# Del Monaco vs. Corelli vs. Di Stefano



## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Who do you love the most out of these three tenor giants of more or less the same era? What are your favourite roles and individual performances of each one?

For me it's:

1. Mario del Monaco: As you can probably guess from my other posts, I have an obsession with him. Del Monaco's incredible passion and commitment to his art is one of the reasons why I love opera. My favourite roles of him are Otello, Andrea Chénier, Canio, Don Alvaro and des Grieux.






2. Franco Corelli: One of the most thrilling singers of all time and a lot more humble, likeable guy than del Monaco. Better technique as well but inferior to Del Monaco in terms of diction and sing-acting. Corelli's stage presence was still very charismatic, his Calaf on video the greatest of all. His other great roles in my opinion are Cavaradossi, Manrico, Radames, Pollione and Poliuto.






3. Giuseppe di Stefano: Maybe the most beautiful natural tenor voice of all time, unfortunately it faded soon as he tended to sing too heavy repertory for his lyrical voice. His famous recordings with Callas and the early recordings in full voice are all sublime and heartwarming. I liked him most as Rodolfo, Edgardo, Nemorino, Werther and the Duke of Mantua.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Del Monaco had a tremendous voice which he used with the subtlety of a pneumatic drill! Could be tremendously exciting but I found his singing of the love duet in Otello wooden. Think he was better on stage than on disc. 
Corelli was also not noted for his subtlety but had a wonderful voice which he used to great effect. A toss-up as to whose French was the worst - him or Del M.
Di Stefano was something else - a lyric tenor. Pity he wrecked his voice by singing roles too heavy for him. But then that is the temptation of every tenor.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Corelli. this isn't even a contest



DavidA said:


> Del Monaco had a tremendous voice which he used with the subtlety of a pneumatic drill!


lmao! exactly! :lol:



> Pity he wrecked his voice by singing roles too heavy for him. But then that is the temptation of every tenor.


given almost every lyric tenor role is the same boring, 2 dimensional, melodramatic lover boy, I can't say I blame them


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

What no Bjorling???


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

jflatter said:


> What no Bjorling???


Nope, he asked about those 3.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I like all 3. I think they're glorious.
Wouldn't hesitate to buy operas by either if I was into that repertoire.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

jflatter said:


> What no Bjorling???


That would spoil the competition!

Given the choices, I'll have to take Di Stefano, but only up to about 1955. He was already driving his high notes wide open by then, and if you want to hear what an exquisite lyric instrument he had by nature, check out some of the recordings he made in the late 1940s. If he'd been more judicious he might have kept that early sweetness and ease.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I love all 3 here. No contest.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Not really a big fan of either of them. 

My personal scale: di Stefano > Corelli > del Monaco


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

> Del Monaco had a tremendous voice which he used with the subtlety of a pneumatic drill!


Strongly disagree with this. The narrative of MDM as an unsubtle, brutish singer was constructed by certain critics - I say *certain* critics, as others, without personal bias towards MDM e.g. the soviet russian critics at the Bolshoi witnessed the exact opposite - who claimed he couldn't sing legato, mezzavoce etc. despite several recordings which prove that he was well capable of producing quite nuanced sounds, too. Just listen to his Forza under Dimitri Mitropoulos, or the 1960 Scala production of Les troyens, the Otello love duet in Tokyo, the early Ballo in maschera recordings, there are many examples ...



> What no Bjorling???


Another giant of the past, no doubt, but he is usually coupled more with Caruso and Gigli.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> The narrative of MDM as an unsubtle, brutish singer was constructed by certain critics


You will find this sad platitude very well spread on these forums, many people can't help but to get dragged in the stream of circulating opinions, opinions so widespread, that they are often repeated without any consideration. It's great to finally read a person appreciating MdM, his bllxm voice and his bllxm singing.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> That would spoil the competition!
> 
> Given the choices, I'll have to take Di Stefano, but only up to about 1955. He was already driving his high notes wide open by then, and if you want to hear what an exquisite lyric instrument he had by nature, check out some of the recordings he made in the late 1940s. If he'd been more judicious he might have kept that early sweetness and ease.


I'll take Di Stefano too, but preferably only for Neapolitan songs and the like. I've never found his operatic records especially compelling, maybe because outside of the artificial constraints imposed in the OP (not a complaint, these sort of questions can be fun) there's usually someone even better to listen to- generally from an earlier generation of tenors.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Aramis said:


> *You will find this sad platitude very well spread on these forums,* many people can't help but to get dragged in the stream of circulating opinions, opinions so widespread, that they are often repeated without any consideration. It's great to finally read a person appreciating MdM, his bllxm voice and his bllxm singing.


Plenty of platitudes on the forum no doubt, and received opinion is very unfair to many singers of the past. However, it isn't hard to find examples of MDM singing in an arguably 'unsubtle, brutish' manner and this may deter people from delving deeper into his recorded legacy- I know this has been the case for me- and so any examples of his more nuanced singing may well remain unheard by those easily put off listeners, and as mysterious as the word 'bllxm'. 

He certainly possessed a remarkable instrument.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Itullian said:


> I like all 3. I think they're glorious.
> Wouldn't hesitate to buy operas by either if I was into that repertoire.


Same here, how can i pick up only one? 50s and 60s recognized as the golden age of opera singers. Those were the days my friend(s)!


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

A number of Franco Corelli high notes live... Oh heavens!


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Pavarotti talking about Corelli (and Bergonzi)






Pavarotti about Di Stefano. The excerpt is from 1973 London farewell concert with Callas. High notes performed falsetto I suppose, but the total singing is as impressive as it brings tears to eyes)


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Il_Penseroso said:


> A number of Franco Corelli high notes live... Oh heavens!


Great compilation! Corelli produced some of the most thrilling high notes ever, the only thing that gets even more under my skin are his insane diminuendi:


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

About 20 yrs ago now i got into opera because of these 3 singers. 

At first, Del Monaco. I was wowed and still am by his voice - his 'È la solita storia del pastore' is something else and maybe apart from my hero Tito Schipa i have never heard anything like it. Magnificent. Of course i like his Canio, Radames and his Manrico. Later i heard his Otello and still love it. But more than anything, whenever people talk about his loud singing i go back to È la solita storia del pastore and rejoice.

Then i heard Corelli - Wow....his Nessun dorma, his Canio and his Manrico. But more than that his Andrea Chenier. There is a thrill to his voice which was unmatched by any tenor since. When i read about his nerves and stage fright it made me love him even more.

Di Stefano - that clip of him in London shows why i love his voice so much. Whether Rodolfo, Calaf, Cavarodossi or Pinkerton -his voice is a dream. I also must mention his faust -wow


Shortly after that i heard Bergonzi....and what a Pinkerton and even more so Rodolfo. Then Bjorling and his Rodolfo, Calaf and Radames.

What an amazing bunch of tenors. I don't think they clash -i have my favourites for different roles. But each had amazing voices for sure.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> Great compilation! Corelli produced some of the most thrilling high notes ever, the only thing that gets even more under my skin are his insane diminuendi:


I concur! And his rendition of Celeste Aida is perhaps the most electrifying high note diminuendo performed in the history of opera recording!


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

my personal preference has di Stefano and Corelli way ahead of del Monaco


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

My overall preference is for Franco Corelli. I don't like Mario Del Monaco at all: much of the time he strikes me as nasal and overly loud, but even when he sounds more ingratiating I still don't care for him, for whatever reason. I like Giuseppe Di Stefano within limits: for example, I like him much better in the Callas TOSCA than in the Callas I PURITANI. His timbre was beautiful, but I don't care for that "white," uncovered sound he made in his high register. It tends to rob his singing of elegance, at least to my ears.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Yashin said:


> About 20 yrs ago now i got into opera because of these 3 singers.
> 
> At first, Del Monaco. I was wowed and still am by his voice - his 'È la solita storia del pastore' is something else and maybe apart from my hero Tito Schipa i have never heard anything like it. Magnificent. Of course i like his Canio, Radames and his Manrico. Later i heard his Otello and still love it. But more than anything, whenever people talk about his loud singing i go back to È la solita storia del pastore and rejoice.
> 
> ...


An amazing bunch indeed. Now add Cesare Valletti, Jan Peerce, Richard Tucker, Alfredo Kraus, Jon Vickers, Nicolai Gedda - other suggestions? - to the list of extraordinary tenors who in the single decade of the 1950s were all gracing the world's stages and making recordings we are still choosing as favorites.

It gets one thinking.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> An amazing bunch indeed. Now add Cesare Valletti, Jan Peerce, Richard Tucker, Alfredo Kraus, Jon Vickers, Nicolai Gedda - other suggestions? - to the list of extraordinary tenors who in the single decade of the 1950s were all gracing the world's stages and making recordings we are still choosing as favorites.
> 
> It gets one thinking.


From this era what about Bruno Prevedi and Giacinto Prandelli? 
Not in the same league as some of the others I guess but by today's standards they would have been quite famous. Bruno Prevedi always seemed to pop up on compilation discs singing Nessun Dorma and recently they reissues a cd of his arias-very nice. Giacinto Prandelli is famous for his Rodolfo to Tebaldi's first Recorded Mimi. I enjoy his performance very much.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Of the three I would say Di Stefano. I may be a bit unfair but I always looked on Del Monaco as the classic Can Belt-o tenor. Was it Del Monaco of whom Birgit Nilsson described as “having resonance where his brain used to be”?


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

"In one respect he [Corelli] goes against the law of nature that decrees all tenors must be short. The Metropolitan includes, among his statistics, the fact that he is 6 feet 2 inches tall, and he weighs 180 pounds. He tops off this physical appearance with a handsome head-something of a cross between John Barrymore and Errol Flynn." (Harold Schonberg)


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Don't forget Bergonzi folks. A GREAT tenor.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Corelli RULES! Gorgeous man, fabulous high notes, absolutely glorious diminuendi, and passion galore - an absolutely necessary quality, for me. That said, I like *early* di Stefano and certain roles (Canio, Turridu, Cavaradossi). And I cannot forget Mario's voice as Faust in *Mefistofele*, my first. "Arrestati sei bello," or be-he-he-llo!
MAS


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I almost forgot - Corelli has *squillo!*


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

No question but that for sheer excitement Corelli wins hands down.
Del Monaco hams it up too much with his pop eyes and too often he is a bit short of the top note.
Di Stefano in his prime could muster some pretty incredible singing.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

I like all of them. Del Monaco for me is just what dramatic tenor is all about. Di Stefano is just perfect for lyrical(and some dramatic) roles. Corelli is great for being able to be both.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Becca said:


> Of the three I would say Di Stefano. I may be a bit unfair but I always looked on Del Monaco as the classic Can Belt-o tenor. Was it Del Monaco of whom Birgit Nilsson described as "having resonance where his brain used to be"?


Can you provide the source of this quote? I don't think anyone reputable ever said that, especially not Birgit, the other resonance freak.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> Can you provide the source of this quote? I don't think anyone reputable ever said that, especially not Birgit: the other resonance freak.


This sounds like a corruption of Anna Russell's quip that part of the reason a tenor is a tenor is because he has resonance where his brain should be.

N.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

I envy those who got to see Mario Del Monaco live. I think that no loud is "too loud" live in the house. Opera is primarily a live theatrical art form and opera singers, unlike pop singers, aren't recording artists. Imagine how his voice would have pinned you to your seat and given you goosebumps. Having a voice with such a thrilling effect that can be heard triumphantly-clear at ALL times and everywhere in the auditorium is the ultimate goal of the theatrical (i.e Opera) singer, not a flaw, especially in roles like Radamès, Otello, Manrico, etc. Combine that with excellent (duh, he's italian I know) diction and a passionate, fiery temperament, I think expressiveness takes an even more glorious form not the opposite. Just because his piano is a poor tenor's forte, doesn't mean he's not capable of using dynamics and singing beautifully. It's all there, just on a much bigger scale. :lol: Besides, it was objectively a very reliable and impressive voice. He was born with a stentorian instrument everyone secretly wished they had. He made great use of it with a correct technique instead of squeezing it into something smaller, which basically ruined other singers (ehm... Maria..ehm)

It's very fair to compare Corelli to MDM, even though the former is a glorious Spinto and the latter is as Dramatic as they come. They had comparable repertoire and capabilities. I'd say Franco was the Callas of tenors. A masterful technician, competitive, capable of outstanding feats and fireworks, in his prime he was basically perfection incarnate, but then he got more and more caprino. The caprino was sort of always there but got more pronounced with age. He was also charismatic and very good looking, even though I find Del Monaco in his youth and minus the mustache more handsome and charming. 

Pippo really doesn't belong with the other two. A very beautiful lyric voice but he was no Gigli, and there isn't anything really special about anything I've heard from him. I'll always have a better tenor idea for any aria or even Italian song, which means I will not necessarily seek De Stefano, but I'll almost always be glad to hear him. In the looks department, he doesn't belong in this competition either. He'd fit really well in the TV show "The Sopranos" though.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> I envy those who got to see Mario Del Monaco live. I think that no loud is "too loud" live in the house. Opera is primarily a live theatrical art form and opera singers, unlike pop singers, aren't recording artists. Imagine how his voice would have pinned you to your seat and given you goosebumps. Having a voice with such a thrilling effect that can be heard triumphantly-clear at ALL times and everywhere in the auditorium is the ultimate goal of the theatrical (i.e Opera) singer, not a flaw, especially in roles like Radamès, Otello, Manrico, etc. Combine that with excellent (duh, he's italian I know) diction and a passionate, fiery temperament, I think expressiveness takes an even more glorious form not the opposite. Just because his piano is a poor tenor's forte, doesn't mean he's not capable of using dynamics and singing beautifully. It's all there, just on a much bigger scale. :lol: Besides, it was objectively a very reliable and impressive voice. He was born with a stentorian instrument everyone secretly wished they had. He made great use of it with a correct technique instead of squeezing it into something smaller, which basically ruined other singers (ehm... Maria..ehm)
> 
> It's very fair to compare Corelli to MDM, even though the former is a glorious Spinto and the latter is as Dramatic as they come. They had comparable repertoire and capabilities. I'd say Franco was the Callas of tenors. A masterful technician, competitive, capable of outstanding feats and fireworks, in his prime he was basically perfection incarnate, but then he got more and more caprino. The caprino was sort of always there but got more pronounced with age. He was also charismatic and very good looking, even though I find Del Monaco in his youth and minus the mustache more handsome and charming.
> 
> Pippo really doesn't belong with the other two. A very beautiful lyric voice but he was no Gigli, and there isn't anything really special about anything I've heard from him. I'll always have a better tenor idea for any aria or even Italian song, which means I will not necessarily seek De Stefano, but I'll almost always be glad to hear him. In the looks department, he doesn't belong in this competition either. He'd fit really well in the TV show "The Sopranos" though.


@Tuoksu
I think you've got Corelli's caprino backwards. He reportedly had it in *the early years* of his career and worked hard to eradicate it and succeeded. He was self-conscious about that flaw, and was really conscientious about perfecting his voice and singing better and better every year. When in the 1970s he lost the facility to do what he used to do so well, he lost confidence, his stage fright became more frequent and his performances suffered (not many noticed, but he knew).
When he was on top, no one could touch him.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

MAS said:


> @Tuoksu
> I think you've got Corelli's caprino backwards. He reportedly had it in *the early years* of his career and worked hard to eradicate it and succeeded. He was self-conscious about that flaw, and was really conscientious about perfecting his voice and singing better and better every year. When in the 1970s he lost the facility to do what he used to do so well, he lost confidence, his stage fright became more frequent and his performances suffered (not many noticed, but he knew).
> When he was on top, no one could touch him.


I guess you're right about the caprino. Mea culpa, I apparently didn't listen to enough 50s Corelli and was just focusing on the decline between his prime and his late career.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> I guess you're right about the caprino. Mea culpa, I apparently didn't listen to enough 50s Corelli and was just focusing on the decline between his prime and his late career.


You know, I never really noticed that quality in the early years until I read it somewhere. There is nothing *wrong* as such, but the Italians noticed and mocked him, so Corelli worked it out of his voice. He was completely self-taught, can you imagine?


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> Pippo really doesn't belong with the other two. A very beautiful lyric voice but he was no Gigli, and there isn't anything really special about anything I've heard from him. I'll always have a better tenor idea for any aria or even Italian song, which means I will not necessarily seek De Stefano, but I'll almost always be glad to hear him. In the looks department, he doesn't belong in this competition either. He'd fit really well in the TV show "The Sopranos" though.


I would be interested to know what you have heard from Di Stefano. For me apart from a very beautiful voice, he had impeccable diction, always sings from the words and could do a diminuendo on a high c for instance. I love these three tenors, but I understand that tastes differ and that's ok.

For me some of his best arias are:

E lucevan le stelle
Salut! demeure, chaste et pure
Pourquoi me réveiller, his 1944 recording
E la solita storia
arias from the live performance of Manon from 1951
the ending of Lucia from the live 1955 performance

I prefer him in Italian song and really liked his early recordings of them from Switzerland and his Decca recordings of them. I think he sang Tosti songs very well and one of my favorites of his is Core 'ngrato from his Decca recording of it. I think he really gets the heartbreak of the song. He really liked singing these and infact when Gigli warned him about smoking, Pippo said that if he loses the top notes he will just sing neapolitan songs. Eventually he did sing them in concerts for decades.


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## IgorS (Jan 7, 2018)

For me this "vs." is absolutely wrong.
If you take Caruso out of the equation:
MDM - best dramatic tenor
Corelli - best spinto 
Di Stefano - best lyric tenor


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I'm unsure about the description of Corelli as a spinto and MdM as a dramatic. What could MdM sing that Corelli couldn't (or which roles would MdM been suited for that Corelli wouldn't have)?

I like all three of these tenors, but my favourite is Corelli. That said Di Stefano seems the odd one out here, not because of the quality of his singing, but because he was suited to different rep compared with the other two.

N.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

MAS said:


> You know, I never really noticed that quality in the early years until I read it somewhere. There is nothing *wrong* as such, but the Italians noticed and mocked him, so Corelli worked it out of his voice. He was completely self-taught, can you imagine?


I always thought Corelli had a goat-like quality about his singing during all parts of his career long before I started reading about opera and learned the term caprino or heard that others also criticized his singing for this quality. It doesn't prevent me from enjoying his performances and considering him generally to be a pretty major net positive on recordings, but it does prevent me from thinking he's as great as others here appear to.

I'd still put him ahead of MDM and Di Stefano, but that's maybe a reflection of how little I care for those two more than how much I esteem Corelli.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Diminuendo said:


> I would be interested to know what you have heard from Di Stefano. For me apart from a very beautiful voice, he had impeccable diction, always sings from the words and could do a diminuendo on a high c for instance. I love these three tenors, but I understand that tastes differ and that's ok.
> 
> For me some of his best arias are:
> 
> ...


Oops I spelled Di Stefano wrong in my post, I apologize.

I've heard di Stefano in the Karajan trovatore recording with Callas and Barbieri. I listened to him in various arias (Bohème, Tosca, elisir..) as well as songs. I'm not saying that he's a bad singer in any way. I'd never complain if he's in a recording. Only that I generally would go for big tenor for the roles I really like, which happen to be too dramatic for him. I'm not a big fan of italian songs unless it's Gigli or Caruso singing.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tuoksu said:


> I envy those who got to see Mario Del Monaco live. I think that no loud is "too loud" live in the house. Opera is primarily a live theatrical art form and opera singers, unlike pop singers, aren't recording artists. Imagine how his voice would have pinned you to your seat and given you goosebumps. Having a voice with such a thrilling effect that can be heard triumphantly-clear at ALL times and everywhere in the auditorium is the ultimate goal of the theatrical (i.e Opera) singer, not a flaw, especially in roles like Radamès, Otello, Manrico, etc. Combine that with excellent (duh, he's italian I know) diction and a passionate, fiery temperament, I think expressiveness takes an even more glorious form not the opposite. Just because his piano is a poor tenor's forte, doesn't mean he's not capable of using dynamics and singing beautifully. It's all there, just on a much bigger scale. :lol: Besides, it was objectively a very reliable and impressive voice. He was born with a stentorian instrument everyone secretly wished they had. He made great use of it with a correct technique instead of squeezing it into something smaller, which basically ruined other singers (ehm... Maria..ehm)
> 
> It's very fair to compare Corelli to MDM, even though the former is a glorious Spinto and the latter is as Dramatic as they come. They had comparable repertoire and capabilities. I'd say Franco was the Callas of tenors. A masterful technician, competitive, capable of outstanding feats and fireworks, in his prime he was basically perfection incarnate, but then he got more and more caprino. The caprino was sort of always there but got more pronounced with age. He was also charismatic and very good looking, even though I find Del Monaco in his youth and minus the mustache more handsome and charming.
> 
> Pippo really doesn't belong with the other two. A very beautiful lyric voice but he was no Gigli, and there isn't anything really special about anything I've heard from him. I'll always have a better tenor idea for any aria or even Italian song, which means I will not necessarily seek De Stefano, but I'll almost always be glad to hear him. In the looks department, he doesn't belong in this competition either. He'd fit really well in the TV show "The Sopranos" though.


Like is not strong enough. I love this post!!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> I'm unsure about the description of Corelli as a spinto and MdM as a dramatic. What could MdM sing that Corelli couldn't (or which roles would MdM been suited for that Corelli wouldn't have)?
> 
> I like all three of these tenors, but my favourite is Corelli. That said Di Stefano seems the odd one out here, not because of the quality of his singing, but because he was suited to different rep compared with the other two.
> 
> N.


Not that he needs them, but tights would give an unfair advantage to Corelli live. What a looker!!!!!! His voice was so visceral!!!!


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

The Conte said:


> I'm unsure about the description of Corelli as a spinto and MdM as a dramatic. What could MdM sing that Corelli couldn't (or which roles would MdM been suited for that Corelli wouldn't have)?


It's not whether Corelli was suited for the same roles, as he obviously was more than perfect in them. It's rather about the sheer size and power of their voices. Corelli was a big voice and really powerful when necessary, but MDM was off the scale in terms of "horsepower". There is a clear distinction between the two voices in that respect.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

One of my favorite Del Monaco moments: 




Notice how he sings beautifully and softly throughout the aria but sounds incredibly clear and big without being loud in a yelly-shouty way. His voice _effortlessly_ covers Tucci and the orchestra like a blanket. And then he hits you with the stentorian "_Né le mie forti braccia smuovere ti potranno, o fatal pietra!_" and you're like "HOLY COW!"


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## VitellioScarpia (Aug 27, 2017)

MAS said:


> You know, I never really noticed that quality in the early years until I read it somewhere. There is nothing *wrong* as such, but the Italians noticed and mocked him, so Corelli worked it out of his voice. He was completely self-taught, can you imagine?


Italians used to call him Pecorelli (pecora in Italian means sheep)... But by 1956-1957 he had reduced the fast vibrato.


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## VitellioScarpia (Aug 27, 2017)

Tuoksu said:


> One of my favorite Del Monaco moments:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As I mentioned in another thread: listen to his 1957 recording of La Gioconda. In particular, the second act starting from Cielo e mar through the Laura duet with Simionato, no one would say that he sang crudely.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

VitellioScarpia said:


> Italians used to call him Pecorelli (pecora in Italian means sheep)... But by 1956-1957 he had reduced the fast vibrato.


Del Monaco used to call Corelli's record label "Voice of the Goat" instead of "Voice of the Master" (Voce del Caprone instead of Padrone).


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Not that he needs them, but tights would give an unfair advantage to Corelli live. What a looker!!!!!! His voice was so visceral!!!!


Well, I was just thinking about the voices, but yes, Corelli was also my favourite from the physical point of view as well.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> It's not whether Corelli was suited for the same roles, as he obviously was more than perfect in them. It's rather about the sheer size and power of their voices. Corelli was a big voice and really powerful when necessary, but MDM was off the scale in terms of "horsepower". There is a clear distinction between the two voices in that respect.


Of course the voices were different (and del Monaco's was definitely bigger and heftier, but why does that make them different voice types? We have different ideas about fach here, but I don't see any need to define between the two in terms of voice type when they sang the same roles more or less. Therefore they are comparable.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

howlingfantods said:


> Del Monaco used to call Corelli's record label "Voice of the Goat" instead of "Voice of the Master" (Voce del Caprone instead of Padrone).


I find his fast vibrato very exciting, but of course that's down to personal taste. I find his vibrant, more distinctive sound much more attractive than del Monaco's, but I like MdM as well. I think both had great technique and the only thing you could fault either of them on was that they sometimes lacked taste. MdM seemed to have a much shorter period of his prime as well.

N.


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

The Conte said:


> Of course the voices were different (and del Monaco's was definitely bigger and heftier, but why does that make them different voice types? We have different ideas about fach here, but I don't see any need to define between the two in terms of voice type when they sang the same roles more or less. Therefore they are comparable.
> 
> N.


Surely I didn't argue whether they were comparable, the distinction between the two fachs was more about making them comparable rather than the opposite. Spinto and Dramatic are both comparable fachs in my book since there is a great overlap in the repertoire they sing especially for tenors, there is nearly no distinction in terms of roles. I find Tebaldi and Milanov and Ponselle very comparable even though the former was a spinto and the other two were Dramatic. I just pointed out their fachs for the sake of "technicality".



Tuoksu said:


> *It's very fair to compare Corelli to MDM*, even though the former is a glorious Spinto and the latter is as Dramatic as they come. *They had comparable repertoire and capabilities*.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Tuoksu said:


> Oops I spelled Di Stefano wrong in my post, I apologize.
> 
> I've heard di Stefano in the Karajan trovatore recording with Callas and Barbieri. I listened to him in various arias (Bohème, Tosca, elisir..) as well as songs. I'm not saying that he's a bad singer in any way. I'd never complain if he's in a recording. Only that I generally would go for big tenor for the roles I really like, which happen to be too dramatic for him. I'm not a big fan of italian songs unless it's Gigli or Caruso singing.


I really like Pippo in Trovatore, but it is too heavy a role for his voice. Dramatic tenor temperament, but a lyrical voice. Di Stefano was much better in the famous Tosca recording, Lucia or Rigoletto for instance. In roles that suited his voice he could do magical things. In more dramatic roles he couldn't really do the same. If you like operas that require a more dramatic singer then Corelli or Del Monaco is definately a better choice. These three are my favorite tenors and it would have been amazing to have been able to see any of them live. Del Monaco was big in voice and acting. He said that he used to sing for the cheap seats, so he made big gestures so they could see what he was doing. I always say to those who say that Del Monaco can't do restraint listen to his version of E la solita storia. When I first heard it I couldn't believe it was him.


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## VitellioScarpia (Aug 27, 2017)

Diminuendo said:


> I really like Pippo in Trovatore, but it is too heavy a role for his voice. Dramatic tenor temperament, but a lyrical voice. Di Stefano was much better in the famous Tosca recording, Lucia or Rigoletto for instance. In roles that suited his voice he could do magical things. In more dramatic roles he couldn't really do the same. If you like operas that require a more dramatic singer then Corelli or Del Monaco is definately a better choice. These three are my favorite tenors and it would have been amazing to have been able to see any of them live. Del Monaco was big in voice and acting. He said that he used to sing for the cheap seats, so he made big gestures so they could see what he was doing. I always say to those who say that Del Monaco can't do restraint listen to his version of E la solita storia. When I first heard it I couldn't believe it was him.


I completely agree with you on MDM's restraint in the _Lamento di Federico_. It makes other wonderful singers usually more reputedly subtle than MDM sound almost crude, especially when they interpolate a B-flat at the end of the aria.


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