Stunning presentation from his early career,,, Great upper register,,,, perhaps the best recording of this very difficult aria,,, in this key,,, from his debut album "the Baritone voice"?
I love Milnes! He is the best baritone that I have seen live on stage. His voice was vibrant, dominating, magnificent in quality, his stage presence imposing. For me Milnes was FAR better than Cappuccilli, Bruson, Zancanaro, Wixell, Nucci, etc etc. (not to speak of the ones of the last 15-20 years most of whom do not even deserve to be mentioned by name). Unfortunately, I have never heard MacNeil, Merrill and Warren live on stage to compare but I was so fortunate to have seen this giant of a singer Sherrill Milnes in a number of roles. Unforgettable!
Checking out most baritones on RUclips, most opt to take it down at least a half step, sometimes a whole step. Theodore Lambrinos and Milnes seem to be the only baritones of note who take the aria to tremendous success in its original key of E. As a side note, opera legend has it that Mr. Milnes has been known to give a pretty amazing Che Gelida Manina at parties.
@crytekengine thanks very much for the send and if you come across any more milnes rares (for purchase or whatever) please let me know ;-] as u can tell I'm a big fan
I heard him twice at San Francisco Opera. I regret that I left SF to go to grad school in the seventies and didn't catch his Rigoletto here. Everyone said he was great in that part. He was misscast in Thais. The part was really a bass-baritone part. But I heard him again in Ernani - a favorite of mine and one of his best roles. The voice was a bit small. Plishka as Silva overshadowed him. In his fach I preferred MacNeil or Wixell. He was better than Nucci or Hampson.
That G# is a tough note to sing softly for any baritone. You really have to project it with gusto just to hold it like Milnes did. Many baritones never really tackle this aria.
@crytekengine I have a poor quality rip from vinyl of that album 'the baritone voice.' I wasn't aware that it was ever released on CD...? If so I'd love to know where I could get a copy
I saw Milnes so many times at the Met; Verdi, Massenet, many others. But never Hoffmann. This is a fantastic rendition. The aria, which Offenbach didn’t write for this opera anyway, is difficult for most singers, it’s just awkward. James Morris and Sam Ramey sang it successfully, but both had trouble on the climactic high note.
The theme of the aria is indeed by Offenbach: it comes from the overture to his opera "Voyage dans la Lune". Raoul Gunsbourg and André Bloch did little more than add Barbier's words to it. So yes, it shouldn't really be in the opera, but it's still a great baritone aria.
@BrianDonaldMcKay Yelling? That's just the explosive nature of the verdi baritone high voice. The sound he makes on those g sharps are exciting and are a nice touch to what is a very boring aria. Would you say the same thing about Warren's performance of this piece, or even Merrill (although he does it a half step lower)?
This aria was not written by Offenbach, but by Andre Bloch, and sits higher in the vocal register than the arias of the other villians... For this reason Dappertutto is often played by a baritone with a higher tessitura than that of the others... It requires therefore quite an exceptional voice to sing all four villians, and if the singer is going to come unstuck anywhere, it is often in this aria which should not really be in the opera...
Milnes didn't have a particularly big voice. He had a great top which was very impressive for the climaxes, but the middle was always a bit undersized. Hvorostovsky is always criticized for his vocal size. I don't know. I never heard him live but I heard Milnes several times. Both got most of their fame from recordings wher sheer vocal amplitude is less important.
@windstorm1000 Certainly a great baritone. He apparently had a top B in his voice so I don't understand why he has to suddenly shout out the top G sharps, I don't understand. Seems out of place. High notes in themselves are there to create the emphasis; they don't need to be yelled.
To say Milnes didn't have a "big" voice is ignorant. How do you measure "size" of a voice? He was a spinto baritone with a sound that carries. I am an opera singer and have great respect for Milnes and what it takes to sing an aria like Scintille Diamant which I've done many times. Corelli was a spinto tenor and had he started earlier would probably have been a dramatic tenor. He was able to "project" his voice all the way to the back walls of the old Met. Believe me Milnes did not have an medium to small voice.
I can't reply to Patrick Boyle below, but he doesn't know what he is talking about talking about the size of Milnes' voice. I heard him live many times-not just on records-it was a "big" voice by any standard-a heroic Verdi baritone on a large scale. He was afflicted with a bit of "warrenitis" with their obsession with top notes-both I feel at the expense of a fully equalized sound. There is a big anti-Milnes movement out there-I don't know why-we'd live to have a real baritone like that around. Hvorostovsky is an elegant stylist, but actually a modest size voice, especially for the Met. Of the ones I heard Mac Neil at his best was the best-with a top that was as extraordinary as Warren. I disagree about Corelli being a 'dramatic' tenor-God if he took that route he'd have ended up like del Monaco. Corelli was a true spinto, robusto, but wonderfully lyric, and a top that was incomparable. A huge sound.
This guy who calls himself Labienus pursues me all over the web making personal attacks and insults. He is best known for his many tirades against Mario Lanza. Why he has chosen the two of us to single out for his venom is beside me. I think the problem is that Milnes had a real big vibrant top but a much less big middle voice. The first time I heard him live was in Thais. The baritone part is more of a bass-baritone part so Milnes was kept from his 'money' notes all evening. The newspaper critics also questioned why he sang a part that was on the low side for him. Later when I heard him in more conventional Verdi role he was better but still not the kind of big fat sound that Wixell, MacNeil or Cappuccilli had. You can hear this vocal configuration for yourself on this video. He sings along with excellent tone for most of the aria and then absolutely explodes on the top G Sharp. Milnes also can be heard elsewhere on RUclips doing the prolog. His top A Flat is just super. Let me also be clear that he was a sensitive musician and very good on stage. After years of hearing Merrill on the Met broadcasts singing more and more laboredly it was very refreshing to hear Milnes inherit his roles. He was a better musician and a much more imaginative interpreter. BTW my take on Milnes is absolutely main stream according to most of the New York critics too. He was always criticized from the beginning for his relatively weak middle.
Boyles....please define a "big" voice. Do you sing opera? It's the projection of the voice that matters. As stated already Milnes was a spinto baritone with a sound that really carried. That's all that matters. Put it in the last row. I've sung with people when I was young and thought they had a "big" voice. Only problem was it was way too covered and didn't make it past row 10. One learns that as they go along in singing.
I do not sing opera - any more. I'm in my mid seventies now, but when I was younger I sang about 30 operatic roles - some big roles some small. The point isn't how good I sang but if I heard baritones. I did. I sat in the San Francisco opera audience for about forty years. I heard all the best singers in opera except for a few. Not everyone was willing to come all the way from Europe.
I didn't say Milnes didn't have a great voice. I said he didn't have a particularly big voice. There are many famous singers with smaller voices including Bergonzi and Windgassen who sang roles requiring 'big' sound. Bruce Ford also has a smallish voice but that's not such a problem in his fach. Baritones with a bigger voices than Milnes included Wixell, Bruson, Cappuccilli, Zancanaro and MacNeil.
That is weird. Over the years I have always read the comments from those who heard him live and you are the first that say that it was not a big voice. I'm not saying that you are lieng or wrong but I heard many people having the opposite impression. Specially regarding Bruson and Zancanaro. I heard from them that Milnes voice was incomparably bigger than these two.
Carlos Gomes I never heard the others mentioned live but I did hear Milnes and his voice was surprisingly large - particularly given the somewhat light sounding timbre.
To criticize Milnes' "middle voice" is interesting. Most baritones would give a lot to havehis upper range. He's really more of a baritone/dramatic tenor if you may not a bass-baritone. You can't have it all. His strength was in the upper ranges.
Видеоклипы
I have been a huge fan of Mr.Milnes since I was twelve years old.My favorite baritone during the seventies and beyond.
EINER DER BESTEN
Been in love with THE VOICE ....forever! Ahh just the full rich sound ~ Congratulations Mr. Milnes for your good works on and off the stage ~ BRAVO!
Great incredible voice.
Stunning presentation from his early career,,, Great upper register,,,, perhaps the best recording of this very difficult aria,,, in this key,,, from his debut album "the Baritone voice"?
why oh why don't they release or re-release more of his early material on CD.
Milnes’ Dappertutto is one of the best I’ve heard.
Oh, now you decide not to follow (copy) bodiloto? Check his comment a few slides down, he is right.
Awesome performance of such a beautiful aria!!
Fantastique.... et quelle diction !!
Che voce voluttuosa. Bello!
On the album wherein he recorded this aria, you can also hear him laying rubber up to a glorious, open, ringing high B-flat.
one of the best Bariton!
my technique maestro always tell me about milnes incredible and big voice while he was singing with him in opera houses across the US
I love Milnes! He is the best baritone that I have seen live on stage. His voice was vibrant, dominating, magnificent in quality, his stage presence imposing. For me Milnes was FAR better than Cappuccilli, Bruson, Zancanaro, Wixell, Nucci, etc etc. (not to speak of the ones of the last 15-20 years most of whom do not even deserve to be mentioned by name). Unfortunately, I have never heard MacNeil, Merrill and Warren live on stage to compare but I was so fortunate to have seen this giant of a singer Sherrill Milnes in a number of roles. Unforgettable!
I heard Milnes & Cappuccilli both live several times. I admire Milnes body of work, but for me Cappuccilli was far superior to Milnes.
Omg i had no idea! My friend said she lived next door to an opera singer. Omg I have listened to him for years!
Wow! Bravo
Great Baritone and great rendition!
Milnes è bravissimo ❤❤❤
Checking out most baritones on RUclips, most opt to take it down at least a half step, sometimes a whole step. Theodore Lambrinos and Milnes seem to be the only baritones of note who take the aria to tremendous success in its original key of E. As a side note, opera legend has it that Mr. Milnes has been known to give a pretty amazing Che Gelida Manina at parties.
Leonard Warren also sings the piece in this key and can be heard here on You Tube.
Immenso!!!!
💖💐
@ShawDAMAN
it is from a CD call the baritone voice sherrill milnes...anyway at that time he was unmatched :)
Bravissimo
@crytekengine thanks very much for the send and if you come across any more milnes rares (for purchase or whatever) please let me know ;-] as u can tell I'm a big fan
I heard him twice at San Francisco Opera. I regret that I left SF to go to grad school in the seventies and didn't catch his Rigoletto here. Everyone said he was great in that part. He was misscast in Thais. The part was really a bass-baritone part. But I heard him again in Ernani - a favorite of mine and one of his best roles. The voice was a bit small. Plishka as Silva overshadowed him. In his fach I preferred MacNeil or Wixell. He was better than Nucci or Hampson.
That G# is a tough note to sing softly for any baritone. You really have to project
it with gusto just to hold it like Milnes did. Many baritones never really tackle this
aria.
+Doug Risch And even the low notes in this aria are somewhat a mystery to most baritones. That ending G#4 is nailed PERFECTLY.
He was quite 'scintallating' wasn't he--great baritone voice, looks. perfect Mephistopoles look! Hvorostovksy is today's Milnes.
@crytekengine I have a poor quality rip from vinyl of that album 'the baritone voice.' I wasn't aware that it was ever released on CD...? If so I'd love to know where I could get a copy
I saw Milnes so many times at the Met; Verdi, Massenet, many others. But never Hoffmann. This is a fantastic rendition. The aria, which Offenbach didn’t write for this opera anyway, is difficult for most singers, it’s just awkward. James Morris and Sam Ramey sang it successfully, but both had trouble on the climactic high note.
Best baritone-martin ever 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ His Toreador, Athanael, Albert (Werther), Valentin, Zurga, Hérode, are all unparalleled
The theme of the aria is indeed by Offenbach: it comes from the overture to his opera "Voyage dans la Lune". Raoul Gunsbourg and André Bloch did little more than add Barbier's words to it. So yes, it shouldn't really be in the opera, but it's still a great baritone aria.
@ShawDAMAN
man believe me iam a milnes freak hahahaha....i will send the rest as soon as i can..
cheers
@crytekengine me too haha. do u have his 'carmina burana' recording? great stuff
@BrianDonaldMcKay Yelling? That's just the explosive nature of the verdi baritone high voice. The sound he makes on those g sharps are exciting and are a nice touch to what is a very boring aria. Would you say the same thing about Warren's performance of this piece, or even Merrill (although he does it a half step lower)?
2:23: High A Flat
4:00: High A Flat
This aria was not written by Offenbach, but by Andre Bloch, and sits higher in the vocal register than the arias of the other villians... For this reason Dappertutto is often played by a baritone with a higher tessitura than that of the others... It requires therefore quite an exceptional voice to sing all four villians, and if the singer is going to come unstuck anywhere, it is often in this aria which should not really be in the opera...
Les yeux de Giulietta sont les armes secures ...j’ai appelé mon chat Giulietta
@ShawDAMAN
No unfortunately...if u have it send it lool
Milnes didn't have a particularly big voice. He had a great top which was very impressive for the climaxes, but the middle was always a bit undersized. Hvorostovsky is always criticized for his vocal size. I don't know. I never heard him live but I heard Milnes several times. Both got most of their fame from recordings wher sheer vocal amplitude is less important.
@windstorm1000 Certainly a great baritone. He apparently had a top B in his voice so I don't understand why he has to suddenly shout out the top G sharps, I don't understand. Seems out of place. High notes in themselves are there to create the emphasis; they don't need to be yelled.
To say Milnes didn't have a "big" voice is ignorant. How do you measure "size" of a
voice? He was a spinto baritone with a sound that carries. I am an opera singer and
have great respect for Milnes and what it takes to sing an aria like Scintille Diamant
which I've done many times. Corelli was a spinto tenor and had he started earlier
would probably have been a dramatic tenor. He was able to "project" his voice all
the way to the back walls of the old Met. Believe me Milnes did not have an medium
to small voice.
I can't reply to Patrick Boyle below, but he doesn't know what he is talking about talking about the size of Milnes' voice. I heard him live many times-not just on records-it was a "big" voice by any standard-a heroic Verdi baritone on a large scale. He was afflicted with a bit of "warrenitis" with their obsession with top notes-both I feel at the expense of a fully equalized sound. There is a big anti-Milnes movement out there-I don't know why-we'd live to have a real baritone like that around. Hvorostovsky is an elegant stylist, but actually a modest size voice, especially for the Met. Of the ones I heard Mac Neil at his best was the best-with a top that was as extraordinary as Warren.
I disagree about Corelli being a 'dramatic' tenor-God if he took that route he'd have ended up like del Monaco. Corelli was a true spinto, robusto, but wonderfully lyric, and a top that was incomparable. A huge sound.
This guy who calls himself Labienus pursues me all over the web making personal attacks and insults. He is best known for his many tirades against Mario Lanza. Why he has chosen the two of us to single out for his venom is beside me.
I think the problem is that Milnes had a real big vibrant top but a much less big middle voice. The first time I heard him live was in Thais. The baritone part is more of a bass-baritone part so Milnes was kept from his 'money' notes all evening. The newspaper critics also questioned why he sang a part that was on the low side for him. Later when I heard him in more conventional Verdi role he was better but still not the kind of big fat sound that Wixell, MacNeil or Cappuccilli had.
You can hear this vocal configuration for yourself on this video. He sings along with excellent tone for most of the aria and then absolutely explodes on the top G Sharp. Milnes also can be heard elsewhere on RUclips doing the prolog. His top A Flat is just super. Let me also be clear that he was a sensitive musician and very good on stage. After years of hearing Merrill on the Met broadcasts singing more and more laboredly it was very refreshing to hear Milnes inherit his roles. He was a better musician and a much more imaginative interpreter.
BTW my take on Milnes is absolutely main stream according to most of the New York critics too. He was always criticized from the beginning for his relatively weak middle.
@crytekengine haha u bet i'll email it
Wow!
Boyles....please define a "big" voice. Do you sing opera? It's the projection of the
voice that matters. As stated already Milnes was a spinto baritone with a sound
that really carried. That's all that matters. Put it in the last row. I've sung with
people when I was young and thought they had a "big" voice. Only problem was
it was way too covered and didn't make it past row 10. One learns that as they
go along in singing.
I do not sing opera - any more. I'm in my mid seventies now, but when I was younger I sang about 30 operatic roles - some big roles some small. The point isn't how good I sang but if I heard baritones. I did. I sat in the San Francisco opera audience for about forty years. I heard all the best singers in opera except for a few. Not everyone was willing to come all the way from Europe.
@ShawDAMAN
you know what just send me your email in private msg..there are 12 Arias i guess
i will send them to u.
@KingViolist Your liking those pinched screams while calling this exquisite air "boring" points you for a jerk.
I didn't say Milnes didn't have a great voice. I said he didn't have a particularly big voice. There are many famous singers with smaller voices including Bergonzi and Windgassen who sang roles requiring 'big' sound. Bruce Ford also has a smallish voice but that's not such a problem in his fach. Baritones with a bigger voices than Milnes included Wixell, Bruson, Cappuccilli, Zancanaro and MacNeil.
That is weird. Over the years I have always read the comments from those who heard him live and you are the first that say that it was not a big voice. I'm not saying that you are lieng or wrong but I heard many people having the opposite impression. Specially regarding Bruson and Zancanaro. I heard from them that Milnes voice was incomparably bigger than these two.
Carlos Gomes I never heard the others mentioned live but I did hear Milnes and his voice was surprisingly large - particularly given the somewhat light sounding timbre.
To criticize Milnes' "middle voice" is interesting. Most baritones would give a lot to havehis upper range. He's really more of a baritone/dramatic tenor if you may not a bass-baritone. You can't have it all. His strength was in the upper ranges.
a bit slow and not what we are used to with the lyricism. his breathing is at times a bit off, but it is a nice rendition. thank you for posting
Sorry. International, LON career.
I expected to really like this, but I find it to be very choppy. Not particularly taken with that final note either.
tenore corto ...
vocalità fuori di tutto .