I think it's the greatest passage in the whole opera! The way it builds up and its diegetic polyphony (evil scheming juxtaposed with a religious mass) are breathtaking.
It's the good stuff. The low tube bells, the organ, the choral, the thunder claps, the grand church spectical, the counterpointed themes in the scene's narrative, the high tube bells for the mass. I go to Tosca for this piece alone.
I met Mr. Macniel and also Ludovic Spies when I was an extra in Tosca in 1973 San Francisco Opera. I played the part of a monk the the procession. He was a swell fellow. a great experience when I was young.
This is Macneil past his prime (he would retire in 1985), and yet he is still brilliant. Yes, his voice is showing signs of wear and doesn't have the full richness it had earlier, but he wields it with such dramatic effect that it actually works better that way. His Scarpia is rough and gruff, one that doesn't have time to pretend to be suave and dashing like others do. Behrens' Tosca is never close to being seduced by this beast, she knows from the start he is a man to fear.
I agree wholeheartedly! MacNeil at his prime was one of the best ever! His Rigoletto from 1962 with Sutherland and Siepi is some of the most beautiful and powerful baritone singing I’ve ever heard.
Cornell McNeil is joined by the much admired character tenor Andrea Velis as Spoleta. Every time he appeared, Velis proved that "there are no small parts."
I enjoy this so much! My favorite interpretation!! So musical! I saw him at the end of his career nothing short of fantastic! This performance was incredible!
Thank you for posting this great performance, no equals. To bad he didn't do more commercial recording. I saw him a few times at the met opera.. Rigoletto and nile scene in Aida gala.. I those days they were almost taken for granted. I wish they were still here.
There is a "good" reason why my father stopped so early in his career. It was about the royalites the record company paid him. I was with him on one of his first trips to sing at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He was immensley popular with the public there who were, as a group, highly knowledgeable and appreciative. On several nights I stood by his side at the stage door where he patiently signed autographs and record albums for dozens of people every night he sang. Remember these were LPs so I saw what I saw very clearly. For that fiscal year, the recording company claimed that in all of South America they had only sold 5 albums. My father's response was to tell them to keep their royalites and pay him a large sum up front. They declined. He didn't budge. End of story.
Tosca is the first opera I ever saw live, and it can still make me cry at certain moments. George London is my favorite Scarpia, but MacNeil was very fine also!
@@larrywoods6318 a stopped clock is right twice a day. Callas , on a single note, goes sharp and flat, but within the extremes is the correct pitch. MacNiel delt with this by singing high notes with very little vibrato toward the end, but the BEAT, wobble, call it what you will was still there. His work at the Met in the 80s was due more to his power as the house union rep than his voice. Nobody messed with Big Mac. But he continued to be effective on stage.
2 года назад
That is *not* a wobble. I am perplexed as to how easy people claim stuff in public while being absolutely clueless about them. A wobble is a non-pulsating pitch excursion, usually without a proper accent on the center pitch, while a vibrato is a pulsating pitch excursion with an accent on the center pitch, which is perceived as *the* pitch, and the off beat of the pulsation on a lower pitch, which is usually not at all perceived (but can be if the vibrato frequency is slower than 6Hz as in the case of MacNeil here). Do the world a favor and educate yourself before spewing garbage about none the less but one if the greatest baritones to have ever existed
@@rodolfolomelig8349 Бастианини тоже воплощал..по началу он кажется холодным и строгим в своей игре-послушайте его Скарпиа раза три..и он открывается вам, удивительный, необъятный,природный актёр
This looks like the Verrett/Pavarotti production which is as close to my personal standard of perfection (for Tosca) as I can realistically expect. Met Opera/ Tito Gobbi production conducted by James Conlon 1978.
Un gran bel Baritono......ma si illude che Tosca possa cadere fra le sue braccia.....Cornell Macneil per essere un artista straniero ha una buona dizione e una bella maschera d' attore...uno Scarpia ad hoc. Elsa Asta
really too bad that the microphone was apparently right on the front of the stage. would love to hear a little mix from what that sounded like in the house. still stunning 💪
This is awesome singing, no doubt. But I wouldn't say it's the best recording. Guelfi is technically better. MacNeil struggles a bit at the top. It's too 'open' and that's something I have noticed as his career progressed. Gobbi had a similar quality. I think it's not necessarily bad singing but I think it limits the singer's shelf life. Anyway, I recommend changing the title of this video. You're implying MacNeil is better than Guelfi. I think that's a silly comparison. MacNeil was more bass-baritone than Guelfi, but both absolutely extraordinary voices. Early MacNeil is my favourite of his output.
Well I recommend you get your own channel and stop telling other people what to do! This video title implies no comparison whatsoever with Guelfi, whose Te deum video is on *my channel*, by the way. It refers, instead to MacNeil's interview in Jerome Hines's book. And your comments about MacNeil's voice have been made hundreds of times by many, many other people for the past 50 years and are as irrelevant as theirs. MacNeil sang well until he retired at 65. You can see his final performance here on RUclips.
@@trrill I'm interested that you are quoting Hines. Thank you for mentioning. I must correct your presumption of me: You're recommending that I stop telling people what to do? Well, what are you doing? Read your own headline. And I wouldn't say there is a categorical way to sing Scarpia. Guelfi's different version clearly shows this. Interesting information though on MacNeil. Thank you for sharing that. Sorry, if you don't like my discourse.
Excuse me? It's a soliloquy! Of course he's detached! In the middle of a High Mass in one the great basilicas of Rome. It speaks to his obsession with Tosca.
![Giangiacomo Guelfi - Tre sbirri / Te deum [Tosca] - Tokyo 1961](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TjaVxK7yCtA/mqdefault.jpg)
Give Puccini some credit.. the Scarpia Te Deum with the magnificent orchestral accompaniment is some of the greatest minutes in all of opera
Jeffrey L. : Where did Puccini sing the Scarpia Te Deum? At the MET, Covent Garden or La Scala? Who sang with him?
I think it's the greatest passage in the whole opera! The way it builds up and its diegetic polyphony (evil scheming juxtaposed with a religious mass) are breathtaking.
John Pickford : what?
such a great spectacle, musically, conceptually, visually
It's the good stuff. The low tube bells, the organ, the choral, the thunder claps, the grand church spectical, the counterpointed themes in the scene's narrative, the high tube bells for the mass. I go to Tosca for this piece alone.
His live recording with Price and Corelli is superlative!
I met Mr. Macniel and also Ludovic Spies when I was an extra in Tosca in 1973 San Francisco Opera. I played the part of a monk the the procession. He was a swell fellow. a great experience when I was young.
The glorious Kurt Herbert Adler San Francisco Opera!
Macneil was up there with the very best of baritones,totally captivating,totally believable
Truly an unrepeatable giant of the lyric art.
Un vero Signore. !!!!! Padrone assoluto della sua bellissima voce. !!!!!! Bravoooooo. !!!
This is Macneil past his prime (he would retire in 1985), and yet he is still brilliant. Yes, his voice is showing signs of wear and doesn't have the full richness it had earlier, but he wields it with such dramatic effect that it actually works better that way. His Scarpia is rough and gruff, one that doesn't have time to pretend to be suave and dashing like others do. Behrens' Tosca is never close to being seduced by this beast, she knows from the start he is a man to fear.
He retired from the stage in 1988 singing Tonio from Pagliacci
We no real vocal beasts in opera these days… 😢
I agree wholeheartedly! MacNeil at his prime was one of the best ever! His Rigoletto from 1962 with Sutherland and Siepi is some of the most beautiful and powerful baritone singing I’ve ever heard.
Grandissimo Cornell.....
Volcanic voice.
un Scarpia excellent ,voix et jeu de scène !!!
He is excellent.
YES. *THAT* is the correct way to sing.
He puts Ramey and Terfel to shame just in the opening line alone! With their blowhard wobbling!
Oh yes sir. Resonance, diction, position, everthing
By this later stage in Macneill's career, the voice was huge, dark and heroic. ie. 3:25, a climactic high F.
Great singer and remarcable actor ❤
Cornell McNeil is joined by the much admired character tenor Andrea Velis as Spoleta. Every time he appeared, Velis proved that "there are no small parts."
I recently discovered MacNeill and I think he was an outstanding singer. I cannot think of anyone nowadays on this level.
Bravo
amazing singing actor
and he had the best guru! (Tito Gobbi, and he WAS a guru.)
0:01
MacNeil: I'm not so sure about this . . .
1985
MacNeil: *snappy snappy*
потрясающе, я не знал этого исполнителя, какой драматичный и демоничный взгляд! какой тембр!
Magnifique
loudest voice i ever heard great before he develpoed a wbble in voice still great
Please define wobble.
Maria Callas and Hans Hotter had wobbles too.
@@larrywoods6318wobble = Ramey and Terfel
I enjoy this so much! My favorite interpretation!! So musical! I saw him at the end of his career nothing short of fantastic! This performance was incredible!
Thank you for posting this great performance, no equals. To bad he didn't do more commercial recording. I saw him a few times at the met opera.. Rigoletto and nile scene in Aida gala.. I those days they were almost taken for granted. I wish they were still here.
There is a "good" reason why my father stopped so early in his career. It was about the royalites the record company paid him. I was with him on one of his first trips to sing at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. He was immensley popular with the public there who were, as a group, highly knowledgeable and appreciative. On several nights I stood by his side at the stage door where he patiently signed autographs and record albums for dozens of people every night he sang. Remember these were LPs so I saw what I saw very clearly. For that fiscal year, the recording company claimed that in all of South America they had only sold 5 albums.
My father's response was to tell them to keep their royalites and pay him a large sum up front. They declined. He didn't budge. End of story.
I choose Scarpia!!!!Love, Tosca
Unico!
Tosca is the first opera I ever saw live, and it can still make me cry at certain moments. George London is my favorite Scarpia, but MacNeil was very fine also!
Macneil rarely came out of character, even during curtain calls. A great voice and legacy.
Люблю всіх Тосок і Скарпіїв світу!
Люблю ... Скарпіа
Wow!
Люблю во веки веков.
Я люблю его очень..два благородных баритона-он и Бастианини-оба прекрасные Ангелы оперы!
Lo pude escuchar en vivo en Bs As dos veces una voz impresionante
Bravo!
The wobble had already come . MacNiel was.masterful in how he.used the deterioration of his voice for powerful.dramatic effect
It wasn't a wobble (like Callas) as big heavy voices age the vibrato widens, and still on pitch, a wobble is not on pitch.
@@larrywoods6318 a stopped clock is right twice a day. Callas , on a single note, goes sharp and flat, but within the extremes is the correct pitch. MacNiel delt with this by singing high notes with very little vibrato toward the end, but the BEAT, wobble, call it what you will was still there. His work at the Met in the 80s was due more to his power as the house union rep than his voice. Nobody messed with Big Mac. But he continued to be effective on stage.
That is *not* a wobble. I am perplexed as to how easy people claim stuff in public while being absolutely clueless about them. A wobble is a non-pulsating pitch excursion, usually without a proper accent on the center pitch, while a vibrato is a pulsating pitch excursion with an accent on the center pitch, which is perceived as *the* pitch, and the off beat of the pulsation on a lower pitch, which is usually not at all perceived (but can be if the vibrato frequency is slower than 6Hz as in the case of MacNeil here). Do the world a favor and educate yourself before spewing garbage about none the less but one if the greatest baritones to have ever existed
Angela Meade never ever reached the center of the pitch even with a quick vibrato, and Ramey and Terfel had a wobble every time they sang this
MacNeil is my favorite scarpia!
senti Tito Gobbi .
MacNeil Milnes Bastianini London Tibbett Taddei Warren Carroli Ramey Ruffo Granforte Stracciari Battistini Gobbi..
@@e.g.8454 Ramey has the most beautiful voiced ever Scarpia, Bastianini sings it beautifully, but Gobbi embodies the character
@@e.g.8454 you forget giangiacomo guelfi, and gabriel Bacquier!
@@rodolfolomelig8349 Бастианини тоже воплощал..по началу он кажется холодным и строгим в своей игре-послушайте его Скарпиа раза три..и он открывается вам, удивительный, необъятный,природный актёр
I loved The BIG MAC saw him many times when I was a student in High School. My Dads favorite Baritone! Magnificent Voice.
The Biggest Voice ever!
I miss him.
Хорррош Скарпиа. Сыграл и спел.
Люблю.
I think Gabriel Bacquier’s french scarpia is the best one ever. Worth listening to.
The video is not about Gabriel Bacquier.
@@MOV1983 Obviously? I'm giving a recommendation.
@@acadela3506awful recommendation
Today Big Mac would have been 100 years old. If only he were still with us
This looks like the Verrett/Pavarotti production which is as close to my personal standard of perfection (for Tosca) as I can realistically expect. Met Opera/ Tito Gobbi production conducted by James Conlon 1978.
Wow! Only baritone who comes close to Milnes. I'd say they are almost equal.
Клас.
👏👏👏👏
Gobbi is good for it too!
Un gran bel Baritono......ma si illude che Tosca possa cadere fra le sue braccia.....Cornell Macneil per essere un artista straniero ha una buona dizione e una bella maschera d' attore...uno Scarpia ad hoc. Elsa Asta
Il sesso può essere cosa diversa dall’amore e Scarpia si riferisce al sesso che le cantanti d’epoca non disdegnavano essendo libere.
😀
really too bad that the microphone was apparently right on the front of the stage. would love to hear a little mix from what that sounded like in the house. still stunning 💪
A little bit out of time at the beggining of the aria, but very well performed. I still prefer Gobbi and Bastiniani over him.
Бастианини красивый, невероятный..хотя не любил роль Скарпиа
I guess one of your baritones would be Tibbett, right? So who would be the last one?
I guess it'd be a tie between Merrill and Bonelli. I would tend to prefer Bonelli; he was a *complete* musician and artist compared to Merrill.
Who do you feel the other ones are? Merrill and Warren?
If it is not meddling, Tibbett and Warren, I suppose.
Nathaniel Stern Apollo Granforte, Giangiacomo Guelfi, even the live recording of Bastianini
If we're just basing this on American Baritones, then you have to talk about Richard Bonelli, Lawrence Tibbett, Leonard Warren, and Sherrill Milnes.
Well, the greatest is Bastianini. Best American is Warren, probably. Then maybe Milnes
@@artemsmirnov7067 Bastianini a baritone without peer. You Tube: Ettore Bastianini "Eri tu Che, Macchiavi", Masked Ball. Unequaled.
Ottima pronuncia, anche della "r"...
Very good performance............however Tito Gobbi's is with out doubt the best Scarpia
But, he doesn’t sound evil!
Not the best Scarpia rendition, but passable.
This is awesome singing, no doubt. But I wouldn't say it's the best recording. Guelfi is technically better. MacNeil struggles a bit at the top. It's too 'open' and that's something I have noticed as his career progressed. Gobbi had a similar quality. I think it's not necessarily bad singing but I think it limits the singer's shelf life. Anyway, I recommend changing the title of this video. You're implying MacNeil is better than Guelfi. I think that's a silly comparison. MacNeil was more bass-baritone than Guelfi, but both absolutely extraordinary voices. Early MacNeil is my favourite of his output.
Well I recommend you get your own channel and stop telling other people what to do! This video title implies no comparison whatsoever with Guelfi, whose Te deum video is on *my channel*, by the way. It refers, instead to MacNeil's interview in Jerome Hines's book. And your comments about MacNeil's voice have been made hundreds of times by many, many other people for the past 50 years and are as irrelevant as theirs. MacNeil sang well until he retired at 65. You can see his final performance here on RUclips.
@@trrill I'm interested that you are quoting Hines. Thank you for mentioning. I must correct your presumption of me: You're recommending that I stop telling people what to do? Well, what are you doing? Read your own headline. And I wouldn't say there is a categorical way to sing Scarpia. Guelfi's different version clearly shows this. Interesting information though on MacNeil. Thank you for sharing that. Sorry, if you don't like my discourse.
@@trrill bravo
Detached performance. Boring.
Excuse me? It's a soliloquy! Of course he's detached! In the middle of a High Mass in one the great basilicas of Rome. It speaks to his obsession with Tosca.
@@WalterMacNeil It's just a comment. Get a good night sleep. You'll feel better in the morning. Maybe.
Люблю.