# RIP Gabriella Tucci



## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

A while ago I discovered the amazing and underrated Soprano Gabriella Tucci, whom I discussed briefly in another thread. Yesterday she passed away. May she rest in peace.

https://www.lastampa.it/spettacoli/...rano-gabriella-tucci-aveva-90-anni-1.39074194


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Roll of Honour

:tiphat:


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Rogerx said:


> Roll of Honour
> 
> :tiphat:


Thank you for the link to the thread (I wasn't aware of its existence) and for the beautiful post for Gabriella. :tiphat:


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Tucci seemed never to have gotten the accolades she really deserved.
Sad news.
RIP dear lady.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

RIP

Tucci was a lovely Desdemona in the live stereo set alongside Mario del Monaco and Tito Gobbi in Tokyo, 1959.




1:41:18 for Piangea cantando


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## Tuoksu (Sep 3, 2015)

Revitalized Classics said:


> RIP
> 
> Tucci was a lovely Desdemona in the live stereo set alongside Mario del Monaco and Tito Gobbi in Tokyo, 1959.
> 
> ...


All of the Tokyo recordings are amazing. So far I have her the Aida, Pagliacci and Rigoletto (complete videos are available on youtube.) Amazing in all of these very different roles.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

And don't forget this one, somehow omitted from the Wikipedia discography:


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Corelli got the top billing but a fine Leonora from Tucci


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Sit tibi terra levis


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

DavidA said:


> View attachment 139580
> 
> 
> Corelli got the top billing but a fine Leonora from Tucci


The opera is named *Il Trovatore*, so naturally the troubadour would get top billing!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

MAS said:


> The opera is named *Il Trovatore*, so naturally the troubadour would get top billing!


No it was Corelli's star quality


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

DavidA said:


> No it was Corelli's star quality


Yes, I'd agree!


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

DavidA said:


> View attachment 139580
> 
> 
> Corelli got the top billing but a fine Leonora from Tucci


I choose this recording as my favourite Trovatore because IMO Corelli and Simionato are unbeatable in this opera and they are both on fire here. Merrill is a fine Di Luna (possibly bettered by Panerai or Bastianini, but even so he's not far behind them). Tucci could have been the set's downfall, but she holds her own even if she doesn't have the distinctiveness of a Callas or Price.

My encounters of Tucci were all in sets that I got for other singers (Corelli, Simionato or Gobbi), yet I found her to be up to appearing along side the greatest singers of her era. Is this Trov her only studio recording? Whilst I can understand her being overshadowed by sopranos with more important voices, she has seemed underrated to me even when compared with those other sopranos who didn't quite make the big time (Stella for example, who I think was _overrated_ considering what I deem to be her unremarkable voice and performances.

N.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Tuoksu said:


> *All of the Tokyo recordings are amazing*. So far I have her the Aida, Pagliacci and Rigoletto (complete videos are available on youtube.) Amazing in all of these very different roles.



















I have always considered the 61 Aida with Tucci a real "hidden gem", a live performance with really great sound and cast. Your post now sheds new light as to why it sounds so good, it was a soundtrack from filmed version of opera.....

Like Conte says above Tucci was a very good singer who is less well known today only because of the abundance of great singers during the 1955-65 period, very deep pool of talent back then........


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

DarkAngel said:


> I have always considered the 61 Aida with Tucci a real "hidden gem", a live performance with really great sound and cast. Your post now sheds new light as to why it sounds so good, it was a soundtrack from filmed version of opera.....
> 
> Like Conte says above Tucci was a very good singer who is less well known today only because of the abundance of great singers during the 1955-65 period, very deep pool of talent back then........


I sought out that Aida as I wanted a Simionato Amneris and I found her performance in her studio recordings somewhat placid. (I've always felt that the oft lauded first Karajan Aida is completely lifeless, afternoon tea by the Nile!) Once I'd identified that Tokyo Aida (which also had Del Monaco to recommend it) it was ridiculously expensive on Amazon and unavailable elsewhere. Fortunately I managed to track down a used copy in a shop in Milano almost exactly a year ago. I already knew Tucci from the Trovatore and Tokyo Otello and so was hesitant about getting it. You are right that it's an underrated gem (with Simionato's greatest recorded Azucena IMO, I think she allowed herself to commit to the drama much more in the sixties).

Tucci was quite a discovery for me, as I've already said, she wasn't an also ran like many other second tier Italian sopranos of that time. Gavazzi and Frazoni had their moments, but Tucci was consistently on form and yet seemed to come along just a bit too late for the run of Cetra recordings and apart from the EMI Trov, Decca Pag and those Tokyo recordings there isn't much of her work that survives. Other than Olivero she's my favourite of the 'other' Italian sopranos with Gavazzi a close second. She was more than capable of standing besides Simionato in her prime, Del Monaco, Corelli and Gobbi and not appearing in any way out of place. Perhaps not exactly a great voice, but certainly a great artist.

N.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Sad news. My main experience with her singing was her rendition of Liu on an RAI broadcast of _Turandot_ from 1966. Her rendition of Tu che di gel sei cinta was extremely moving.


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