The very first opera I ever went to in the early 70's (I was in high school) was La Traviata. Jan Peerce was the tenor. He was great even in his later years.
I knew him and was there, Peoria IL he sang there twice in 1971 and a little later Trav. and Cav./Pag his last complete two opera performances ever. Yes he still was fine in that Traviata I taped it on cassette.
@@camilleobedoza349I am a lifelong fan of Peerce, and have got most of his recordings, and heard a few more on YT, and I am always puzzled by people who find his tone 'nasal'. His tone was full, rich and totally secure throughout the whole range - very few tenors could match the sheer consistency of his sound. I have never detected any nasality to speak of.
In Jan Peerce's singing you hear much more the Chasan-Tradition than in Tucker's singing (his cousin). Wonderful technique which keeps the voice young, Joseph Schmidt had a similar technique (died far too early). May be Jonas K. should cut a slice of this, it would help him.
Tucker was more of a chazzan than Peerce, and officiated far more in that capacity. Some of us like to say that Tucker's opera sounded like chazzanut and his chazzanut sounded like opera.
ALMOST POSITIVE THIS WAS THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW PERFORMANCE. I RARELY MISSED THE SUNDAY NIGHT VARIETY TV SHOW. AT 5FT.4IN TALL AND VERY NEAR SIGHTED, JAN PEERCE STILL HAD A GREAT CAREER. IMAGINE IF HE WAS HANDSOME OF FACE AND FORM, 6FT. TALL. ANOTHER HUGE CROSSOVER STAR . IAN KAYE
@@olensoifer9901 You can like his voice and still acknowledge that he was nasal...Calling him nasal is an objective statement, and it is not necessarily an insult.
@@bharp4390 I'm surprised at his age here (in his 60's) he sang this duet and not the more Lyric duet (Solenne) This is a very demanding duet, Peerce did record hilites of Forza in the 1955 RCA version with Warren, of course that was when he was 51 years old, it was excellent, and of course different in 1955. He sang the role sometimes in both NY. at the Met. (but not often) and in Holland, also but this very spinto role was more a popular role for both Corelli and Tucker in the 1950's and 1960's , but Peerce was wonderful in Traviata, Boheme, Ballo all 3 with Toscanini who liked him as a favorite at the time, (before Peerce it was Pertile) and his great Rigoletto RCA recording with Warren and Berger, I knew Jan very well and heard him often of course, back in 1972 Merrill sang this duet (with Tucker) at the Bing gala and it's on you tube, its seems Merrill then at age 54 (Tucker was 58) and Merrill here still in his 40's did hold up very well and had a beautiful baritone voice, Peerce lasted well even if he did sing a bit past his prime, he was a great artist and a favorite of Toscanini in the 1940's and 1950's. 1904-1980 Jan Peerce. RIP.
Peerce must have been about 60 when this was done, so it's not quite fair to judge him from this poor showing. He recorded the duets from Forza with Leonard Warren in 1946, and those studio records are much better than this. MERRILL, of course, is superb.
@@olensoifer9901 What an idiotic response - as if only professionally trained opera singers can judge performers or only someone at the level of a Michelangelo would be qualified to determine "bad art". My opinion of Peerce is shared by many others who saw him at that time - and he clearly did not have the same operatic career as his brother in law which was a major cause of the great resentment that he felt. I also think Peerce was even more vastly outclassed by Bjorling, Corelli, Bergonzi, Di Stefano and other great tenors of the 40s, 50s, and 60s - so sue me!
@@NYCOPERAFAN Tucker as a spinto had a voice that was larger and could sing far more dramatic roles "live" then, Peerce could, Jan was a fine artist in his time, it's all opinion of course, but Tucker had the greater voice in opera for verismo roles, , (Tucker married Sara, Jan's P's younger sister) Now starting in the early 1940's Peerce was a favorite of Toscanini (Tucker wasn't even an opera singer then) Before Peerce, Toscanini loved Pertile , I myself heard " in the house every tenor you mentioned" I knew both Peerce and Tucker when I worked in radio and also many more great ones we could note I saw, like Tagliavini, Gedda, GDS Etc. for me Tucker and then later Corelli where the two best in the Forza role in my time, as a dramatic tenor I saw MDM sing Otello, he was wonderful, it was 1959, I was 19. It' is all just opinion but by the 1950's the greatest "American" Spinto tenor was Richard Tucker, no doubt about it, as far as voice of course it is a personal like or not a voice. I don't think Peerce here is close to what his his best voice was, as he is older here and in this duet in his 60's he singing a duet that is quite demanding in a more Spinto dramatic way, this is all just IMO no right or wrong.
![THIS is Callas's greatest baritone partner. Ettore Bastianini sings Di Provenza [La traviata] - 1955](/img/1.gif)
Merrills dramatic F-flat in this duet....one of the best notes EVER sounded by any ANY artist...
Agreed.
F sharp
@@armenak20962 Dude, tune your piano or your ear....he is singing an F flat (as shown in the actual SCORE) or E natural enharmonically spelled.
Much better than today’s ‘talent’.......
Great Peerce!!!
Robert Merrill is always stunning in this duet
Merrill was wonderful !
wow! spectacular singing and emotion. Bravi.
The very first opera I ever went to in the early 70's (I was in high school) was La Traviata. Jan Peerce was the tenor. He was great even in his later years.
But soooo nasal.
Not later in career, his brother in law be much stronger. Jan was great earlier.
I knew him and was there, Peoria IL he sang there twice in 1971 and a little later Trav. and Cav./Pag his last complete two opera performances ever. Yes he still was fine in that Traviata I taped it on cassette.
He doesn't sound so nasal to me😕. Atleast he is a little better than today's mediocre opera singers.
@@camilleobedoza349I am a lifelong fan of Peerce, and have got most of his recordings, and heard a few more on YT, and I am always puzzled by people who find his tone 'nasal'. His tone was full, rich and totally secure throughout the whole range - very few tenors could match the sheer consistency of his sound. I have never detected any nasality to speak of.
Two great voices.
They are both stunning . Jan Peerce was one of my parents favorite tenors as this video attests .
In Jan Peerce's singing you hear much more the Chasan-Tradition than in Tucker's singing (his cousin). Wonderful technique which keeps the voice young, Joseph Schmidt had a similar technique (died far too early). May be Jonas K. should cut a slice of this, it would help him.
Not Cousin, Brother-in-law.
Tucker was more of a chazzan than Peerce, and officiated far more in that capacity. Some of us like to say that Tucker's opera sounded like chazzanut and his chazzanut sounded like opera.
Nasal.
@@franzitaduz Both distant cousins of mine that I, unfortunately, never met.
Merrill meraviglioso.
Che Bravi-!!!
ALMOST POSITIVE THIS WAS THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW PERFORMANCE. I RARELY MISSED THE SUNDAY NIGHT VARIETY TV SHOW. AT 5FT.4IN TALL AND VERY NEAR SIGHTED, JAN PEERCE STILL HAD A GREAT CAREER. IMAGINE IF HE WAS HANDSOME OF FACE AND FORM, 6FT. TALL. ANOTHER HUGE CROSSOVER STAR .
IAN KAYE
It was the Ed Sullivan show.
Красавцы ! Старая школа !
Peerce is flawless.....what placement !!! Less hammey than Tucker - is brother-in-law.
...and this is why opera is best described as "music drama."
Tzvey Yden!
Unreal they don't build them like that these days!
Yes they do, they just choose to employ bad technique.
Real Names...... Moishe Miller(Merrill) and Jacob Perelmuter(Peerce)... A Guten Yden!
The correct spelling of Jan Peerce's real name was "Perelmuth" (not Perelmutter)
А это плохо?
@@nataliyayatsenko8986
Это хорошо, очень хорошо!
@@segredoscabalisticos я тоже так считаю.национальность вообще не при чем, а антисемитизм это удел мелких завистливых людей.
@@nataliyayatsenko8986 Итак, знайте, что когда такой еврей, как я, я вижу, как два других выдающихся еврея действуют вместе, я очень счастлив!
Peerce sings quite nasal, but Merrill is great!
Nasal? Get your own ears cleared out. I love when people who probably could not sing a note, even at gunpoint, critics great artists!
@@olensoifer9901 You can like his voice and still acknowledge that he was nasal...Calling him nasal is an objective statement, and it is not necessarily an insult.
@@bharp4390 I'm surprised at his age here (in his 60's) he sang this duet and not the more Lyric duet (Solenne) This is a very demanding duet, Peerce did record hilites of Forza in the 1955 RCA version with Warren, of course that was when he was 51 years old, it was excellent, and of course different in 1955. He sang the role sometimes in both NY. at the Met. (but not often) and in Holland, also but this very spinto role was more a popular role for both Corelli and Tucker in the 1950's and 1960's , but Peerce was wonderful in Traviata, Boheme, Ballo all 3 with Toscanini who liked him as a favorite at the time, (before Peerce it was Pertile) and his great Rigoletto RCA recording with Warren and Berger, I knew Jan very well and heard him often of course, back in 1972 Merrill sang this duet (with Tucker) at the Bing gala and it's on you tube, its seems Merrill then at age 54 (Tucker was 58) and Merrill here still in his 40's did hold up very well and had a beautiful baritone voice, Peerce lasted well even if he did sing a bit past his prime, he was a great artist and a favorite of Toscanini in the 1940's and 1950's. 1904-1980 Jan Peerce. RIP.
02:10 B2 flat!
I was not able to find Leonard Warren in your spreadsheet! Why?
!!! !!!!
2nd golden age 2 greats better matched warren too big peerce held up but here good match
Peerce must have been about 60 when this was done, so it's not quite fair to judge him from this poor showing. He recorded the duets from Forza with Leonard Warren in 1946, and those studio records are much better than this. MERRILL, of course, is superb.
Una caricatura.
Omettono pezzi, saltano parole... sembrano le comiche.
Ugly Americans..
Tucker so much better than Peerce whose unbearably nasal voice really brings down this performance.
😔😔😣😣
Keep deeming
Personally, I think your ears are full of shit. Let's hear you do better...
@@olensoifer9901 What an idiotic response - as if only professionally trained opera singers can judge performers or only someone at the level of a Michelangelo would be qualified to determine "bad art". My opinion of Peerce is shared by many others who saw him at that time - and he clearly did not have the same operatic career as his brother in law which was a major cause of the great resentment that he felt. I also think Peerce was even more vastly outclassed by Bjorling, Corelli, Bergonzi, Di Stefano and other great tenors of the 40s, 50s, and 60s - so sue me!
@@NYCOPERAFAN Tucker as a spinto had a voice that was larger and could sing far more dramatic roles "live" then, Peerce could, Jan was a fine artist in his time, it's all opinion of course, but Tucker had the greater voice in opera for verismo roles, , (Tucker married Sara, Jan's P's younger sister) Now starting in the early 1940's Peerce was a favorite of Toscanini (Tucker wasn't even an opera singer then) Before Peerce, Toscanini loved Pertile , I myself heard " in the house every tenor you mentioned" I knew both Peerce and Tucker when I worked in radio and also many more great ones we could note I saw, like Tagliavini, Gedda, GDS Etc. for me Tucker and then later Corelli where the two best in the Forza role in my time, as a dramatic tenor I saw MDM sing Otello, he was wonderful, it was 1959, I was 19. It' is all just opinion but by the 1950's the greatest "American" Spinto tenor was Richard Tucker, no doubt about it, as far as voice of course it is a personal like or not a voice. I don't think Peerce here is close to what his his best voice was, as he is older here and in this duet in his 60's he singing a duet that is quite demanding in a more Spinto dramatic way, this is all just IMO no right or wrong.