Franco B was an exceptional tenor. His top was phenomenal, along with magnificent breath control. He was a far better performer than any of the so-called "big" three. Yet, he did not receive the recognition he merited. Very unfair what aggressive agents & manufactured hype can do to foster mediocre careers!
Non mi stancherò mai di elogiare questo grande artista !!!!! Sapeva cantare di tutto e sempre al top. Per lui cantare non era solo una professione, ma anche grande divertimento e questo lo trasmetteva al pubblico lo si percepiva per la grande facilità nell'affrontare ruoli dei più difficili, rendeva facile ciò che per molti colleghi era difficile o impossibile,non lo troviamo mai in difficoltà. Voce bella corposa con armonici con chiari e scuri per un repertorio da lirico spinto drammatico, eroico, ma la sua tecnica di emissione gli permetteva di affrontare anche ruoli più leggeri. Dal carattere gioioso e allegro, destava simpatia e per questo forse alcuni lo consideravano un mattacchione.. Ma quando c'era da fare sul serio, non lo fermava nessuno. I suoi acuti resteranno nella storia, per ampiezza, squillo, sembrava non avere limiti. Insomma tra i più grandi di ogni tempo. Grazie per le tante emozioni che ci hai donato. (un vecchio corista) 🙏🌹
Today's opera need this guy badly, what a genuine raw power, so masculine yet still has the artistic soft touch, gorgeous lyric style. Handsome guy in every way.
I'm a native French speaker and trust me, his phrasing and diction are PERFECT...I can enjoy other tenor's versions, even if they have accents (like Araiza, Vargas, etc) but Bonisolli sounds elegant and noble, like a real Chevalier des Grieux should sound.
Maravilloso, que otra cosa podemos decir del arte y talento de Franco Bonisolli?, simplemente que era uno de los mejores de todos los tiempos!!! (con respecto a su publicitada "locura", muchos artístas que han cantando varias veces con él, me dicen que era una bella y buena persona, solo que era juguetón y jovial!!!). BRAVOOO!!!!!
Domingo on his very best day could NOT compare to Bonisolli on his very worst day. It's a gross insult to Franco who could sing rings around Domingo, Domingo could only hope and dream of the High C's Bonisolli easily put forth. Bonisolli a small voice? dear sir you must be kidding or you are more Mad than Franco ever was. Bravo Franco R.I.P.
Mr. Boyle, Thank you for posting this outstanding performance. It always amazes me how different our views and impressions are. Mr. Bonisolli's voice, at least in person, was phenomenal, beautiful and controlled. I am older and forgiving but I think that nerves and perhaps other insecurities affect a singer's performance, sometimes to his detriment, but not the voice of Mr. Bonisolli.
Jules Massenet. Manon " Ah! dispar , vision", un Bonisolli grande interprete dizione francese eccellente, voce di uno splendido colore con una emissione sicura e naturale grandissimo
+bruna azzurra Che voce squillante con degli acuti sbalorditivi.Oggi nel panorama internazionale simili tenori non esistono..forse lo studio è cambiato..noto nei Cura e Kaufmann impostazioni con timbri diversi.
guido greco purtroppo la realtà di oggi è proprio, come lei dice, diversa..... i cantanti di oggi sono comunque apprezzabili anche se è evidentissimo , in essi, il diverso tipo di studio che li ha, però, ugualmente portati alla fama... .ai tempi di Bonisolli il canto era , in verità una cosa ben diversa da quella che sentiamo oggi.
mia cara! finchè la cultura del bel canto è appagata dai tre tenori e da Bocelli, il convento non passa altro! gli interessi economici valgono molto di più della cultura musicale! cordialità
"Il Volo". è composto da tre giovani furboni che sanno assolutamente di non essere dei cantanti lirici .Credo anche che inseriscano nei loro programmi qualche aria lirica che solo uno di loro, e in maniera molto triste , esegue saltuariamente e, ancora, penso che Il fatto che si facciano spesso accompagnare sul palco da Domingo mi porta a pensare che i tre regazzi abbiano bisogno di Domingo, come Domingo- baritono abbia bisogno di loro. . In conclusione l'incomprensibile successo di questi ragazzi non si può spiegare se non ricordando che la fortuna è, a volte, veramente bendatissima.
I adore him,too. and it is true:people only mention his last diseased attitudes...forgetting the wonderful,magnificent acor-singer he was.. And...his beauty,too.Absolutely male and desireable beauty. ankhsnammon
Why is this particular excerpt so exceptional? First of all, Bonisolli has the notes. Earlier in the opera the tenor can show how sweet his voice is in the table scene. Tenors like di Stefano shine there. But here you need a very solid and "big" top. Yet it can't be too coarse. Bonisolli later in his career was prone to scooping. No scoops here. He just breathes the high notes. Bonisolli is secure enough that the listener can relax.
@capes02 Domingo has sung overt a130 different operas.This is more than any other tenor in history.However,I don't think that Domingo has a signature role.Meaning a role that he is outstanding in, or has sung better or as good as any other great tenor in history.Tenors do have fine careers without using a highC,such as Tucker Del Monaco Caruso Pertile etc.Domingo has been notorious for transposing operas &arias down beyond acceptable practices.I think Bonisolli is much more interesting&exciting
Modern athletes lift weights for exactly that reason - to gain strength. Of course you are right about about Florez - The Singing Peanut. You argue against straw men otherwise. Voices are largely born not made. Many start as an Almaviva and strengthen into a Manrico - Bonisolli is an example. They don't go the other way.
I heard Bonisolli's wife became terminally ill and he quit singing at that time to take care of her. Maybe that was around the time he became a bit difficult to work with according to some people. Nice video. Thanks for sharing.
Also I would disagree with the whole best and worst day idea.... if you go back to some of Domingo's late 60's and 70's recordings the man is amazing. Hear the cd "The young domingo" I think that is the exact name and it has tons of great recordings. Random thought, Have you heard or seen Bonisolli in Traviata with Moffo?? Its pretty damn nice : ) I really liked him in that role!
Lots of singers have voices that start off small and grow to become large. The most amazing example is probably Richard Margison. When I first heard Bonisolli in 1969 his voice wasn't that big. Big enough for Traviata but when I last heard him in 1983 in Gioconda, it was quite a big voice. You heard him in 1986. That's why young tenors push. Some develop bigger voices - some don't.
Oh dear, another Domingo hater. Heaven protect me. It is not unusual for voices to grow. I heard Bonisolli live in what I believe was his US debut (Traviata). The High C was easy in the cabaletta but it didn't get much applause because the voice wasn't very big. A dozen years later the voice was much bigger.
I heard Kraus live many times - also Corelli and Nilson. I wouldn't have called Kraus' voice really big. Certainly smaller than Pavarotti's or Bonisolli's. Much smaller than Corelli's. However if you like Kraus' sound, you are in good company. More knowledgeable people agree with you than with me.
I to heard Both Bonisolli and Domingo and when Bonisolli hit the High C's in Di Quella the people went crazy and were yelling and cheering and clapping for so long Bonisolli had to stop the Opera and did a encore of Di Quella. Domingo barely could hit a Hit C , i know i was in the Opera Chorus when he was at SF and every time he sang he had the C transposed down a half tone to a B and then he even struggled. Domingo got a very tepid response in his SF Tosca and he didn't even have to do a C.
Tomorrow is my birthday so I'll give myself a present and comment once again on this video which I first posted eight years ago. In those days the video had to be under ten minutes and the comments only a few hundred characters long. RUclips has matured. I was singing in some opera somewhere - I can't quite remember where - maybe Colline in Boheme. I made up a cassette of singers called 'Bad Singers'. I gave this to the other singers in the show. I gave no names so it was a quiz. That was a joke. All of them were famous but all of them had been called bad by some critic. I was trying to make a point about Mario Lanza. But also Nicolae Herlea. To my surprise several confused Bonisolli with Lanza. I listened again and I understood. I never heard Lanza live but on records there were many similarities with Bonisolli. Both had full darkish voices but also had real blazing tops. Lanza's pop hit 'Be my Love' ends on a full throated High C. No other famous tenor since sings it that way. Del Monaco and Domingo only go up to a G. Most of the others transpose it down so that they sing a final B Flat or B Natural. Both these Italian guys had great facility with the top. Both were called stupid or coarse by the effete snobs that plague opera. The big difference in my mind was stage fright. Lanza stuck with movies so he wouldn't have to face a live audience, whereas Bonisolli was obviously so happy to be on stage that people called him crazy.
Matej Knezevic Thanks but almost every opera house on earth has a musical staff with guys who know more than I do. There is also the fact that my knowledge, such as it is, is musicological rather than musical.
Let me be clear. I love Bonisolli's singing - that's why I posted this video. But somehow people want to attack me for saying anything nice about Domingo. Go figure. In general "High C Tenors" are among the worst singers. If high notes were all there was to singing William Matteuzi would be the world's best tenor. In fact he's arguably the worst. Morino sings nearly as high and nearly as badly. Bonisolli is an exception - super high notes and great singing.
I never have the privilege of listening Bonisolli in a live performance. What I hear is a vero tenore , world class, and owner of all the faculties and technique, capable of cantare con arte e belleza. His voice , I think was developing into the spinto / dramatic repertory, similar to Franco Corelli, both from Ancona. The stentorian notes are spectacular and easy produced.. Allow me this opinion: Bonisolli is a superior arttist singer than Domingo and the new tenor breed of shouters.
I was just listening in the car yesterday to a James King/James McCracken CD. King sings all German arias. McCracken sings Italian, French and German arias. McCracken sings two High Cs. King none. I heard both live when they were at their respective peaks. Both had real big voices. McCracken's voice was a little bit higher, King's voice was a bit prettier. I'm not surprised that King vocalized up to a C in the studio. Domingo vocalized up to a D and Bjoerling up to an F.
@capes02 Wayne Newton still sings today does that mean he had one of the best voices ? I've got nothing against Domingo's technique , obviously it has served him well and i give Domingo credit where credit is due by singing more roles than any other tenor living or dead but as far as pure dramatic vocal powers he lacked far beyond Both Franco's , MDM, and Caruso.
This is brilliant, before he started to act like an idiot. Wonder what happened. He had a rare timbre, dark on bottom but a fantastic top. Don't think he sounds like Domingo, and he also supports much better...Domingo sounds throaty most of the time.
Agorante...this is NOT a minor league voice...as good as any tenor of the past century...a bit of an oddball, but no matter what you or anyone else says you can have a great voice and NOT sing at those opera houses. Great upper range that most tenors including Domingo would kill for..(ever hear Domingos B on Nessun Dorma? Really lacking..big time squeeze play) This guy ripped high Cs that most tenors could only dream of.
A few years before Bonisolli died, I met a nice man in Germany online as we were opera-chatting on a now-obsolete opera board. I am in the USA. He had been a big fan of Bonisolli as a youth and at the time we met online, was involved in promoting Bonisolli for a bit of a "come-back". He sent me a couple cds he had produced, one of previous recordings and one of current recordings.
Such a poll was taken about ten years ago by Opera Fanatic. Caruso came in third behind Corelli and Bjoerling. I don't think that proves much. I divide tenors into weight categories - Light, Medium and Heavy - the winners for me being Wunderlich, Bjoerling and Vickers. Mario Sereni is quoted in James McCracken's book as remarking to him after he sang the Pira that he really sang the C and no one else he had sung with ever had. Real High Cs by big tenors live are quite rare.
Tucker had no C for years - read Merrill's first autobiography. Bergonzi always had thin high notes especially live. I have a lot of Wunderlich recordings - mostly Bach and Mozart but also some operetta. I don't really know if he had Cs but he didn't sing a repetoire that required them. You ignore Simoneau I note. Vickers IMHO was the best tenor of all time. James King also had no C. Caruso was certainly not a "High Note" tenor. His famous "Di Quella Pira" is transposed down to B.
I can live with the opinion that Gigli was the best tenor. IMHO there are about a half dozen tenors who could be called best without leading me to think you are just a boob. They include: Bjoerling, Caruso, Corelli, Gigli etc... I give latitude for personal preference. I can get snippy with fans of Anastios Verenios, William Matteuzi, or Richard Cross who claim that their guy was the best ever.
Agorante ; Your not to informed on Tenors it seems , Tucker had a fabulous C some say the Best and Bergonzi also had a very nice C. Wunderlich you truly must be kidding ? Wunderlich and a tremendous C and D. Jon Vickers well that's why he never really was credited as a top tenor. Melchoir i dont know about. It's true a Tenor could get by with-out a C but he would have to be a truly great Tenor and Domingo falls far short of being a Great tenor. Caruso also had a great High C Please.
Sure. I used to attend an opera performance about three tines a week. I used to sing five or ten different operas a year. I sang regularly in a couple of opera bars. I used to have my own opera company and I auditioned a lot of tenors. I was on the board of three different opera companies. The point is, I've heard a lot of tenors. I don't think you have. If Bonnisoli is the worst you've ever heard, you need to get out more.
My big dissapointment came in early or mid1990s.I sawPDin I Pagliacci at the Met.He was ok in the few lyric phrases of the opera,However,he was hardly audible in the passaggio or higher.He was running short on breath which contributed to the shortening of phrases&just barely touching high notes. I Pagliacci seemed too big for his lyric spinto voice&He also left the 2nd B-natural out of No Pagliaccio Non Son, which I thought was transposed down a half step.Not really a World class tenor but Fair
IMHO singing "in the mask" is a technical flaw. Most people intend this term to mean singing with the vellum unsealed such that at least some of the sound exits through the nasal passages. This technical flaw robs the sound of fullness and roundness. In the mask singing sounds nasal. Kraus could have been better if he had raised his soft pallete.
My professor says that the admonition to sing in the mask comes from a misinterpretation about where the sensation really originates: the vibration of the vocal sound striking the hard palate and some of it transferring to the mask area. All of the sound is oral! Nothing proceeds directly to or from the mask.
@@ClergetMusic Yes. Some people naturally sing with a configuration that makes for a good clear sound but most don't As a young bass who had heard a lot of opera records I tried to mimic the sound of famous basses. The result was I had a muffled swallowed sound. When I recorded my self I was shocked at what I heard. Many people go to voice teachers at first to learn what they sound like to others and stop only listening to themselves. Apparently young tenors also miss hear themselves and have to learn to produce an appropriate sound rather than rely on their "feelings" in their faces..
Yes I'm sure you're right regarding character but I was thinking of the vocal demands of the part. Heroic tenors singing as beautifully in French as Bonisolli does here are few and far between.Come to think of it Corelli sang Werther( at The Met) and he was pretty extrovert .
You fail to mention that Domingo is singing today as a baritone.There was nothing wrong with Domingo's Technique,as he sang&finished many operas.However,I feel that PD is a short tenor,A tenor without exceptional high notes.True the text is very important&PDwas a very good interpreter&actor.But,to say thatPD is at another level than most tenors is not really NOT accurate.Domingo has a pleasant voice but also is notorious for transposing outside the norm,more so than any other tenor in history.
Je suis très surpris par sa diction française absolument parfaite, tant dans le style que dans le goût. Bonisolli réputé pour ses frasques et sa folie douce a regagné quelques galons dans mon estime. Malgré sa vaillance et son héroïsme incontestables, il n'en reste pas moins qu'il fut le plus extravagant des ténors avec Del Monaco, pour ne pas être trop péjoratif à son égard. Mais là, j'avoue ne pas le reconnaître. Quand le ciel vous donne des moyens vocaux pareils, il me semblait élémentaire de vouloir servir durant toute une vie de forçat, l'Art, le Beau et une certaine idée de l'Absolu, de l'éternité...
A lot of great tenors have cracked in live performances&that's not really an issue.My feeling is that Domingo sang many operas outside his repertoirePagliacci, Aida, Forza ,Chenier,Turandot,Manon Lescaut,Ernani,Samson&perhaps Otello&has manipulated some performances through transposing or audio enhancement.The over 130 different operas that he has to his credit is certainly noteworthy,However he hardly has a signature role.I think he does a good Don Jose,IL Tabarro,&very early Manrico.Continued
I remember Domingo was singing both Turridu and Canio the same night. He blew out his voice on the B natural in "A ventri tre ore". I heard Pavarotti lose his voice in Lucia. OTOH Everyone says Aragall was inconsistent and sang flat - but not when I heard him. Domingo had a much better top in the theater than Pavarotti. It just stopped about a whole tone lower. Domingo had a great B Flat. Pavarotti's High C was thin. Lots of tenor's revert to baritone. e.g. Vinay
I would expect that he would, his greatest strength was his mastery of the high line. In the eighties Gordon Getty mounted Gioconda for Pavarotti at SF Opera He was good as Enzo. Two years later the production was revived with Bonisolli as Enzo. Bonisolli was better IMHO. Pav had greater smoothness but Bonisolli was more exciting.
Many Tenors like Martinelli, MDM De Muro Volpe Di Stefano were more lyric when1st starting their careers.My belief was that the early roles like Butterfly or Ballo that these tenors sang gave them the oppurtunity to NOTstrain or push in order to cultivate their voices.I also think that their young age attributed to the lyricism.As a tenor ages the voice becomes more mature&darker. A tenor's prime may vary a little bit, but perhaps may be between age 42&48 where they begin taking on heavier roles
In every sport I can think of, players do stretching exercises and strength building exercises. Singers warm up as do second basemen. Almost every voice teacher has his students do scales to gain power and flexibiity. Typically you can double your arm strength with exercise in the weight room. Singers can double the size of their High C in the same way. Go too fast working on your biceps and you get bursitis. Sing too hard and you get hoarse.
I suggest you read Rosa Ponselle's pre performance practice. She sang just 10 minutes and never sang between performances. Yet is considered perhaps the greatest singer of the 20th century.
Werther is an introspective, self absorbed character. Bonisolli would have had no problem with the music per se but his basic personality was extroverted and self confident - not quite right for Werther.
@Etnalleb The fact that Domingo is still singing today says a lot about his technique. The man has sang so many roles and so many performances. Yes, we can easily say he didn't have a great high C.... or that his technique was nothing near say Pavarotti's but he is on another level compared to most tenors. He was and is all about the text, which at the end of the day is the more important aspect seeing as you are trying to tell a story. Either way I'm a fan of Both Bonisolli and Domingo.
With all due respect placing the name “Plamingo” who never had a C nor a B next to Bonisolli is an insult to the latest. Plamingo was never a tenor. He is a great musician and actor, but far from being a true tenor like the likes of Bonisolli. My humble opinion. Greetings
+guido greco D'accoedo con te caro Guido;e vero che non fa molti maestri con la tecnica propio oggi,ma e veri che nessuno ascolta e impara il lavoro vocalle di queste tenori (o cantanti lirici) dell passato.(Kraus sempre ha parlato della grave falta di maestri con la tecnica giusta!!!)
The wording you put makes it clear that you prefer 3 tenors much more than this man. Both Domingo and Pavarotti aged their voice and appeared so different in different period. Are you saying that color of Domingo in 3 tenors' time be more colorful? Or in current stage of most famous baritone?
The colour of domingo? No,sir agorante...Bonisolli had his own colour...and he was,in the best times,much more exquisite and good endowed singer than domingo. Bello! ankhsnammon
he is pure non political, was not what the world wanted! so sad, but no doubt, he is much better voice and artistry than a lot of those famous...to me.
Another personal attack. Ho-hum. Opera is a bit like baseball, there are the majors and the minors. There is little ambiguity. You either make it to the Majors or you don't. Similarly you either sing at the Met, La Scala, Berlin, etc.. or not. The famous movie star Kurt Russel was a professional ball player who never made it to the "show". I never made it to the Met - although I did of course audition like everyone else. I'm rather proud of having been a "3rd tier artist".
It's certainly true that Bonisolli had a better high C than Domingo. That's not much of a news item. Domingo publicly said that he didn't have a C. Let me point out the C in De Quella Pira wasn't written by Verdi and is cut by Muti and was transposed down by Caruso. It is possible to be an excellent opera tenor without a C. Jon Vickers, Carlo Bergonzi are two. Richard Tucker only had a C for part of his career. Simoneau didn't have one at all. Wunderlich? Melchiore?
Dear BrunoBrandy, I think you have mistaken the thrust of this thread. I didn't say taht Bonisolli was a minor league voice. The "TheInquisitive4Ever" said that I was a minor singer - which of course is true. He argues that because I never sang at La Scala that I can't hold an opinion on a singer who did. A rather odd assertion, what? In fact I have been a champion of Bonisolli on RUclips. I have a lot of his CDs and DVDs.
Well i can see it's a no win situation here But i'll make a wager with you and you can set how much. Take a survey here on 'YT" say 100people and find out just how many people say Jon Vickers is the Best Tenor of all time. I'll take Caruso and we will see who wins. As for the other tenor's I have recording;s of Bergonzi, Tucker and Wunderlich hitting superb C"s and i have a recording of Caruso hitting a D so i would not go around posting that these tenors did not Hit a C.. E 1 knows they did.
Almost all the famous tenors except maybe Bjoerling struggle with this aria. DiStefano for example is quite wonderful - until he runs out of gas, Bonisolli shows the effort I'll admit. In my opinion Bergonzi was the most muscical of the big Italian tenors. Probably Domingo and Carreras next. The least musical was probably Barry Morrell or maybe Chis Merritt. Bonisolli is always interesting however if not exactly elegant.
I seriously don't understand this viewpoint. Yes, his voice is glorious in some of the recordings, but I cannot name one single recording of Gigli where he does not: a) Seriously splat some notes, singing them so open that they border on extreme stridency or, b) shout, croon, or slide/scoop tastelessly
Domingo was always a bit short at the top, Carreras about average, and Pavarotti had an excellent lyric top. There had been a number of star tenors with short tops - Vickers, Bergonzi, Di Stefano, etc. Then there were tenors with very strong tops - Fillipeschi, Bonisolli, Fisichella etc. Some dramatic tenors had good Cs - Corelli, McCracken, Del Monaco. Did you ever hear any of these people live?
Reasonable choices. The Best Tenor is like the Most Beautiful Woman. Reasonable people can disagree. DiStefano had perhaps the most beautiful voice ever for a while, but spent years singing badly, as I'm sure you very well know. I have a number of Corelli posts on RUclips and I am a persistent defender of his memory. I yield to no man in my admiration of Corelli (or Wunderlich either). I have to go now and post a video of Vickers singing Puccini.
agree... singers they are but nothing else have Domingo similar with Bonisolli. GREAT BONISOLLI!!!! P.S: Is a video effect or Bonisolli had huge hands?
There's one tenor that sings this aria and, looking to his face, it appears that there's no efforts to sing. I am talking about Alfredo Kraus. Bonisolli is also amazing on it. Thanks for posting.
Kraus sung in his mask, making him ideal for french operas, not italian. Don't get me wrong, I love Kraus. His technique just wasn't based upon Italian/German singing.
I didn't say Wunderlich had no High C, I just asked the question. Wunderlich was principally a Mozart and Bach tenor so he was seldom required to sing a top C. I couldn't remember ever hearing him sing a C. Almaviva is rather low for a Rossini tenor role. It has no written High Cs. Then I remembered that our tenor in my first Barber interpolated a High C . I just checked Wunderlich's Ecco Ridente on RUclips and indeed he too interpolates a C. You are right (but I was not wrong).
I don't know about his wife but I do know that he died of a brain tumor. Maybe that made him difficult to work with. But of course by pop singer standards, Bonisolli was a peach. Opera singers are said to be temperamental but are really well behaved compared to celebrities like Lindsey Lohan or Robert Downey Jr.
I don't know Kraus' version but I can well imagine that he does it easily. However, I have never found Kraus' voice to be particularly attractive. He was a fine actor on stage, a good musician, and he had a very wide range but the basic voice itself was unlovely.
I would not be able to listen to all 130 operas, because his vocal color never changes. He has a lifetime of experience, but frankly, in the 12 or so performances I've seen him in since the late 80s recently, I didn't like any of them. The last great night I heard him was in Turandot with Eva Marton. After that, it all sounded like the same nickelodeon.
Do you hear Kraus in live? I did at the Theater Colon and he didn´t sound nasal like in recordings. The proximity of the microphone helps people with open popular sound than the REAL big ones. It is know that Corelli and Nilson sound much better live. Kraus A B and Cs rock the house like nobody else.
This is really beautiful, but it is more Italianate than French ténor lyrique, which uses voix de fausset, voix mixte, and at climaxes, voix d'appel. The tenors such as Thill and Jobin, Verreau and Vanzo, used dynamics much more discretely. It's all in what you admire I guess. But the tradition of French tenors is never to use "spinto" which is more appropriate to dramatic roles like Enée This is so loud and large that it sounds like he is singing "Di quella pira".
@marceloconstanzo @marceloconstanzo la boheme was composed by two composers who used to be friends..ruggiero leoncavallo and giacomo puccini.. leoncavallo pursuaded puccini to compose la boheme. but puccini didnt want to. but it came a time when puccini began writing la boheme. leoncavallo who was currently also composing la boheme was kinda furious to know that puccini was also writing la boheme. so there it goes, puccini and leoncavallo were no longer friends.
Franco B was an exceptional tenor. His top was phenomenal, along with magnificent breath control. He was a far better performer than any of the so-called "big" three. Yet, he did not receive the recognition he merited. Very unfair what aggressive agents & manufactured hype can do to foster mediocre careers!
He was hugely underated because of his ego and personality but was not greater than the big 3..
He could have been included with them ?
Most people know him from a few mad outtake moments
this is the bonisolli, i love and adore.
RIP franco x
Non mi stancherò mai di elogiare questo grande artista !!!!! Sapeva cantare di tutto e sempre al top. Per lui cantare non era solo una professione, ma anche grande divertimento e questo lo trasmetteva al pubblico lo si percepiva per la grande facilità nell'affrontare ruoli dei più difficili, rendeva facile ciò che per molti colleghi era difficile o impossibile,non lo troviamo mai in difficoltà. Voce bella corposa con armonici con chiari e scuri per un repertorio da lirico spinto drammatico, eroico, ma la sua tecnica di emissione gli permetteva di affrontare anche ruoli più leggeri. Dal carattere gioioso e allegro, destava simpatia e per questo forse alcuni lo consideravano un mattacchione.. Ma quando c'era da fare sul serio, non lo fermava nessuno. I suoi acuti resteranno nella storia, per ampiezza, squillo, sembrava non avere limiti. Insomma tra i più grandi di ogni tempo. Grazie per le tante emozioni che ci hai donato. (un vecchio corista) 🙏🌹
grazie
Today's opera need this guy badly, what a genuine raw power, so masculine yet still has the artistic soft touch, gorgeous lyric style. Handsome guy in every way.
He can gives lessons for all tenors most popular like Pavarotti and Domingo !
I'm a native French speaker and trust me, his phrasing and diction are PERFECT...I can enjoy other tenor's versions, even if they have accents (like Araiza, Vargas, etc) but Bonisolli sounds elegant and noble, like a real Chevalier des Grieux should sound.
miwdiva i’m venezuelan and I’m native Spanish speaker he sang “Granada” with a perfect diction too
Je confirme
Maravilloso, que otra cosa podemos decir del arte y talento de Franco Bonisolli?, simplemente que era uno de los mejores de todos los tiempos!!! (con respecto a su publicitada "locura", muchos artístas que han cantando varias veces con él, me dicen que era una bella y buena persona, solo que era juguetón y jovial!!!). BRAVOOO!!!!!
ESTOY COMPLETAMENTE DE ACUERDO !!!!!
Domingo on his very best day could NOT compare to Bonisolli on his very worst day. It's a gross insult to Franco who could sing rings around Domingo, Domingo could only hope and dream of the High C's Bonisolli easily put forth. Bonisolli a small voice? dear sir you must be kidding or you are more Mad than Franco ever was. Bravo Franco R.I.P.
Mr. Boyle, Thank you for posting this outstanding performance. It always amazes me how different our views and impressions are. Mr. Bonisolli's voice, at least in person, was phenomenal, beautiful and controlled. I am older and forgiving but I think that nerves and perhaps other insecurities affect a singer's performance, sometimes to his detriment, but not the voice of Mr. Bonisolli.
Bonisolli on the Puccini Duet CD with Freni is some of the most beautiful lyric singing you will ever hear, IMHO.
Jules Massenet. Manon
" Ah! dispar , vision",
un Bonisolli grande interprete
dizione francese eccellente,
voce di uno splendido colore
con una emissione sicura e naturale
grandissimo
+bruna azzurra Che voce squillante con degli acuti sbalorditivi.Oggi nel panorama internazionale simili tenori non esistono..forse lo studio è cambiato..noto nei Cura e Kaufmann impostazioni con timbri diversi.
guido greco purtroppo la realtà di oggi è proprio, come lei dice, diversa..... i cantanti di oggi sono comunque apprezzabili anche se è evidentissimo , in essi, il diverso tipo di studio che li ha, però, ugualmente portati alla fama... .ai tempi di Bonisolli il canto era , in verità una cosa ben diversa da quella che sentiamo oggi.
mia cara! finchè la cultura del bel canto è appagata dai tre tenori e da Bocelli, il convento non passa altro!
gli interessi economici valgono molto di più della cultura musicale! cordialità
Veramente siamo riusciti a scEìendere anche più in bass ... pensi al trio "Il Volo"... osannati ed inascoltabili per chi ama la lirica!!! Mah...
"Il Volo". è composto da tre giovani furboni che sanno assolutamente di non essere dei cantanti lirici .Credo anche che inseriscano nei loro programmi qualche aria lirica che solo uno di loro, e in maniera molto triste , esegue saltuariamente e, ancora, penso che Il fatto che si facciano spesso accompagnare sul palco da Domingo mi porta a pensare che i tre regazzi abbiano bisogno di Domingo, come Domingo- baritono abbia bisogno di loro. .
In conclusione l'incomprensibile successo di questi ragazzi non si può spiegare se non ricordando che la fortuna è, a volte, veramente bendatissima.
I adore him,too.
and it is true:people only mention his last diseased attitudes...forgetting the wonderful,magnificent acor-singer he was..
And...his beauty,too.Absolutely male and desireable beauty.
ankhsnammon
Maravilloso, Bonisolli debió haber tenido la fama de Plácido (que no se merece) porque esto si es una voz.
Nicht eine Stimme... Einer war ein großer Tenor
Unbelievable He died a day after Franco Corelli died Oct 29 Oct 30 2003 RIP both great Artists
Bonisolli hace que los más famosos tenores se vean pequeños..
Grande, Franco!
Comparto con Pedro. Un tenor que cantaba como si fuera la última vez en su vida y dejaba como fríos y sin sustancia a muchos que se creen perfectos.
Why is this particular excerpt so exceptional? First of all, Bonisolli has the notes. Earlier in the opera the tenor can show how sweet his voice is in the table scene. Tenors like di Stefano shine there. But here you need a very solid and "big" top. Yet it can't be too coarse. Bonisolli later in his career was prone to scooping. No scoops here. He just breathes the high notes. Bonisolli is secure enough that the listener can relax.
@capes02 Domingo has sung overt a130 different operas.This is more than any other tenor in history.However,I don't think that Domingo has a signature role.Meaning a role that he is outstanding in, or has sung better or as good as any other great tenor in history.Tenors do have fine careers without using a highC,such as Tucker Del Monaco Caruso Pertile etc.Domingo has been notorious for transposing operas &arias down beyond acceptable practices.I think Bonisolli is much more interesting&exciting
какой шиккарный полётный голос!!! ярковыраженная школа пения через У!!!
Молодец)
А с какого концерта эта запись?
Così si deve cantare! Grande.
Modern athletes lift weights for exactly that reason - to gain strength. Of course you are right about about Florez - The Singing Peanut. You argue against straw men otherwise. Voices are largely born not made. Many start as an Almaviva and strengthen into a Manrico - Bonisolli is an example. They don't go the other way.
I heard Bonisolli's wife became terminally ill and he quit singing at that time to take care of her. Maybe that was around the time he became a bit difficult to work with according to some people. Nice video. Thanks for sharing.
Не могу ещё раз на сказать. Вот это Мужик!!
Flawless French diction...amazing!!!
Im amazed you say he had a small voice, did you ever hear him live, it was not small !
Also I would disagree with the whole best and worst day idea.... if you go back to some of Domingo's late 60's and 70's recordings the man is amazing. Hear the cd "The young domingo" I think that is the exact name and it has tons of great recordings. Random thought, Have you heard or seen Bonisolli in Traviata with Moffo?? Its pretty damn nice : ) I really liked him in that role!
Lots of singers have voices that start off small and grow to become large. The most amazing example is probably Richard Margison. When I first heard Bonisolli in 1969 his voice wasn't that big. Big enough for Traviata but when I last heard him in 1983 in Gioconda, it was quite a big voice. You heard him in 1986.
That's why young tenors push. Some develop bigger voices - some don't.
Oh dear, another Domingo hater. Heaven protect me.
It is not unusual for voices to grow. I heard Bonisolli live in what I believe was his US debut (Traviata). The High C was easy in the cabaletta but it didn't get much applause because the voice wasn't very big. A dozen years later the voice was much bigger.
I heard Kraus live many times - also Corelli and Nilson. I wouldn't have called Kraus' voice really big. Certainly smaller than Pavarotti's or Bonisolli's. Much smaller than Corelli's.
However if you like Kraus' sound, you are in good company. More knowledgeable people agree with you than with me.
I to heard Both Bonisolli and Domingo and when Bonisolli hit the High C's in Di Quella the people went crazy and were yelling and cheering and clapping for so long Bonisolli had to stop the Opera and did a encore of Di Quella. Domingo barely could hit a Hit C , i know i was in the Opera Chorus when he was at SF and every time he sang he had the C transposed down a half tone to a B and then he even struggled. Domingo got a very tepid response in his SF Tosca and he didn't even have to do a C.
Domingo made a recording of the Pira with a pathetic high C and always transposed down live.
Tomorrow is my birthday so I'll give myself a present and comment once again on this video which I first posted eight years ago. In those days the video had to be under ten minutes and the comments only a few hundred characters long. RUclips has matured.
I was singing in some opera somewhere - I can't quite remember where - maybe Colline in Boheme. I made up a cassette of singers called 'Bad Singers'. I gave this to the other singers in the show. I gave no names so it was a quiz.
That was a joke. All of them were famous but all of them had been called bad by some critic. I was trying to make a point about Mario Lanza. But also Nicolae Herlea. To my surprise several confused Bonisolli with Lanza. I listened again and I understood.
I never heard Lanza live but on records there were many similarities with Bonisolli. Both had full darkish voices but also had real blazing tops. Lanza's pop hit 'Be my Love' ends on a full throated High C. No other famous tenor since sings it that way. Del Monaco and Domingo only go up to a G. Most of the others transpose it down so that they sing a final B Flat or B Natural.
Both these Italian guys had great facility with the top. Both were called stupid or coarse by the effete snobs that plague opera. The big difference in my mind was stage fright. Lanza stuck with movies so he wouldn't have to face a live audience, whereas Bonisolli was obviously so happy to be on stage that people called him crazy.
Patrick Boyle
Your knowlege about opera is huge.i am tenor and also opera fan great text.bravo
Great tenor bonisolli greatest maybe
Matej Knezevic Thanks but almost every opera house on earth has a musical staff with guys who know more than I do. There is also the fact that my knowledge, such as it is, is musicological rather than musical.
Let me be clear. I love Bonisolli's singing - that's why I posted this video. But somehow people want to attack me for saying anything nice about Domingo. Go figure.
In general "High C Tenors" are among the worst singers. If high notes were all there was to singing William Matteuzi would be the world's best tenor. In fact he's arguably the worst. Morino sings nearly as high and nearly as badly.
Bonisolli is an exception - super high notes and great singing.
I never have the privilege of listening Bonisolli in a live performance. What I hear is a vero tenore , world class, and owner of all the faculties and technique, capable of cantare con arte e belleza. His voice , I think was developing into the spinto / dramatic repertory, similar to Franco Corelli, both from Ancona. The stentorian notes are spectacular and easy produced.. Allow me this opinion: Bonisolli is a superior arttist singer than Domingo and the new tenor breed of shouters.
I know. This aria is a killer. Especially for the spinto or dramatic tenor as he is. It demands great deal of control.
I was just listening in the car yesterday to a James King/James McCracken CD. King sings all German arias. McCracken sings Italian, French and German arias. McCracken sings two High Cs. King none. I heard both live when they were at their respective peaks. Both had real big voices. McCracken's voice was a little bit higher, King's voice was a bit prettier.
I'm not surprised that King vocalized up to a C in the studio. Domingo vocalized up to a D and Bjoerling up to an F.
Bravo Franco!
@capes02 Wayne Newton still sings today does that mean he had one of the best voices ? I've got
nothing against Domingo's technique , obviously it has served him well and i give Domingo credit where
credit is due by singing more roles than any other tenor living or dead but as far as pure dramatic vocal
powers he lacked far beyond Both Franco's , MDM, and Caruso.
This is brilliant, before he started to act like an idiot. Wonder what happened. He had a rare timbre, dark on bottom but a fantastic top. Don't think he sounds like Domingo, and he also supports much better...Domingo sounds throaty most of the time.
Agorante...this is NOT a minor league
voice...as good as any tenor of the past
century...a bit of an oddball, but no matter
what you or anyone else says you can
have a great voice and NOT sing at
those opera houses. Great upper
range that most tenors including
Domingo would kill for..(ever hear
Domingos B on Nessun Dorma? Really
lacking..big time squeeze play) This
guy ripped high Cs that most tenors
could only dream of.
A few years before Bonisolli died, I met a nice man in Germany online as we were opera-chatting on a now-obsolete opera board. I am in the USA. He had been a big fan of Bonisolli as a youth and at the time we met online, was involved in promoting Bonisolli for a bit of a "come-back". He sent me a couple cds he had produced, one of previous recordings and one of current recordings.
For those who knew the later Bonisolli this comes as a revelation. He could have been a magnificent Werther.
Thanks for posting
Such a poll was taken about ten years ago by Opera Fanatic. Caruso came in third behind Corelli and Bjoerling. I don't think that proves much. I divide tenors into weight categories - Light, Medium and Heavy - the winners for me being Wunderlich, Bjoerling and Vickers.
Mario Sereni is quoted in James McCracken's book as remarking to him after he sang the Pira that he really sang the C and no one else he had sung with ever had. Real High Cs by big tenors live are quite rare.
Please, I'd really like to know the date of this performance?! Thanks! :-)
hahahahaha!..or singing Otello ;)
Tucker had no C for years - read Merrill's first autobiography. Bergonzi always had thin high notes especially live. I have a lot of Wunderlich recordings - mostly Bach and Mozart but also some operetta. I don't really know if he had Cs but he didn't sing a repetoire that required them. You ignore Simoneau I note. Vickers IMHO was the best tenor of all time. James King also had no C. Caruso was certainly not a "High Note" tenor. His famous "Di Quella Pira" is transposed down to B.
_What a talented singer / great voice AND he put more effort in the French language than the other "F"._
I can live with the opinion that Gigli was the best tenor. IMHO there are about a half dozen tenors who could be called best without leading me to think you are just a boob. They include: Bjoerling, Caruso, Corelli, Gigli etc...
I give latitude for personal preference.
I can get snippy with fans of Anastios Verenios, William Matteuzi, or Richard Cross who claim that their guy was the best ever.
Vaya! Bonisolli buscaba perfeccionar la diccion pues aca pronuncia muy bien el frances, y cuando cantó granada su español era muy limpio
Agorante ; Your not to informed on Tenors it seems , Tucker had a fabulous C some say the Best and Bergonzi also had a very nice C. Wunderlich you truly must be kidding ? Wunderlich and a tremendous C and D. Jon Vickers well that's why he never really was credited as a top tenor. Melchoir i dont know about. It's true a Tenor could get by with-out a C but he would have to be a truly great Tenor and Domingo falls far short of being a Great tenor. Caruso also had a great High C Please.
Sure.
I used to attend an opera performance about three tines a week. I used to sing five or ten different operas a year. I sang regularly in a couple of opera bars. I used to have my own opera company and I auditioned a lot of tenors. I was on the board of three different opera companies.
The point is, I've heard a lot of tenors. I don't think you have. If Bonnisoli is the worst you've ever heard, you need to get out more.
Bravo Franco :)
My big dissapointment came in early or mid1990s.I sawPDin I Pagliacci at the Met.He was ok in the few lyric phrases of the opera,However,he was hardly audible in the passaggio or higher.He was running short on breath which contributed to the shortening of phrases&just barely touching high notes. I Pagliacci seemed too big for his lyric spinto voice&He also left the 2nd B-natural out of No Pagliaccio Non Son, which I thought was transposed down a half step.Not really a World class tenor but Fair
IMHO singing "in the mask" is a technical flaw. Most people intend this term to mean singing with the vellum unsealed such that at least some of the sound exits through the nasal passages. This technical flaw robs the sound of fullness and roundness. In the mask singing sounds nasal. Kraus could have been better if he had raised his soft pallete.
My professor says that the admonition to sing in the mask comes from a misinterpretation about where the sensation really originates: the vibration of the vocal sound striking the hard palate and some of it transferring to the mask area. All of the sound is oral! Nothing proceeds directly to or from the mask.
@@ClergetMusic
Yes. Some people naturally sing with a configuration that makes for a good clear sound but most don't As a young bass who had heard a lot of opera records I tried to mimic the sound of famous basses. The result was I had a muffled swallowed sound. When I recorded my self I was shocked at what I heard.
Many people go to voice teachers at first to learn what they sound like to others and stop only listening to themselves. Apparently young tenors also miss hear themselves and have to learn to produce an appropriate sound rather than rely on their "feelings" in their faces..
@@Agorante I must admit that I always look forward to your replies. You are very articulate and polite, and it is a joy corresponding with you.
@@ClergetMusic Thank you. You too.
I love the way he holds on to hi jacket he is his own instrument !!! XXX
Name any of today's so called "startenors" who can sing like this. There is no one even close.
Yes I'm sure you're right regarding character but I was thinking of the vocal demands of the part. Heroic tenors singing as beautifully in French as Bonisolli does here are few and far between.Come to think of it Corelli sang Werther( at The Met) and he was pretty extrovert .
You fail to mention that Domingo is singing today as a baritone.There was nothing wrong with Domingo's Technique,as he sang&finished many operas.However,I feel that PD is a short tenor,A tenor without exceptional high notes.True the text is very important&PDwas a very good interpreter&actor.But,to say thatPD is at another level than most tenors is not really NOT accurate.Domingo has a pleasant voice but also is notorious for transposing outside the norm,more so than any other tenor in history.
You probably wouldn't be amazed if you read what I actually said.
Je suis très surpris par sa diction française absolument parfaite, tant dans le style que dans le goût. Bonisolli réputé pour ses frasques et sa folie douce a regagné quelques galons dans mon estime. Malgré sa vaillance et son héroïsme incontestables, il n'en reste pas moins qu'il fut le plus extravagant des ténors avec Del Monaco, pour ne pas être trop péjoratif à son égard. Mais là, j'avoue ne pas le reconnaître. Quand le ciel vous donne des moyens vocaux pareils, il me semblait élémentaire de vouloir servir durant toute une vie de forçat, l'Art, le Beau et une certaine idée de l'Absolu, de l'éternité...
+Thierry Russo-Delattre C'est précisément ce qu'il a fait:))
+Thierry Russo-Delattre
mon cher amie, ne cherche pas de trouver la vérité s.v.p, l'opéra c'est un art mystérieux pour vous .
НЕВЕРОЯТНО , ПОТРЯСАЮЩЕ !! ПРИДЕТСЯ ПОПРОЩАТЬСЯ С ДОМИНГО И...АЙВАЗОВЫМ !
Лучше было бы вообще не встречаться.
A lot of great tenors have cracked in live performances&that's not really an issue.My feeling is that Domingo sang many operas outside his repertoirePagliacci, Aida, Forza ,Chenier,Turandot,Manon Lescaut,Ernani,Samson&perhaps Otello&has manipulated some performances through transposing or audio enhancement.The over 130 different operas that he has to his credit is certainly noteworthy,However he hardly has a signature role.I think he does a good Don Jose,IL Tabarro,&very early Manrico.Continued
Winberg was one of my favorites both in the theater and on recordings. Pity he died young.
I remember Domingo was singing both Turridu and Canio the same night. He blew out his voice on the B natural in "A ventri tre ore". I heard Pavarotti lose his voice in Lucia. OTOH Everyone says Aragall was inconsistent and sang flat - but not when I heard him. Domingo had a much better top in the theater than Pavarotti. It just stopped about a whole tone lower. Domingo had a great B Flat. Pavarotti's High C was thin. Lots of tenor's revert to baritone. e.g. Vinay
I wouldn't know, but I'm glad to hear from someone who does.
I would expect that he would, his greatest strength was his mastery of the high line. In the eighties Gordon Getty mounted Gioconda for Pavarotti at SF Opera He was good as Enzo. Two years later the production was revived with Bonisolli as Enzo. Bonisolli was better IMHO. Pav had greater smoothness but Bonisolli was more exciting.
@tenorismo No small at all!!! I don´r know why he said that in the entrance?
Many Tenors like Martinelli, MDM De Muro Volpe Di Stefano were more lyric when1st starting their careers.My belief was that the early roles like Butterfly or Ballo that these tenors sang gave them the oppurtunity to NOTstrain or push in order to cultivate their voices.I also think that their young age attributed to the lyricism.As a tenor ages the voice becomes more mature&darker. A tenor's prime may vary a little bit, but perhaps may be between age 42&48 where they begin taking on heavier roles
You need to get out more.
he had an incredible high and with such volume. Nothing to do with domingo. At all. Totally different singers.
_AND totally different voices._
Bravo! Che Voce!
It was crazy how Bonisolli died before the planned come-back concert, and on the same day I think, as Franco Corelli.
In every sport I can think of, players do stretching exercises and strength building exercises. Singers warm up as do second basemen. Almost every voice teacher has his students do scales to gain power and flexibiity. Typically you can double your arm strength with exercise in the weight room. Singers can double the size of their High C in the same way. Go too fast working on your biceps and you get bursitis. Sing too hard and you get hoarse.
I suggest you read Rosa Ponselle's pre performance practice. She sang just 10 minutes and never sang between performances. Yet is considered perhaps the greatest singer of the 20th century.
Werther is an introspective, self absorbed character. Bonisolli would have had no problem with the music per se but his basic personality was extroverted and self confident - not quite right for Werther.
I believed at one time that Bonisolli died the same day as Corelli and I contributed to the spread of that myth. It doesn't happen to be true.
@Etnalleb The fact that Domingo is still singing today says a lot about his technique. The man has sang so many roles and so many performances. Yes, we can easily say he didn't have a great high C.... or that his technique was nothing near say Pavarotti's but he is on another level compared to most tenors. He was and is all about the text, which at the end of the day is the more important aspect seeing as you are trying to tell a story. Either way I'm a fan of Both Bonisolli and Domingo.
With all due respect placing the name “Plamingo” who never had a C nor a B next to Bonisolli is an insult to the latest. Plamingo was never a tenor. He is a great musician and actor, but far from being a true tenor like the likes of Bonisolli. My humble opinion. Greetings
Maravilloso!!!! Bravo!!!
+John Schofield Un cantante dalla voce squillante..che acuti siamo a livello di Corelli..Non credo che Cura e Kaufmann siano allo stesso livello.
+guido greco D'accoedo con te caro Guido;e vero che non fa molti maestri con la tecnica propio oggi,ma e veri che nessuno ascolta e impara il lavoro vocalle di queste tenori (o cantanti lirici) dell passato.(Kraus sempre ha parlato della grave falta di maestri con la tecnica giusta!!!)
I don't know the history of this guy, but he was very good here.
The wording you put makes it clear that you prefer 3 tenors much more than this man. Both Domingo and Pavarotti aged their voice and appeared so different in different period. Are you saying that color of Domingo in 3 tenors' time be more colorful? Or in current stage of most famous baritone?
The colour of domingo?
No,sir agorante...Bonisolli had his own colour...and he was,in the best times,much more exquisite and good endowed singer than domingo.
Bello!
ankhsnammon
totally agree.
Yes, he is at his most musical here....... SO WHAT'S THE DATE??!! PLEASE?? :-)
a dramatic tenor with a small voice?! ha ha ha i have never heard of that one.
he is pure non political, was not what the world wanted! so sad, but no doubt, he is much better voice and artistry than a lot of those famous...to me.
Another personal attack. Ho-hum. Opera is a bit like baseball, there are the majors and the minors. There is little ambiguity. You either make it to the Majors or you don't. Similarly you either sing at the Met, La Scala, Berlin, etc.. or not. The famous movie star Kurt Russel was a professional ball player who never made it to the "show". I never made it to the Met - although I did of course audition like everyone else. I'm rather proud of having been a "3rd tier artist".
It's certainly true that Bonisolli had a better high C than Domingo. That's not much of a news item. Domingo publicly said that he didn't have a C. Let me point out the C in De Quella Pira wasn't written by Verdi and is cut by Muti and was transposed down by Caruso. It is possible to be an excellent opera tenor without a C. Jon Vickers, Carlo Bergonzi are two. Richard Tucker only had a C for part of his career. Simoneau didn't have one at all. Wunderlich? Melchiore?
An unusually disciplined Bonisolli.
Quite beautiful.
Dear BrunoBrandy,
I think you have mistaken the thrust of this thread. I didn't say taht Bonisolli was a minor league voice. The "TheInquisitive4Ever" said that I was a minor singer - which of course is true. He argues that because I never sang at La Scala that I can't hold an opinion on a singer who did. A rather odd assertion, what?
In fact I have been a champion of Bonisolli on RUclips. I have a lot of his CDs and DVDs.
Well i can see it's a no win situation here But i'll make a wager with you and you can set how much. Take a survey here on 'YT" say 100people and find out just how many people say Jon Vickers is the Best Tenor of all time. I'll take Caruso and we will see who wins. As for the other tenor's I have recording;s of Bergonzi, Tucker and Wunderlich hitting superb C"s and i have a recording of Caruso hitting a D so i would not go around posting that these tenors did not Hit a C.. E 1 knows they did.
Almost all the famous tenors except maybe Bjoerling struggle with this aria. DiStefano for example is quite wonderful - until he runs out of gas, Bonisolli shows the effort I'll admit.
In my opinion Bergonzi was the most muscical of the big Italian tenors. Probably Domingo and Carreras next. The least musical was probably Barry Morrell or maybe Chis Merritt. Bonisolli is always interesting however if not exactly elegant.
The greatest tenor, the finest musician with the most refined technique of them all was Gigli. No one compares...
I seriously don't understand this viewpoint. Yes, his voice is glorious in some of the recordings, but I cannot name one single recording of Gigli where he does not:
a) Seriously splat some notes, singing them so open that they border on extreme stridency
or,
b) shout, croon, or slide/scoop tastelessly
Il y a ce qu'il faut , la voix, le goût, l' interprétation . Bravo Franco, oggi sarrei un principe. R.i.P.
Domingo was always a bit short at the top, Carreras about average, and Pavarotti had an excellent lyric top. There had been a number of star tenors with short tops - Vickers, Bergonzi, Di Stefano, etc. Then there were tenors with very strong tops - Fillipeschi, Bonisolli, Fisichella etc. Some dramatic tenors had good Cs - Corelli, McCracken, Del Monaco. Did you ever hear any of these people live?
Reasonable choices. The Best Tenor is like the Most Beautiful Woman. Reasonable people can disagree.
DiStefano had perhaps the most beautiful voice ever for a while, but spent years singing badly, as I'm sure you very well know.
I have a number of Corelli posts on RUclips and I am a persistent defender of his memory. I yield to no man in my admiration of Corelli (or Wunderlich either).
I have to go now and post a video of Vickers singing Puccini.
agree... singers they are but nothing else have Domingo similar with Bonisolli. GREAT BONISOLLI!!!!
P.S: Is a video effect or Bonisolli had huge hands?
There's one tenor that sings this aria and, looking to his face, it appears that there's no efforts to sing. I am talking about Alfredo Kraus. Bonisolli is also amazing on it. Thanks for posting.
Sir,I didn't have th pleasure of to see him alive..but...it seems it was so.
Voce di maschio,veramente...e maschio assoluto.
ankhsnammon
Kraus sung in his mask, making him ideal for french operas, not italian. Don't get me wrong, I love Kraus. His technique just wasn't based upon Italian/German singing.
I didn't say Wunderlich had no High C, I just asked the question. Wunderlich was principally a Mozart and Bach tenor so he was seldom required to sing a top C. I couldn't remember ever hearing him sing a C. Almaviva is rather low for a Rossini tenor role. It has no written High Cs. Then I remembered that our tenor in my first Barber interpolated a High C . I just checked Wunderlich's Ecco Ridente on RUclips and indeed he too interpolates a C. You are right (but I was not wrong).
I don't know about his wife but I do know that he died of a brain tumor. Maybe that made him difficult to work with.
But of course by pop singer standards, Bonisolli was a peach. Opera singers are said to be temperamental but are really well behaved compared to celebrities like Lindsey Lohan or Robert Downey Jr.
I don't know Kraus' version but I can well imagine that he does it easily. However, I have never found Kraus' voice to be particularly attractive. He was a fine actor on stage, a good musician, and he had a very wide range but the basic voice itself was unlovely.
I would not be able to listen to all 130 operas, because his vocal color never changes. He has a lifetime of experience, but frankly, in the 12 or so performances I've seen him in since the late 80s recently, I didn't like any of them. The last great night I heard him was in Turandot with Eva Marton. After that, it all sounded like the same nickelodeon.
Do you hear Kraus in live? I did at the Theater Colon and he didn´t sound nasal like in recordings. The proximity of the microphone helps people with open popular sound than the REAL big ones. It is know that Corelli and Nilson sound much better live. Kraus A B and Cs rock the house like nobody else.
This is really beautiful, but it is more Italianate than French ténor lyrique, which uses voix de fausset, voix mixte, and at climaxes, voix d'appel. The tenors such as Thill and Jobin, Verreau and Vanzo, used dynamics much more discretely. It's all in what you admire I guess. But the tradition of French tenors is never to use "spinto" which is more appropriate to dramatic roles like Enée This is so loud and large that it sounds like he is singing "Di quella pira".
@marceloconstanzo @marceloconstanzo la boheme was composed by two composers who used to be friends..ruggiero leoncavallo and giacomo puccini.. leoncavallo pursuaded puccini to compose la boheme. but puccini didnt want to. but it came a time when puccini began writing la boheme. leoncavallo who was currently also composing la boheme was kinda furious to know that puccini was also writing la boheme. so there it goes, puccini and leoncavallo were no longer friends.