# Historical Italian Opera Recordings



## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I was thinking there should be a thread for Italian Opera as a counterpart to the "Historical Wagner Recordings" thread. Since that thread is in the main opera forum, I thought I'd put this one here too.

To get things started, I wanted to mention the most recent historical recording I've listened to. This is a very good _Lucia di Lammermoor_, especially in this release from Naxos. The voices really come through beautifully, and you can hear the orchestra very well.








The sound quality is very good, and not just for 1939. I also really appreciate the work of Ugo Tansini, who did excellent work on a lot of recordings of arias with singers like Tagliavini and Pasero. Tagliavini's Ed anche beppe amo conducted by Tansini is classic in no small part to beautiful pacing and phrasing from the orchestra, and the opening of Ella giammai m'amo with him conducting has a uniquely dramatic feel to it. Anyway, he does great work in this _Lucia_.

I read a review of this recording from Christopher Howell of Music Web and I completely disagreed. He describes Giovanni Malipiero's singing as being "wooden", "without legato", and implies that he almost never sings with any piano or understanding of the meaning of the text. See if you can square that judgment with this excerpt:





We have some wonderfully sensitive singing here. At 3:00, in Sulla tomba, Malipiero goes into headvoice, then pulls back towards roaring chest as he describes meeting Lucia then returns to his more vengeful thoughts. His Verranno a te is smooth and sensitive. His voice is so perfectly coordinated that he pull the sound towards head or chest in slight gradations that color the text marvelously. Because the voice is free, it all sounds natural and spontaneous. That's what operatic acting is about to me, and honestly I went into this recording only planning to listen to excerpts, but was drawn in by the quality of the singing and listened to the whole thing with great enjoyment. Who does he think sings better today? Florez? Brownlee? I don't think so.

Pagliughi took a little getting used to because her voice is so girlish and I'm used to more dramatic singers in this part. But once I let my expectations fall away, I came to deeply appreciate her performance. She really does sound like an innocent naïve girl falling apart, and like Malipiero her coordination is spectacular. She also has a great lower register, and lean into the dramatic parts.

Manacchini and Nerone were good. To me the main drawback to this recording was that there wasn't more of it. The standard cuts cut too much. Still, I would highly recommend it.

What Historical Italian Opera recordings do you recommend? Which have you been listening to?


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Nice thread.

One of my favorite examples of historical Italian opera recordings, is this "Turandot" (1938) with Gina Cigna, Francesco Merli and Magda Olivero.










It's complete in youtube, just in case anyone would like to take a look:


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

schigolch said:


> Nice thread.
> 
> One of my favorite examples of historical Italian opera recordings, is this "Turandot" (1938) with Gina Cigna, Francesco Merli and Magda Olivero.
> 
> ...


This is a wonderful recording. I just bought the Naxos release and I'm very excited. Cigna is my favorite of the "giant monster voice" type of Turandot. My favorite of the "bright laser beam" type of Turandot is Anne Roselle (in her mid 50s in this recording!):





This reminded me of the German language recording of _Turandot_ that was made the same year as the Ghione. Maria Cebotari, of the laser beam school, sings Turandot and is very good (she was also an excellent Salome). Although I can't say I love the way the German language works with the music, the recording is still very enjoyable enjoyable and worthwhile. Oh, and Georg Hann as Timur is luxury casting.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Indeed, there are wonderful historical recordings of Italian opera sung in German.

This is one of my favorites:










It's also complete in youtube:


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

My number one favorite in this category is Cilea's _Adriana Lecouvreur _with Olivero/Coreli/Bastianini/Simionato


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

My parents had quite a few on 78s, which were kept in big, heavy boxes. I seem to remember they had

*Aida* Caniglia, Stignani, Gigli, Bechi; Serafin 1946
*Un Ballo in Maschera* - Caniglia, Barbieri, Gigli, Bechi; Serafin 1943
*La Bohème* - Albanese, Menotti, Gigli, Poli; Berretoni 1938
*Madama Butterfly* - Dal Monte, Gigli; De Fabritiis 1939

They were big fans of Gigli and my mother recalls hearing him in concert towards the end of his career.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

This is a great idea for a thread and seeing that the Wagnerian version regularly includes all those wonderful 1950s Bayreuth recordings, there's a lot that come in this category.

I agree with Nina Foresti that the 1959 Adriana Lecouvreur is a miracle!

N.


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

Tosca 

Callas / Gobbi / di Stefano 

Nearly 70 years old.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

My first *Madama Butterfly* was the Clara Petrella Cetra recording, and I still have a soft spot for it. The second side started with "Io seguo il mio destino," the voice so beautiful and with a liquid legato that I was enchanted.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

One of the first operas to be recorded in full was Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci".










The cast included Giuseppina Huguet, Antonio Paoli, Francesco Cigada and Ernesto Badini, conducted by Leoncavallo himself. It was a big success and Leoncavallo repeated one year after with a recording of "Chatterton":










We can hear the results on youtube. Of course, we need to remember this was recorded at the beggining of the 20th century, it's really a historical document:


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

I love listening to these historic recordings of Italian operas. It is a visceral experience.

Antonio Melandri & Lina Bruna Rasa in _Cavalleria Rusticana_, Mascagni conducts (Hague, 1938)





Giovanni Martinelli and Norina Greco in _Pagliacci_ (Met, 1941)





Jussi Bjorling and Bidu Sayao in _Rigoletto_ (Met, 1945)


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## Parsifal98 (Apr 29, 2020)

Two recordings, both of Verdi's Requiem:

Firstly, a 1939 recording with Tullio Serafin as the conductor. The cast includes Maria Caniglia (soprano), Beniamino Gigli (tenor), Ebe Stignani (mezzo) and Ezio Pinza (bass). Here is Gigli singing the _Ingemisco_:






Secondly, a 1951 live recording with Arturo Toscanini as the conductor. The cast includes Herva Nelli (soprano), Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor), Fedora Barbieri (mezzo) and Cesare Siepi (bass). There were two simultaneous recordings of the performance at Carnegie Hall. Some people, like Andrew Rose at Pristine Classical, have combined the two to create a semblance of stereo recording. The sound is indeed excellent. Here is the _Lacrimosa_ (stereo, but not by Rose):


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

I wanted to be in a thread like this for a long time. I've got plenty of Puccini and Verdi recommendations from this era but I would love to hear your recommendations in Bel-canto performances.

Just quickly from my notes about Puccini. I recommend you to discover:

Turandot: Scala 1958 live performance with Nilsson and Di Stefano
Madama Butterfly: Metropolitan 1960 conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. Surprising Dorothy Kirsten.
Tosca: Metropolitan 1956 and 1958, with Mitropoulos too. Still below the Callas efforts but 56 is sensational.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I was thinking there should be a thread for Italian Opera as a counterpart to the "Historical Wagner Recordings" thread. Since that thread is in the main opera forum, I thought I'd put this one here too.
> 
> To get things started, I wanted to mention the most recent historical recording I've listened to. This is a very good _Lucia di Lammermoor_, especially in this release from Naxos. The voices really come through beautifully, and you can hear the orchestra very well.
> View attachment 148346
> ...


I own this gem in LP somewhere in storage with other old LPS. It is one of the first operas that started my opera loving days.


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## Parsifal98 (Apr 29, 2020)

After discovering Lina Pagliughi thanks to Viva, I found a recording of _La sonnambula_ with her in the title role and Ferruccio Tagliavini as Elvino. I have not listened yet to the entire recording, but from what I have heard from extracts, it sounds very good. Here are some snippets of it:











Pagliughi sounds tensed on some high notes, but her voice remains beautiful!

Those who have listened to this recording in its entirety, what do you think of it?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Here's another LP I found. I remember the fuschia cover
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/LEONCAVALLO...325835?hash=item3cc3d1848b:g:rIEAAMXQBuNQ6vQz

DELETE THIS POST


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Here's another LP I found. I remember the fuschia cover of Pagliacci with Richard Tucker and Lucine Amara
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/LEONCAVALLO...325835?hash=item3cc3d1848b:g:rIEAAMXQBuNQ6vQz


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

And another LP gem with Richard Tucker and Eleanor Steber
https://www.discogs.com/Puccini-Ele...nducting-The-The-Metropolitan/release/4817185


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

nina foresti said:


> And another LP gem with Richard Tucker and Eleanor Steber
> https://www.discogs.com/Puccini-Ele...nducting-The-The-Metropolitan/release/4817185


This got put on YouTube:





It's a very good recording. Tucker in particular is on his best form, an ideal Yankee Pinkerton. Madeira and Valdengo are excellent casting for Suzuki and Sharpless.


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## Parsifal98 (Apr 29, 2020)

vivalagentenuova said:


> This got put on YouTube:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Glad to see it has been uploaded on Youtube. Being a fan of Eleanor Steber, I recently bought this recording from Preiser in order to hear her in this beautiful opera. I have not received it yet, so this video has enabled me to sample some of it. The supporting cast is great and the lead, Madame Steber, is her usual self: beautiful of tone and rich of voice, with great musicality and the ability to respond to all the demands of the music with ease. She is a great example that proper technique, coupled with musical sensibility, is the key that opens all locks. She could sing everything fitted to her lyric voice, and I have, so far, never been disappointed by one of her performances.

Tucker sounds great, and he is also an example of proper technique and versatility, but he could often be lacking in musical sensibility, which does not seem to be the case here. He is also one of the few post-war tenors I have heard displaying a trill (not in this recording). Madeira and Valdengo are artists I do not know well, so I'll have to inquire a bit more about them.

I do not know much about conducting, but Rudolf seems to be doing a fine job. As for the recording sound, it is surprisingly good for 1949. Overall, a splendid recording.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Well, this one is filmed as a movie, but can't pass up on the very young Anna Moffo, a perfect Amina. I have it on DVD with subtitles.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

An early *Mefistofele* recording from 1931 I hadn't seen before.


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