big difference between thes great tenors and Domingo is that the high B sound good.
Where? All three have done it in a studio but live? A very different thing!
I am quite happy to take a lesson from someone wiser or more mature than myself. Indeed, how else would one become wiser? However you should take care not to confuse your arrogance with wisdom.
Can you provide at least one recording of any baritone, who changed to be a tenor, singing a high C without "straining"?
It is possible to change tessitura.
As per your july 19th reply to my concern about your inexperience, you followed up with a search proving my point by finding Del Monaco and Corelli both singing the High C natural in this aria. Take a lesson from wiser and more mature practioners in the future by listening to them without need to retort. Do remember that Giacomini only sang the High Bnatural in this performance, and I'd be interested to know if you found him singing it in the original key.
I agree with you that this poster/recorder went too far with shouting BRAVO's, BRAVO's, etc... This was not a repeat 'BRAVO' performance, and believe me, I do like Giacomini!
James , that Corelli and Del Monaco sang the aria with a High C is established in fact, and your point is not made at all, thus you argue in vain. I need not point to the examples on You Tube to prove my point, as you've not shown one example of Giacomini singing said aria with the High C.
@dendrix01 Dices que Giacomini es spinto? Dios mío, qué ignorancia! Es absolutamente dramático, heroico, no spinto.
Giacomini (probably studio recording)With High C uEFf4Fn8XKs (put in search box)
Corelli live with High B fsULB3v5Ga4 Dg833IjsHig
Del Monaco with High B 3H4VmT41reI HENJ1uzPolE
James: I don't know how you arrived at your assertion that the aria is almost always transposed down, even for young singers. I've been in and around the world of opera for a lot longer than you've lived, and I can tell you personally that what you assert doesn't 'wash'! At 70 yrs. of age, it's understandable that he'd take it down, as the muscle tone is definitely not what it once was by evidence of this performance!
show me del monaco or corelli singing this aria live with a high C!
I must apologise profusely for my gramatical error!
Why must you bring up my age? do you have no evidence?
There is no need to make assumptions about who i am or what my experience might be, I will not do the same to you inspite of my young age!
Please show me Del monaco and Corelli singing Che Gelida Manina live with a high C and i will willfully admit that i am wrong!
@124235346 His technique and dramatic singing wore out his entire "system" such that he developed this wobble after about 25 years.
Lets think of a few big names who transposed down
Corelli
Del Monaco
Pavarotti (sometimes)
i could find many more but considering the fact that these are probably the best of the tenors in the last 50 years i consider my point made.
Lets not be flippant, the fact that i am younger than you does not make me any less capable of watching youtube videos!
Please direct me to a Dramatic tenor who sung high Cs in this aria.
I can only think of one, Giacomini!
he is incredible to sing this
difficult at 70!!but this is a
very lyrical area!!his voice
is too dramatic and to force
full to give this area they
proper beauty and lyricism.
Well he is a great tenor. But he was a dramatic tenor that started out as a spinto tenor.
I can say with you that the BRAVO's at the end of this recording were extreme, and a bit 'flaming'!
@thehix oh I thought you were talking about the everything, not the high C. Yes, i agree placido domingo was never very comfortable with the high C since he was born baritone. But anyway :
/watch?v=1eMtK2-0GOU
Actually this aria is almost always transposed down, even for young singers
¡Exacto! Totalmente dramático...
Agreed but his stage acting was very good.
A "real" baritone? Please explain.
Would you check this? I'm pretty sure that this is not Giacomini, I think it is Galouzine.
@delmonaco21 Galouzine has that sound and Ramon Vinay has that sound but Vinay has more of an extremely baritone color and a giant tenor squillo enough for singing Wagnerian operas for Giacomini is an Italian robusto dramatic tenor and Vinay is a crossover of a robusto dramatic tenor and schwierig heldentenor.
It is the great Giacomini! I was there! Fantastic!!!
The color makes it evident that it is Giacomini himself
Sad, that opera houses uses old and burned out singers. He SOUNDS OLD and no beauty left in the voice.... He had a GREAT career . He should only teach...
troll
this is from this year?i think
he turns 70 this year!!still
sounding very good!!
Then I was wrong, this is from May 2010.
Actually here it is transposed half a tone lower like most tenors so it's a B
If you had heard how huge the voice sounds live you would have done the same :).
He should have been an actor then ;).
Search for Bogdan Mihai he was also misplaced as a baritone in the beginning. Get it out of your head, Domingo is/wasn't a real baritone ever.
@thehix don't agree... i really like giacomini, but you should make a little research and train your ears before making such an statement..
For balance Giacomini singing live in his younger years with a high B
He can be heard in his younger days taking the High C in this aria. In his prime he had a fabulous top.
Spoken by one full of himself, I might add! You said show recordings, not live performances, and you've yet to show me Giacomini singing a high Cnatural in this aria, thus take care you don't load those guns too quickly, young fry!
@dendrix01, ....sentir vergüenza de Don Placido Domingo?
Me parece que no sabes lo que dices.
Giacomimi es un gran tenor y tuvo una gran carrera en la ópera, vale. Punto. El resto de tú comentario sobra.....como tú.
Eres de ese tipo de gente que solo sabes insultar a un gran tenor y un histórico de la ópera sin motivo, y te crestas gracioso o entendido....cualquiera sabe.
Mi desprecio a ese tipo de comentarios.
It's a C actually....knob
Actually ..it is a high B natural...and at 70 ...fabulous.....!!!!!!! Why not...Pavarotti in the middle 80's...transposed most of his C's down to B's !!!! (King of the high C's) Bravo, bravissimo Giacomini !!!
Peut-être pas très raisonnable dans ce rôle et à cet âge ,mais chapeau pour sa bravoure,même si la voix flotte beaucoup trop.
Lovingly sung, but the voice by this performance shows its age with uneven vibrato. He may have cleaner vocals withing him to present, but this performance of a lyric tenor aria is not his best work since he was clearly a dramatic tenor, among the best!
I bet you could do better. Cantante de poltrona 🤦🏻♂️
Pavarotti live with high B HXC43BFEULE
If you truly meant to include studio recordings then you can consider yourself correct also. In either case you should expect no more reply from me. You have shown yourself to be arrogant and contemptious of those who oppose your views clearly believing that you have attained a wisdom no one could match! Have you not heard that a truely wise man recognises his ignorance?
James, your youthful inexperience is glaringly obvious, as Corelli never transposed down for recordings, nor Del Monaco, and Pavarotti only for his last farewell recordings at benefits after he was sick for a good while. If you think you know better, you come up with the goods, so to speak! I'm not being flippant when I note your age and inexperience, and the likely hood that you've never sung any operatic roles! Giacomini sings a high B natural rather than a C natural here! "sang" not sung.