# The Nine Lives of Marquese di Posa



## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Well, I guess it's time for new round of "pick your favorite unknown performers", Baritone Edition. "The Nine Lives of Marquese di Posa" is pretty much accurate description of what you get - nine death scenes from Verdi's Don Carlo. Short, sweet and fatal.

Rules:

1) Vote for any number of performances that you enjoy best.
2) (Optional) Send me PMs with your guesses "who's who" - *don't post them here*! Well, you are most than welcome to discuss each track without spoiling the fun for others.

Again, I applied some modifications to all the tracks to bring them closer to each other in terms of perceived loudness, recording quality (or rather lack of) and cut them all to size to make your experience more uniform and unbiased.

Of course there are some voices that you'll easily recognize, but that's okay. I also included a couple of tougher choices that might surprise you.

track #1
track #2
track #3
track #4
track #5
track #6
track #7
track #8
track #9


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Are men more apt to use aspirates to move their voices through perilous passages?

In this contest I note only two, #5 and #6 are aspirate free, with #6 to my ears using more artistry than the others, even to giving us a _diminuendo _ before the _reprise_ of the melody.

Most of the singers have good legato, apart from the aspirates.

I don't dare try to guess the singers, except the unmistakable voices of #2 xxxxx, and #3 xxxxxx (unless I'm mistaken! :lol.

#8:sounds to me like the best voice here, though untrammeled in its volume.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

It was funny how the performances fell into groups for me. For recognizability, after number 1 I felt I was sailing along for a few, knowing who I was listening to, and then it came to a grinding halt! And in terms of performing style, up to about 5 or 6 it seemed that most would leave the musical line in favor of drama and afterwards they mostly seemed to find the drama within the musical line. I preferred the latter approach and thought that number 9 was my favorite. I loved him! I'm eager to hear who these voices were.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I also agree about #2 -- easy recognition.
I do believe that my all-time favorite is not even on the list.
I'll be amazed if his is and I didn't even recognize him. That will shock me.
I chose 1/2/7/8/9
My favorite was #8


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Well, I'm only certain of number 2, but in general the quality is high here.

I voted for 2, 3 and 6.

N.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

After hearing them again I cannot believe that I neglected to vote for #6. I guess it's too late but count me for a totally creative older time version.

#2/6/8/9


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

I nearly always prefer 6 - my favourite of the lot - to 2 in the same repertoire and yet 2's career is so much better documented in the studio.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It's really amusing listening to nine people gasp their last in rapid succession. It's only moving once.

#6 is vocally phenomenal, of the whole bunch the most musically sensitive and most individual in interpretation. I feel sure he's the earliest of the singers here. The others, of whom I'm sure of only #2 and #3, range from very good to excellent, but aside from the choice of how many breaths to take there isn't much difference in musical approach except for #2, who as usual has to rely on that to compensate for a less beautiful sound.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I congratulate you on a fun way to do a contest.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Well, TC is almost impossible to use at the moment so low activity can be explained because of this -- or just too many polls and games going on at the same time. Anyhow, I'm going to give it another day and then post the answers. Thanks to all who voted and replied so far - some of your guesses were spot on, of course.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Thaks Azol for taking the time. I really enjoy this stuff. Kep 'em comin' (if you so choose.)


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Thaks Azol for taking the time. I really enjoy this stuff. Keep 'em comin' (if you so choose.)
PS. I have just done another listen and have discovered that I now believe my favorite baritone is indeed on this list after all at #3.
(I didn't vote for him, sob!)


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

1 - Bastianini
2 - Gobbi
3 - Milnes
4 - Bacquier
5 - Cappuccilli
6 - Bechi
7 - Hvorostovsky
8 - Bruson
9 - Zancanaro

So at the moment Bechi is an absolute winner and I'm glad Zancanaro, Bruson (one of my favorite "modern" baritones) and of course dear Tito Gobbi did so well. No one voted for Gabriel Bacquier so far which surprised me - he did extremely well in the part no one would have expected. He sounds a bit pushed so maybe that's why - but don't discount him and look for some of his other recordings.
I'm sure I will take another (longer) pause so our TC opera fans can get a breather after nine death scenes in a row


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Wonderful, I got Gobbi (didn't we all?) and guessed Milnes. Bechi was a surprise though. Interesting.

N.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Azol said:


> 1 - Bastianini
> 2 - Gobbi
> 3 - Milnes
> 4 - Bacquier
> ...


I didn't guess Bacquier, Hvorostovsky or Bruson...

I really like #9 Zancanaro: I think he was a terrific singer and I personally much prefer him to his contemporary Leo Nucci in the roles they had in common. All the same, it was Nucci who scored the major recordings with Pavarotti e.g. Chenier, Aida, Ernani, Rigoletto, Trovatore, Otello... a couple of those, or say the Boccanegra with Solti in Zancanaro's direction would not have broken my heart.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I thought Bacquier was Merrill. I'm thrilled to discover Zancanaro who I mostly remember for being the victim of Albert Innaurato's wit in an Opera News Article about La Scala. I think his voice is gorgeuos!
Fun Contest!


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

ScottK said:


> *I thought Bacquier was Merrill*. I'm thrilled to discover Zancanaro who I mostly remember for being the victim of Albert Innaurato's wit in an Opera News Article about La Scala. I think his voice is gorgeuos!
> Fun Contest!


I guessed Merrill for Bacquier too! I guessed Herlea when it turned out to be Hvorostovsky and didn't recognise Bruson for some reason...


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Revitalized Classics said:


> I guessed Merrill for Bacquier too! I guessed Herlea when it turned out to be Hvorostovsky and didn't recognise Bruson for some reason...


I think I have to invest in some better earbuds. There are plenty of singers on there I would not know, but at first I thought Milnes was Warren and I didn't have a whiff of Hvorostovsky!! It's CLEARLY the earbuds !!!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I was sure of Gobbi, as just about everyone else was, and knew Milnes from the peculiar (and undesirable) change in the way his muscles function on high notes. It's interesting to me that ScottK suspected Milnes to be Warren at first, since that was my initial thought too, but at the very least those top notes put any uncertainty to rest. The only other singer I strongly suspected was Bechi, but I was certain only that his technique and musical approach indicated that he was the earliest singer in the group. In fact he and Gobbi were born in the same year, 1913, about a decade earlier than the next oldest. I'm happy to see his superiority getting him the recognition he deserves and putting him in first place.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I didn't contribute to this poll parly because baritones are not my forte and partly because the site is being so temperamental at the moment. Gobbi is the only one I feel sure I would have been able to guess blind. I think I'd probably have been able to guess Panerai too had he been included, mostly because he appears on so many of Callas's recordings and I therefore know his voice quite well.

I've listened to them all now, but I'm not voting as I already knew who was who. Gobbi was still my favourite, though there is more beauty to be heard in some of the others. I am reminded of a story that Gobbi tells in his autobiography of a disagreement he had with Serafin, who wanted him to sing with a pure, unbroken line, but Gobbi insisted that as Posa had already been shot and was dying, he should be conveying that in his singing. He said it was the only serious dispute he ever had with the conductor and that by the end of the series of performances he had convinced Serafin he was right. 

Of the others I liked Bechi and Milnes the most. 

The site still isn't behaving properly. It's taken me ages to post this.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> I was sure of Gobbi, as just about everyone else was, and knew Milnes from the peculiar (and undesirable) change in the way his muscles function on high notes. It's interesting to me that ScottK suspected Milnes to be Warren at first, since that was my initial thought too, but at the very least those top notes put any uncertainty to rest. * The only other singer I strongly suspected was Bechi, but I was certain only that his technique and musical approach indicated that he was the earliest singer in the group. *In fact he and Gobbi were born in the same year, 1913, about a decade earlier than the next oldest. I'm happy to see his superiority getting him the recognition he deserves and putting him in first place.


I would love to hear a little more about why and how his singing indicated his being the earliest singer.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

ScottK said:


> I would love to Jussi had a way of bringing tears to my eyes with his gentleness. I am grateful he helped open the door to these beautiful sounds.hear a little more about why and how his singing indicated his being the earliest singer.


Here's an example:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

ScottK said:


> I would love to hear a little more about why and how his singing indicated his being the earliest singer.


Are you going to make me listen to all these guys again? :lol: Actually, there's no need. Listen to Bechi and hear the easy emission of consistent tone at all pitches and volumes, the rapid, compact vibrato, the flawless legato. Then note the smooth diminuendo he makes into the second verse, and the similar one at the very end, the volume diminishing without loss of tonal consistency and control. Old-school singing by the baritone who may have been the last in the line of great Italian baritones, who were thick as flies a few decades earlier.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

ScottK said:


> I think I have to invest in some better earbuds. There are plenty of singers on there I would not know, but at first I thought Milnes was Warren and I didn't have a whiff of Hvorostovsky!! It's CLEARLY the earbuds !!!


No, it's not the earbuds - I listened with Sennheiser headphones via a DAC, and still didn't think it was Hvorostovsky. When I went back and listened again, it still doesn't sound like what I remember of him, except for the audible breaths.

Were it not for the aspirates, I'd have picked Zancanaro, my favorite Verdi baritone of the past half century. So I ended up picking Bechi.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Here's an example:


Just wonderful!!! It's the same forceful sound I got to know on Gigli's Cavalleria, and used just as energetically, but somehow he manages to fill it with the charm necessary for this! And seamless!!


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> Are you going to make me listen to all these guys again? :lol: Actually, there's no need. Listen to Bechi and hear the easy emission of consistent tone at all pitches and volumes, the rapid, compact vibrato, the flawless legato. Then note the smooth diminuendo he makes into the second verse, and the similar one at the very end, the volume diminishing without loss of tonal consistency and control. Old-school singing by the baritone who may have been the last in the line of great Italian baritones, who were thick as flies a few decades earlier.


Yup! I hear it all! And what I love, here and in the Largo, is that this kind of singer is scrupulously on the music but has tons of personality!


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

This shocked me...not one of the baritones on my top ten list is on this list of 9! Now I forgot Gobbi - don't throw stones, I spaced out! - but this is a list of top tier baritones and obviously I think the same of my list. I thought sure there would have been some overlap. Lotta good baritones!


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