Giovanni Martinelli, Age 27, Sings "Recondita Armonia," From Tosca. 1912

When Martinelli was a young man, singing in London, music critic Herman Klein said of him that "he has that rare gift-a true tenor voice. It remains the finest tenor heard in England for years." And that is of course true. Martinelli always sounds like a true tenor, no matter the role. His particular kind of open phonation, or as many call it, a white voice, was easily and healthily produced, and the top was reliable. In some ways, his essential sound is like that of an Eastern European or Russian tenor. Here, however, in one of his first commercially available recordings, he certainly is the quintessential Italian tenor, writ large! The extreme top seems easy for him.