# Favorite dramatic tenors and dramatic tenor pieces?



## Jordan Workman (May 9, 2016)

Who are your favorite dramatic tenors? And what are your favorite dramatic tenor pieces? I like Mario Del Monaco and 'Niun mi tema' from 'Otello' by Giuseppe Verdi.


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## Jordan Workman (May 9, 2016)

Anyone care to respond?


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I love Franco Corelli. His _Nessun dorma!_ beats everyone's for me.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Jordan Workman said:


> Who are your favorite dramatic tenors? And what are your favorite dramatic tenor pieces? I like Mario Del Monaco and 'Niun mi tema' from 'Otello' by Giuseppe Verdi.





Jordan Workman said:


> Anyone care to respond?


Hold on, you'll get responses. These are the quiet hours of the forum. 

I'm still terrible with telling what a specific Fach is, but anyway, my best guess... For Italian opera, my favorite would have to be Franco Corelli. If we include Heldentenors, my favorite would be Lauritz Melchior. If we're talking about both realms, Jon Vickers.

Picking favorite pieces is too hard for me since I probably wouldn't know the Fach for the role.  Hopefully I can learn from others' responses.

Edit: Started typing before MAS posted. Looks like I was headed in the right direction!


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Melchior could sing Verdi as well as Wagner, (mind you I don’t know how well Wagner sang Verdi ) albeit in German! He was a fab Otello.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Jordan Workman said:


> Anyone care to respond?


I like Jon Vickers in Otello. Also Caruso/Corelli/Tucker/Vinay... (I call them "kick-***" tenors)


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Franco Corelli gets my vote as well (if I can only pick one), although I also like Vickers, Del Monaco and Melchior as well.

One of my many favourite Franco recordings is 'Ah si, ben mio' from his studio Trovatore. This is often overlooked due to the excitement of the more famous cabaletta (the faster second part of the aria - 'Di quella pira'), but Corelli's plangent tone is full of soul in the cavatina (the slower first part of the aria).

N.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I don't think we're limited to one, but I like Corelli in almost anything, even French opera, because I just like that wonderful voice.
I like Mario del Monaco in *Mefistofele* - he was the first I'd heard and so that aural memory remained in my mind's ear.
That cry: _arresttati sei bello_, though in this case, _arresttati see be he he llo _ is forever stuck there.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I'm especially fond of Melchior, Urlus and Vickers - in Wagner, of course, but elsewhere as well. Melchior is in a category of his own - _hochheldentenor_ - and it's hard to say what I like him best in. Tristan and Siegfried are obvious choices, but I've always admired his intensity as Parsifal and longed for a complete Otello from him. No one equals his vocal force, and few his dramatic power, in Parsifal's scene with Kundry:






or the heady exaltation and majesty of his final scene:






We can sample a great might-have-been in the bits of Otello he recorded (in Italian and German). His "Dio mi potevi" is IMO the best ever regardless of language:






Then there's "Ora per sempre":






and the vengeance duet:






Right after Melchior's duet we can hear Set Svanholm in his prime in the same music, and have yet another reason to bemoan the complete absence of heldentenors from the world today.

Vickers is well-known, and though not everyone cares for his vocal timbre and mannerisms there's no gainsaying his power in the right roles (Siegmund, Parsifal, Otello, Canio, Grimes).

I'll end with a sample of the wonderful "helden-lyrico" tenor, Jacques Urlus (1867-1935). There's no Wagner quite like this (well, not any more), a prime example of what a perfect vocal technique can do for you. He came into the world just about a decade too late for Wagner to have heard him and snatched him up for the premiere of _Parsifal._


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

The role of Otello has many great arias and has had many great exponents. I particularly admire the mostly forgotten Renato Zanelli, whose records of Otello are the very best that I know of:





Zanelli was also a magnificent Andrea Chenier, another dramatic tenor role I greatly enjoy.





Charles Dalmores made his _debut_ as Siegfried, which I can't really even imagine. He was also a noted Tristan, and sang many French and Italian dramatic parts. His records don't show him off as well as Zanelli's do since they are acoustic, but you can still hear an exceedingly well trained voice with a lot of power, style, and a trill:





Melchior is untouchable among well recorded tenors imo. He owns Siegfried, Siegmund, Tristan, and Parsifal, and is certainly among the greatest Lohengrin and Tannhausers.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I like the voice of _Ernst Kozub_, the would-be Siegfried of Solti's *Ring Cycle*.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

vivalagentenuova said:


> The role of Otello has many great arias and has had many great exponents. I particularly admire the mostly forgotten Renato Zanelli, whose records of Otello are the very best that I know of:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Listening to these superb dramatic tenors of the past inevitably raises the question of why no one can sing any more. I'm not joking. Is it the pesticides in food? Microplastic fibers in our lungs? Microwaves? Sunspots? Late-stage capitalism? Jet travel? Rock 'n' roll and the rest of modern pop music? The culture of egoism and instant gratification? The confusion between "imply" and "infer", the pronunciation of "short-lived" with a short "i", or the ending of declarative statements with a rising inflection?

I do have to express my reservations about Zanelli, who was far too good a singer to have needed to turn Verdi's music into melodramatic declamation. Was that some kind of misguided tradition, or was it just him? I hate it when singers shout and declaim rather than sing. Give me Melchior's German version, where all the needed meaning is found inside the notes.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

MAS said:


> I like the voice of _Ernst Kozub_, the would-be Siegfried of Solti's *Ring Cycle*.


Nice enough voice, but he needs musical coaching in order to learn to give notes and words their full weight. He sounds amateurish. I'm glad Culshaw used Windgassen.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I could list a favorite tenor, but someone invariably will come back and say that is not a dramatic tenor, so my limited knowledge prevents me from participating unless a list of dramatic tenors is given for me to choose from.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

SixFootScowl said:


> I could list a favorite tenor, but someone invariably will come back and say that is not a dramatic tenor, so my limited knowledge prevents me from participating unless a list of dramatic tenors is given for me to choose from.


I agree. A tenor can either sing Tristan, Siegfried, Otello, Aeneas, etc. well, or he can't. I'm not going to concern myself with whether or not he qualifies as a dramatic tenor according to those who like to pigeonhole singers.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

> Listening to these superb dramatic tenors of the past inevitably raises the question of why no one can sing any more. I'm not joking. Is it the pesticides in food? Microplastic fibers in our lungs? Microwaves? Sunspots? Late-stage capitalism? Jet travel? Rock 'n' roll and the rest of modern pop music? The culture of egoism and instant gratification? The confusion between "imply" and "infer", the pronunciation of "short-lived" with a short "i", or the ending of declarative statements with a rising inflection?


The international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids? 

It is pretty shocking to consider not only that these voices were around, but that they _weren't even the biggest stars of their day_. Another less frequently remembered singer of that day is Jose Luccioni, taught by the great Leonce Escalais. I find this description of Luccioni's time at the Paris opera telling and amusing:
"He made his debut at the Opéra in 1932 at Canio in Pagliacci to great acclaim, reportedly receiving an impressive 15 curtain calls. However, in spite of this promising start, the Opéra soon relegated Luccioni to comprimario roles such as the Servant in Elektra and the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier."

Now here's Luccioni's voice:




That voice on being discovered would never today be "relegated to comprimario roles". He would shoved into Wagner immediately (unless Florian Vogt's agent managed to block it, since I don't think he wants that comparison). Perhaps it was for the best: one possible factor (though it certainly doesn't explain everything) is singers being rushed into big roles too fast. Then again, some singers back in the day took on big roles early and were fine. Dalmores debuted with Siegfried, so...



> I do have to express my reservations about Zanelli, who was far too good a singer to have needed to turn Verdi's music into melodramatic declamation. Was that some kind of misguided tradition, or was it just him? I hate it when singers shout and declaim rather than sing. Give me Melchior's German version, where all the needed meaning is found inside the notes.


I don't think it was just him. I've heard similar things in other renditions and in other arias. Even Battistini reverts to speaking at the end of his rendition Si puo. I don't mind it so much as long as it go on too long. I certainly wouldn't want any more of it than he gives here.

Another great:


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Nice enough voice, but he needs musical coaching in order to learn to give notes and words their full weight. He sounds amateurish. I'm glad Culshaw used Windgassen.


Bit late now for the musical coaching I fear!


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

SixFootScowl said:


> I could list a favorite tenor, but someone invariably will come back and say that is not a dramatic tenor, so my limited knowledge prevents me from participating unless a list of dramatic tenors is given for me to choose from.


This is a good point.Here's a list of the most famous ones:

Martinelli
Melchior
Del Monaco
Corelli
Suthaus
Windgassen
Vickers
Domingo
Jerusalem
Cura
Kaufmann

Or alternatively pick your favourite Otello or Siegfried.

N.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

The Conte said:


> This is a good point.Here's a list of the most famous ones:
> 
> Martinelli
> Melchior
> ...


Kaufmann for sure. Jerusalem too. The rest I am not familiar with. I like Villazon (Florez too) but who knows what type of tenor he is.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Nice enough voice, but he needs musical coaching in order to learn to give notes and words their full weight. He sounds amateurish. I'm glad Culshaw used Windgassen.


Yes, Solti and Culshaw thought him unprepared. But I like the brightness and clarity of his timbre and the shine of his voice. 
A missed opportunity.


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