# Thoughts on Giovanni Martinelli



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

My very favorite duet is Ponselle and Martinelli in the Tomb Scene from Aida.



 I really enjoy the glorious singing by both of them, but rarely run into anyone talking about Martinelli. I don't trust that I have the same skill picking out great tenors as I do with female singers. I think he sounds wonderful in this duet, but am curious what some of you who really know tenors think of Giovanni. Thanks. John


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

This is very fine isn’t it. Apparently Martinelli’s voice deteriorated quite badly but this shows him at his prime with the incomparable Ponselle. Just think, this was recorded nearly 100 years ago!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Barbebleu said:


> This is very fine isn't it. Apparently Martinelli's voice deteriorated quite badly but this shows him at his prime with the incomparable Ponselle. Just think, this was recorded nearly 100 years ago!


That is what Youtube commenters say, but I don't always trust them. Thanks.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Martinelli was an emoter. He put everything into his characterizations which were always quite dramatic. If only I enjoyed the sound of his voice -- which just doesn't appeal to me.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> That is what Youtube commenters say, but I don't always trust them. Thanks.


I only trust my own ears. I haven't heard enough Martinelli to judge him. Certainly anything I have heard has always been pretty good but as it's usually on historical compilations it's unlikely that dud recordings would make it onto the albums.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I really like him and I like his sound, but as Nina says he was about engaging in the emotions of a role over and above making a graceful sound. I have almost all his studio recordings and quite a few live complete recordings with him in, including the famous Otello.

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> I really like him and I like his sound, but as Nina says he was about engaging in the emotions of a role over and above making a graceful sound. I have almost all his studio recordings and quite a few live complete recordings with him in, including the famous Otello.
> 
> N.


This is the type of critique I was hoping for and I value your opinion a lot. Thanks.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Martinelli was an emoter. He put everything into his characterizations which were always quite dramatic. If only I enjoyed the sound of his voice -- which just doesn't appeal to me.


I have heard others who don't like his sound in Youtube comments. Thanks.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> This is the type of critique I was hoping for and I value your opinion a lot. Thanks.


If you aren't familiar with it, then seek out his live Otello with Tibbett (there are a number of different broadcasts of the opera with the two, but the 1938 or 1940 ones are considered the best. (1938 with Rethberg is the really famous one).

N.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Martinelli's best recordings are from the acoustic era. After about 1930 or so, his voice kind of dried out - a friend of mine, a real vocal aficionado, compared his later sound to "old shoe leather". Much as I love some of those later recordings (especially his live Otello), they really don't make for comfortable listening.

And Martinelli's seems to have been a tough voice to record - that bright, penetrating tone is almost impossible for me to listen to on headphones - but must have been amazing in a big opera house. He's among the few singers whose recordings benefitted from the Nimbus "Ambisonic" process.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I have heard others who don't like his sound in Youtube comments. Thanks.


Martinelli seems to inspire very strong reactions on YouTube. The comments section of this posting of his Amor ti vieta got really heated about whether he was scooping or using portamento. 




Overall I find Martinelli inconsistent. He doesn't have the ultimate refinement in stlye or tonal emission, and is sometimes nasal, but it's a thrilling voice at its best and as wkasimer said he has some marvelous acoustics. I do think people sometimes unfairly judge him by very late live performances. His acoustic recordings of _Guglielmo Tell_, for example, are the best I've ever heard in that role. I've mentioned the trio with De Luca and Mardones before, as well as an excellent O muto asil and a duet with Marcel Journet.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

His sound rather grates on me. I loathed him until I heard some of his earlier recordings, which I enjoy to a limited extent. I can imagine he was exciting in the house.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Awesome, awesome tenor who, I agree, seems not to be talked about as much as when I started listening in the 70's. I also agree about the Tomb scene, probably my favorite version. The Improviso too, glorious!
Whatever he sounded like live, on records the sound could be considered an aquired taste. My dad always said he didn't think Martinelli sounded quite like a human voice but he loved him. And as he got older he was definitely compressing the sound in a way that wasn't always beautiful. But he sang with that amazing line. I'm an enormous Bergonzi fan and love that he's often called the Verdi tenor. But that has a lot to do with the fact that he could sing lyric and dramatic and sang the early stuff well. If you talk about the Verdi warhorses, I always think The Verdi Tenor is either Caruso or Martinelli.


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