# Favorite E lucevan le stelle



## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

When I first got interested in opera I hadn't listened to Tosca and I didn't know this aria. Then I got interested in Callas and stumbled on the 1953 Tosca recording. When I heard Di Stefano singing this for the first time I was blown away. After that it has became one of my favorite pieces. Di Stefano just sung it with such passion, beauty and diction that it was just perfection. His soft singing in O dolci bacio and the way he sings the disciogliea dai veli. Corelli later did the same, but he exaggerated and somewhat ruined it. All though I admit that I love his interpretation from the Parma performance, but for different reasons than Di Stefano's version. Just the way he sings the words is so good He sings Svanì per sempre il sogno mio d'amore softly and then he realizes that he will never see Tosca again and goes all out in passion and desperation. I think that Pippo captured the charachter perfectly.

Here is the 1953 studio version. The live recordings are perhaps more exciting. But in the studio version he sings it more restrained at the end and you can enjoy his diction more. Like Callas Di Stefano brought so much more to Puccini than other singers.






And here is the Vittoria from the 1952 Mexico performance. If you have watched the Vittoria! from Tosca: The ultimate Cavaradossi sing-off video then you know that the maker of the video picked the Price Karajan from 1962. The maker of the video clearly don't like Di Stefano. And there is also the Tenor Sing-Off - Faust Salut! demeure chaste et pure high C - 15 tenors video by another person and that doesn't have Di Stefano at all. It even had Domingo! Just absolutely incredible! I think it is very unfair to pick the 1962 version to represent Pippo. Earlier he clearly could do much better. So here is a little bit better Vittoria.






Who is your favorite interpreter? And what do you think of the piece?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Probably my favourite tenor from an earlier era






and one of my favourite tenors from the current crop


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

If we could stick with just one video per poster. Just links can of course be many.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> When I first got interested in opera I hadn't listened to Tosca and I didn't know this aria. Then I got interested in Callas and stumbled on the 1953 Tosca recording. When I heard Di Stefano singing this for the first time I was blown away. After that it has became one of my favorite pieces. Di Stefano just sung it with such passion, beauty and diction that it was just perfection. His soft singing in O dolci bacio and the way he sings the disciogliea dai veli. Corelli later did the same, but he exaggerated and somewhat ruined it. All though I admit that I love his interpretation from the Parma performance, but for different reasons than Di Stefano's version. Just the way he sings the words is so good He sings Svanì per sempre il sogno mio d'amore softly and then he realizes that he will never see Tosca again and goes all out in passion and desperation. I think that Pippo captured the charachter perfectly.
> 
> Here is the 1953 studio version. The live recordings are perhaps more exciting. But in the studio version he sings it more restrained at the end and you can enjoy his diction more. Like Callas Di Stefano brought so much more to Puccini than other singers.
> 
> ...


Hm... Di Stefano I would never have guessed 
I couldn't resits


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

What do I think of the piece? It's one of my very dearest arias. My father once showed me Caruso singing _E lucevan le stelle_ back in a distant time when I though Pavarotti was the gold standard of opera singing, after that I truly started appreciating the art of opera.

My favourite interpretation? As an ardent italian Puccini enthusiast I can't have an other choice than Corelli's 1967 Tosca in Parma. To have such a unique, triumphal moment in the history of Teatro Regio di Parma on CD is a gift from God. The Parma audience - Verdi's compatriots who breathe opera instead of air since their birth - were always known to be the most knowledgable, severe and passionate in all of Italy. Back in the day they used to throw foul vegetables at singers they didn't think were worthy of the music. But on the other hand a stratospheric performance like Corelli made the theatre explode with crazy applause and cheering:






After Corelli I have another few top candidates:

1. Di Stefano: Another tenor who immortalized himself as Cavaradossi with one of the greatest, most beloved opera recordings of all time, the 1953 Tosca with Callas and Gobbi under Victor de Sabata - 



.

2. Fleta: Corelli was heavily influenced by this spanish master of bel canto technique. The legendary Diminuendo basically starts with him - 



. Despite being such a fine technician, Fleta never ceased to make the drama come alive!

3. Caruso: Caruso is Caruso, there is not much to add about his artistry. Also included because of the sentimental value 



.

4. Cortis: _The spanish Caruso_, i praise him wherever I can, this is also one of his finest recorded performances: 



.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite in this great aria, as I can think of so many excellent versions.

Post second world war, I'd probably go with Di Stefano on the 1953 La Scala set, and Jose Carreras in Davis's 70s studio recording with Caballe. 

Pre-war my favourites would be Caruso, Schipa and Bjoerling.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I love Corelli's version above all, but I never saw him "live." 
Of all the tenors I've seen sing this role, "live," I have a special affection for Jaime Aragall. This is not from SF, nor from the period in which I saw him (1970s & 1980s), but it's fairly representative.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> My favourite interpretation? As an ardent italian Puccini enthusiast I can't have an other choice than *Corelli's 1967 Tosca in Parma*. To have such a unique, triumphal moment in the history of Teatro Regio di Parma on CD is a gift from God. The Parma audience - Verdi's compatriots who breathe opera instead of air since their birth - were always known to be the most knowledgable, severe and passionate in all of Italy. Back in the day they used to throw foul vegetables at singers they didn't think were worthy of the music. But on the other hand a stratospheric performance like Corelli made the theatre explode with crazy applause and cheering:


Nice to have Franco's personal assurance on CD cover that we have the best performance (Parma 1967) (don't stare at those sideburns) :lol:

Also the recently released live 1962 MET Tosca has Franco very much on top of his game in very good sound


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

DarkAngel said:


> Nice to have Franco's personal assurance on CD cover that we have the best performance (Parma 1967) (don't stare at those sideburns) :lol:
> 
> Also the recently released live 1962 MET Tosca has Franco very much on top of his game in very good sound


Well the Parma performance is pretty amazing. The audience goes absolutely crazy. The audience reaction in London and in Parma is quite different.






In Parma Corelli holds every possible note. The la vita mi costasse , then in Recondita armonia, the vittoria and then in E lucevan le stelle. And at the end he sings Core n'grato. It's a pity that the conductor didn't allow him to encore E lucevan le stelle. The audience really wanted it. To calm the audience Corelli had to promise to sing something after the performance. Some might think that it is a really bad performance, but personally I love it. 

It's quite amazing how a singer with that much stage fright can sing so well and still be so unsure of himself. Without those nerve problems he probably could have sung much longer.

Damn, now I turned this into a Corelli thread.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Diminuendo said:


> Damn, now I turned this into a Corelli thread.


Don't worry, Corelli *is* Cavaradossi, so there's no thread deviation at all.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> Don't worry, Corelli *is* Cavaradossi, so there's no thread deviation at all.


Well there can never be too much Corelli.  Even though Corelli is amazing I still prefer Di Stefano.


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## AnotherSpin (Apr 9, 2015)

I like Carreras here.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Corelli Parma stands out.
Then Lanza, Shicoff


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Always Fernando de Lucia. Nobody captures Cavaradossi's heartbreak like he does. So moving!


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

That's easy: Jonas Kaufmann's on his "Romantic Arias" CD.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> That's easy: _Jonas Kaufmann's on his "Romantic Arias"CD_.


​
The DVD with Gheorghiu also moves me to tears (_Kaufmann _that is)


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Bellinilover said:


> That's easy: Jonas Kaufmann's on his "Romantic Arias" CD.


I really like Kaufmann. He is my favorite of tenors today. He was great in Met's 2014 Werther with Sophie Koch. Here is Kaufmann from Munich 2010. I really like his voice and his soft singing, which he does uniquely. And he can act too!


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Figleaf said:


> Always Fernando de Lucia. Nobody captures Cavaradossi's heartbreak like he does. So moving!


Wow, this sublime rendition left me speechless. I somehow didn't warm up to de Lucia before, probably because of the extraordinarily terrible sound quality of the recordings I listened to.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> I really like Kaufmann. He is my favorite of tenors today. He was great in Met's 2014 Werther with Sophie Koch. Here is Kaufmann from Munich 2010. I really like his voice and his soft singing, which he does uniquely. And he can act too!


This is a superb performance, visually as well as vocally. Kaufmann is the opposite of every cliche about tenors. I'm sure I'm a small minority here (maybe even a minority of one!) in not caring much for _Tosca_ or for this aria - and yet Kaufmann makes me love this, as Callas and Gobbi make me love act 2 at Covent Garden. if we could get all these people together - conducted by De Sabata, of course - I might become a convert to shabby little shockers.


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> That's easy: Jonas Kaufmann's on his "Romantic Arias" CD.


Kaufmann does a fantastic job with this aria. My favorite rendition is this concert version.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Three come to mind straight away (Corelli, Di Stefano and Grigolo). Kaufmann's is my favourite amongst the ones I have heard live.

Perhaps it's time to relisten to a number of recordings...

N.


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