# Don carlo duet - help



## Ofekaaa (Mar 7, 2020)

hello everyone!

I have heard the great recording of Don Carlo with the Prince of tenors- Franco Corelli, and I noticed that I never heard anyone do the high C in the end of the friendship duet in Act 1.

do you know about another tenor who did it?

thanks.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

You are referencing the 1964 The Met recording with Corelli and Herlea?
I am afraid NO other tenor ever did the same trick at the end of the friendship duet. I do not claim to have heard every single recording in existence but I surely heard a lot of those.
This 1964 Met Don Carlo is both historical and hysterical. Actually, it's so weird you'd want to hear it complete just based on this quality alone, I'm not kidding you.
The friendship duet where Herlea was kinda trying to compete with Corelli vocally and they both almost fell out of the music midway (hilariously). The top C is legendary (and completely out of context of the music, thrown in just to upstage Herlea a little bit).
Also, Corelli famously misses his entry in the auto-da-fé scene (I believe the story around this is still circulating in the Internet).
Tozzi and Uhde are basically two baritones cast in bass roles.
Etc etc.
This recording remains mostly a curiosity but very worth hearing for inquisitive listeners


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Ofekaaa said:


> hello everyone!
> 
> I have heard the great recording of Don Carlo with the Prince of tenors- Franco Corelli, and I noticed that I never heard anyone do the high C in the end of the friendship duet in Act 1.
> 
> ...


Of all the tenors I've known, only *Franco Bonisolli* might have tried that to upstage the baritone, but I don't know if he ever did try. I don't know that he ever sang *Don Carlo*!


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## Ofekaaa (Mar 7, 2020)

Azol said:


> You are referencing the 1964 The Met recording with Corelli and Herlea?
> I am afraid NO other tenor ever did the same trick at the end of the friendship duet. I do not claim to have heard every single recording in existence but I surely heard a lot of those.
> This 1964 Met Don Carlo is both historical and hysterical. Actually, it's so weird you'd want to hear it complete just based on this quality alone, I'm not kidding you.
> The friendship duet where Herlea was kinda trying to compete with Corelli vocally and they both almost fell out of the music midway (hilariously). The top C is legendary (and completely out of context of the music, thrown in just to upstage Herlea a little bit).
> ...


Actually, I referred to the very rare recording from 1966 with Kabaivanska, Corelli and Dominguez. in this recording, Corelli does the trick twice! (again at the end of the garden scene in act 2).

But the trick is the same. I really wonder if there is another tenor who did it....only corelli had the ability to do high c out of nothing.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Ofekaaa said:


> Actually, I referred to the very rare recording from 1966 with Kabaivanska, Corelli and Dominguez. in this recording, Corelli does the trick twice! (again at the end of the garden scene in act 2).
> 
> But the trick is the same. I really wonder if there is another tenor who did it....only corelli had the ability to do high c out of nothing.


Ohh, now I know which Don Carlo is going to be my 25th.

Corelli might have been trying to upstage his partner or (more likely) to show off, but were any other tenor to attempt the same, wouldn't it look like he's trying to upstage Corelli? :lol:


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Ofekaaa said:


> Actually, I referred to the very rare recording from 1966 with Kabaivanska, Corelli and Dominguez. in this recording, Corelli does the trick twice! (again at the end of the garden scene in act 2).
> 
> But the trick is the same. I really wonder if there is another tenor who did it....only corelli had the ability to do high c out of nothing.


I don't think Herlea sang with Kabaivanska and Corelli in Philadelphia in 1966, which is the only time he sang *Don Carlo* that year. He sang it with Herlea at the Metropolitan Opera in 1964.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

OP never stated Corelli sang with Herlea, it was my guess based on the best known 1964 recording and it turned out not to be the case


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Azol said:


> OP never stated Corelli sang with Herlea, it was my guess based on the best known 1964 recording and it turned out not to be the case


My bad, I got confused with you mentioning Herlea!


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Carlo singing a C and not ending on the same note as Rodrigo kind of goes against the whole duet thematically. They should be in perfect harmony, not trying to out-sing one another.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Sieglinde said:


> Carlo singing a C and not ending on the same note as Rodrigo kind of goes against the whole duet thematically. They should be in perfect harmony, not trying to out-sing one another.


Opera with volatile stars often becomes competitive, and in the case of the Corelli/Herlea it is audible. Part of the fun, in my opinion, like the Callas high E-flat in Aida in Mexico, or Caballé holding her final high note all the way to the ending of Don Carlo at the Met in 1972.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

MAS said:


> Opera with volatile stars often becomes competitive, and in the case of the Corelli/Herlea it is audible. Part of the fun, in my opinion, like the Callas high E-flat in Aida in Mexico, or Caballé holding her final high note all the way to the ending of Don Carlo at the Met in 1972.


Or, to the same effect, insanely long final note that Ghiaurov held in the Grand Inquisitor scene (Abbado 1968 and 1977). Know any other bass that did the same? I don't.

In case of Corelli/Herlea I can understand the tenor: while baritone has this intense death scene to show off his skills, tenor in Don Carlo has virtually nothing (well, one high note in auto-da-fé scene?) so Corelli was definitely looking for more "crowd pleasers".


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