# Round One: Manon Lescaut Donna no vidi mai: Bjorling, Caruso, Piccaluga



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Artist: Jussi Bjorling Conductor: Nils Grevillius Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Composer: Giacomo Puccini 




Re- Mastering Engineer: Thomas G. Stockham Re- Mastering Supervisor: André Gauthier 




No info other than: Nino Piccaluga (1890-1973) was a big voiced spinto-dramatic tenor who was very much in evidence during the two decades between the two wars.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

John, I'll trade you my Corelli for your Piccaluga with the grating sound please.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch I am in a quandary. I love both Enrico and Jussi but there is a certain "searching" sound that eminates from Bjorling's throat that gets to me.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Three singers I don’t care for. Early in my childhood I heard someone play some Caruso records, but there was no Pauline conversion - I though he was screaming, the high loud notes sounding as if they were being torn from his throat, thick tone forced out of his mouth. That impression remains.

In this instance Caruso seems to employ his gentlest tones to sing about the woman he encounters at an inn in Amiens. 

I don’t care for Piccalunga, whose wheedly tone sounds like he’s parodying the song, but he has great diction.

I‘ve never cared cared for Bjöorling like most here do, though I can admire the ease of emission. I find his high notes cold and there’s some grain to the tone up there that’s not in the rest of the voice.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I am puzzled as to how this person became a famous singer.
Is it just me?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

hree voices of the 


MAS said:


> Three singers I don’t care for.


I love all three of them! Piccaluga is new to me, but I can't imagine why. I'm wowed; a clear and powerful dramatic spinto, both dark and brilliant, he'd mop the floor with any tenor singing today. Neither his nor Caruso's recording does justice to the voice; Piccaluga's sounds metallic and edgy, Caruso's boxy and unresonant like many of his recordings. I'm happy to listen through it all. As for Bjorling, I always thrill to the way his voice opens out on top, adding a heroic touch to his characteristic sweetness.

These are the sounds of ages past. I really don't want to choose.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Björling by a country mile. Caruso is ok but too slow and Piccaluga, who I’d never heard of and am happy for it continue that way, is, to be kind, mediocre!

Sorry W. 😏


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> hree voices of the
> 
> 
> I love all three of them! Piccaluga is new to me, but I can't imagine why. I'm wowed; a clear and powerful dramatic spinto, both dark and brilliant, he'd mop the floor with any tenor singing today. Neither his nor Caruso's recording does justice to the voice; Piccaluga's sounds metallic and edgy, Caruso's boxy and unresonant like many of his recordings. I'm happy to listen through it all. As for Bjorling, I always thrill to the way his voice opens out on top, adding a heroic touch to his characteristic sweetness.
> ...


Your response is much appreciated. I guess my ear is just not normally drawn to metallic and edgy voices.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Your response is much appreciated. I guess my ear is just not normally drawn to metallic and edgy voices.


It's the recording.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I can't access Caruso, not even if I use the description. I am using this one:


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Caruso wins, because he sounds like a baritenor to me, and I love those. The timbre might be changed by the recording - or not ? Did he ever start as baritone ?


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Both Caruso and Piccaluga are compromised by the recording process and I imagine that they would both sound a great deal better in better circumstances. Bjoerling, on the other hand, sounds both youthful and thrilling. Indeed Des Grieux (both in the Massenet and Puccini settings) was one of his best roles. This recording is one of his early Swedish 78s but he also went on to record a superb performance of the complete Puccini opera, which is unfortunately hampered by the aging Licia Albanese as Manon.


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> I can't access Caruso, not even if I use the description. I am using this one:


OK, this version has Caruso cybernetically removed from his acoustical accompaniment and superimposed, suitably enstereolated, over a modern orchestra. Which version is this? They've been trying to do this since the mid-1930's and at least this is better than those attempts.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Nino Piccaluga??..I'm guessing our old timers afficionados are familiar but I am not and he holds up quite admirably against the stiffest competition imaginable! I really have no qualms with any of the three renditions and enjoyed myself very much. I could see Piccaluga taking the palm against many a more famous name but his opponents here pretty much live in the highest echelon and neither one is off his game. The live audience must help bring out the spontaneous latin in Bjoerling because I thought he sounded much freer and spontaneous than he sometimes does. Caruso has no such problems and in certain phrases I heard the slightest pulling back of the resources which created a very musical effect. I can hardly choose between them so I will let something that is a "nit" here, but becomes more than that in other Bjoerling recordings, be my determinant. I think Jussi is singing right at the threshold of power and width of sound that his voice could withstand. Here, it all works. But I think it is the misguided instinct that was to harden his upper register as he went on. So I choose the glorious voiced Neapolitan!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

ewilkros said:


> OK, this version has Caruso cybernetically removed from his acoustical accompaniment and superimposed, suitably enstereolated, over a modern orchestra. Which version is this? They've been trying to do this since the mid-1930's and at least this is better than those attempts.


Hearing these is a curiously schizoid experience, with the modern acoustic of the orchestra surrounding the acoustically cramped singer like the transparent, sunlit atmosphere enveloping the solid earth. The two elements don't actually mix, but might give the unwary the impression that they're hearing the "real" Caruso. His voice is said to have recorded unusually well, and people have always thrilled to it in the form in which we have it, but hearing modern and archaic recording technologies superimposed can have us imagining how much of the voice's depth, richness and brilliance we're missing.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> Caruso wins, because he sounds like a baritenor to me, and I love those. The timbre might be changed by the recording - or not ? Did he ever start as baritone ?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

This wasn't an actual role that he played. It so happens that the Colline who normally sings the coat song suddenly got laryngitis and panicked. Caruso told him to stand in front of him and mouth the words while he stood behind him and faked being a bass. It worked! And this recording is the result.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ewilkros said:


> OK, this version has Caruso cybernetically removed from his acoustical accompaniment and superimposed, suitably enstereolated, over a modern orchestra. Which version is this? They've been trying to do this since the mid-1930's and at least this is better than those attempts.


Did I fall in love with a robot ? Aaaaaah ! Put a veil over my face !


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> Caruso wins, because he sounds like a baritenor to me, and I love those. The timbre might be changed by the recording - or not ? Did he ever start as baritone ?


He started out as a lyric tenor with a quick vibrato, sometimes almost verging on a "caprino" (goat's bleat), but the voice always having the bright shine to it that he would always retain. He recorded several things repeatedly as he aged, the timbre darkening and the vibrato smoothing down and being used more sparingly, as an interpretive effect.

See three versions of "E lucevan le stelle" --



Spoiler: "E lucevan" 1902, G&T













Spoiler: "E lucevan" 1903, Pathé













Spoiler: "E lucevan" 1909, Victor











For an example of his lyric singing with the voice coming under more control, with very long-breathed phrases and an ornamental use of the quick vibrato (at 2:40) see --



Spoiler: Donizetti - Favorita, "Spirto gentil", !906, Victor











For an example of the darker, mature voice, see-



Spoiler: Saint-Saëns - Samson et Dalila, "Vois ma misère, hélas!" 1916, Victor


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I’ve never been a huge fan of Caruso, or at least I don’t consider him to be unparalleled. I started his recording thinking it was lovely but not overly enthused, but as often happens with Caruso, over the course of the aria his magic begun to work and I found myself enjoying it more and more. Björling doesn’t sound quite right in Puccini for me and Piccaluga is good but maybe not the ideal exponent for a role like this.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

ewilkros said:


> He started out as a lyric tenor with a quick vibrato, sometimes almost verging on a "caprino" (goat's bleat), but the voice always having the bright shine to it that he would always retain. He recorded several things repeatedly as he aged, the timbre darkening and the vibrato smoothing down and being used more sparingly, as an interpretive effect.
> 
> See three versions of "E lucevan le stelle"
> 
> ...


Later version of _E lucevan le stelle _is better. More stable, more sure. And he omitted that hysterical sob in the end.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Op.123 said:


> I’ve never been a huge fan of Caruso, or at least I don’t consider him to be unparalleled. I started his recording thinking it was lovely but not overly enthused, but as often happens with Caruso, over the course of the aria his magic begun to work and I found myself enjoying it more and more. Björling doesn’t sound quite right in Puccini for me and Piccaluga is good but maybe not the ideal exponent for a role like this.


I was surprised to hear your Puccini remark because I kind of always thought of him as a Puccini tenor. But as i think about it, his reserve does have a patrician quality that is probably better suited to Verdi's Nobles than Puccini's poets!


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ColdGenius said:


> Later version of _E lucevan le stelle _is better. More stable, more sure. And he omitted that hysterical sob in the end.


Yes, that sob was quite comical.

But, @ewilkros , this is for me the second example, where a somewhat unpleasant vibrato got better with time. Another case I noticed recently was Saioa Hernandez - her La mamma morta debut versus the later recital. I always thought it works the other way round. Maybe I should discuss it in a separate thread. For instance, Veneera Gimadieva has a worse vibrato than she had before. Could she be rescued yet ? Can it be trained away when developed later in the career ?


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Bjorling is wonderful in this. It's perfect for him and he has both the spinto and lyric qualities to make listening to this a joy. Whilst I don't find his tone as pleasing as some do, it's certainly instantly recognisible and I really like him here.

He has stiff competition being up against Caruso, who, unfortunately isn't caught at his best. There are some technical problems here and so this doesn't beat Bjorling.

Picca who? He sounds terrible! (No doubt he's some amazing tenor all here will vote for and tell me I'm nuts.) Give me the screaming, over-the-top verismo banshees any day! I certainly don't want to hear him again.

Bjorling for me.

N.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

ScottK said:


> I was surprised to hear your Puccini remark because I kind of always thought of him as a Puccini tenor. But as i think about it, his reserve does have a patrician quality that is probably better suited to Verdi's Nobles than Puccini's poets!


I find Björling at his best in Gounod but he is also fine in some of Verdi’s lighter roles. He sings a very beautiful Manrico too but just lacks the heroic thrust.


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

BBSVK said:


> Yes, that sob was quite comical.
> 
> But, @ewilkros , this is for me the second example, where a somewhat unpleasant vibrato got better with time. Another case I noticed recently was Saioa Hernandez - her La mamma morta debut versus the later recital. I always thought it works the other way round. Maybe I should discuss it in a separate thread. For instance, Veneera Gimadieva has a worse vibrato than she had before. Could she be rescued yet ? Can it be trained away when developed later in the career ?


To some extent voices can "settle" some as singers reach middle age, but there are lots of instances where tenors have tamed down a hard, fast (even "fluttery") vibrato, often in order to have better careers in the UK or US, which in olden times were less tolerant of such a sound than Italy was. Famously, Franco Corelli set out to do this, having been warned by Lauri-Volpi that he had to if he were going to have a big success in the US, and in fact achieved his goal. Lauri-Volpi was speaking from experience, having had sharply divided audiences (and especially critics) during his Met years. -- Do I have this right? There are others who know their Corelli and Lauri-Volpi better than I do. At any rate you can hear Corelli's fast vibrato in his early-1950s Cetra recordings and his live1954 Vestale with Callas, and it's something of a shock if you know him from 10 years later. 

There was a whole "school" of Italian tenors with fast hard vibratos that preceded Caruso, most notable of whom was Fernando De Lucia, favorite of old-time collectors of 78s for his performances of florid arias from the bel canto repertory but dominant in his time as a verismo tenor (he premiered or did first big-house performances of a long line of the most famous verismo operas). Here's his Barbiere--






and his Cavalleria -



Spoiler: Cavalleria - "O Lola" - 1902, G&T











and here's a very good Wikipedia article on him --



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_De_Lucia



There were others -- Bonci, Anselmi and, in Chicago, José Mojica-- who had this fluttery vibrato but made good careers in the UK/US, though. It's debated whether the hardness, at any rate, was exaggerated in close-up by the recording process and softened in actual performance by hall acoustic. And it must be said that this kind of vibrato seems to facilitate florid passagework. At any rate, this is the background that Caruso emerged from and created a more "modern" tenor style from.

As far as female singers go, while I can't think of any who reformed their vibratos, I can think of some whose fast vibratos bother many to the point of "I refuse to listen", while they are adored by others-- Olivero, Conchita Supervia --
-, 


Spoiler: Film "Evensong", 1934 - please start at 59:30











and Sills -



Spoiler: Les Huguenots - O beau pays de la Touraine (from concert perf of "complete" opera, Carnegie Hall 5/14/69











In Sills' case the vibrato is not as hard, but a beat is in the voice and will develop further; but all kinds of technical assurance is aligned with a long line and a musicality which makes this my favorite recording of this "most taxing or most difficult to execute" of coloratura scenes, in spite of kind of scrappy surroundings. 

A slow and/or uneven hard vibrato, though, is indeed a sign of technical deficiency and tends to get worse fast. It is particularly likely to happen to "large" voices, which tend to be referred to as "unfocused".


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

The Conte said:


> Bjorling is wonderful in this. It's perfect for him and he has both the spinto and lyric qualities to make listening to this a joy. Whilst I don't find his tone as pleasing as some do, it's certainly instantly recognisible and I really like him here.
> 
> He has stiff competition being up against Caruso, who, unfortunately isn't caught at his best. There are some technical problems here and so this doesn't beat Bjorling.
> 
> ...


It's just what I would like to write, but in worse English and with vast voids in musical knowledge.


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## PaulFranz (May 7, 2019)

MAS said:


> Three singers I don’t care for. Early in my childhood I heard someone play some Caruso records, but there was no Pauline conversion - I though he was screaming, the high loud notes sounding as if they were being torn from his throat, thick tone forced out of his mouth. That impression remains.
> 
> In this instance Caruso seems to employ his gentlest tones to sing about the woman he encounters at an inn in Amiens.
> 
> ...


Björling didn't have that grain when he was younger. Everyone loves to post his recordings from the 50s because of the recording quality, but he was much better in the 40s and 30s.


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