# First Round: Dio, mi potevi scagliar OTHELLO. del Monaco, Pertile, Lauri-Volpe



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

I really don't like any of these.

Lauri-Volpi and Pertile both sound like old men, which isn't surprising, since both of their recordings date from late in their careers.

Del Monaco, on the other hand, is clearly a singer in his prime, with all of the voice needed for the role. Unfortunately, he can't resist overemoting the early part of the scene, failing what one critic calls "the A-flat test", a flaw that I've noted in every Del Monaco Otello recording that I've heard. Still, MdM gets my vote.

None of these come close to Melchior, even if he sang it in German. This isn't the best-sounding transfer of this record, but it's instructive to see the score, and note just how scrupulous Melchior is about musical values.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I agree with wkasimer that both Pertile and Lauri-Volpi sound too old (they were both around 57 at the time of these recodings) and indeed Lauri-Volpi flattens in quite a few places. He knows what to do with the music, but he just doesn't have the voice to pull it off anymore. I didn't much like either Pertile's aging sound or what he was doing with it, so neither of these would be my choice.

That means, I suppose, that Del Monaco gets it by default, but I can't say I liked his over-emotive approach much either. The voice is in magnificent shape, but what's with all that sort of sprechgesang in the opening measures. It's hard to know what note he's trying to sing. However I guess he gets this one by default.

However turning to Melchior, for all that he's singing in German, is to enter a different world. This really is fantastic stuff and shows that all (_all_!) you have to do to make the scene work is sing what Verdi wrote. Of course it's not that simple, and I do still wish he had been singing in Italian, but this is fantastic.

I hope we'll be getting a few other contenders, who are better than the three above. I nominate Vickers. I managed to find the Met performance from 1978, but the picture quality is awful. Still, he sounds great.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

wkasimer said:


> I really don't like any of these.
> 
> Lauri-Volpi and Pertile both sound like old men, which isn't surprising, since both of their recordings date from late in their careers.
> 
> ...


I have three more. I was going to include Vickers and Melchior but I guess I need to leave Melchoir out now. I don't like Othello so I didn't listen to these but went on their reputations so I shall have to I beg your forgiveness.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I have three more. I was going to include Vickers and Melchior but I guess I need to leave Melchoir out now. I don't like Othello so I didn't listen to these but went on their reputations so I shall have to I beg your forgiveness.


There's a later Melchior version that's in Italian, if you want to include it. But I think that it pales beside the German version.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Like wkasimer, I don’t like any of the contestants, so I will refrain from voting. Most tenors, for some reason, cannot keep to the score in this scene - why is that? They all want to “act” and think that raising the pitches will do the job better than what the composer wrote. Wrong!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I cannot wait to see the graph above because I just suspect in my bones who everyone is going to vote for -- but not me!!
I know sincere depth of feeling when I hear it and to me the one you probably loved the best -- del Monaco -- was grandstanding a bit in my estimation. His voice is the most powerful of the 3 and I can see where it would get the popular vote.
But the sensitivity of Lauri-Volpi whose voice was the clearest and most smooth in his delivery, gave me pause because I was so close to voting for him. However, I could not get past the suffering of Pertile's approach without any overacting.

Confession time:
I must confess that Pertile is one of my top favorite tenors of all time and maybe I am being prejudiced, because del Monaco, who delivered one of the best performances I have heard from him -- a tenor not normally in my top 10 -- was a true surprise to me in a good way.
So let's see how poor Pertile will have to stand alone up there.

John: It's "Otello" ( no "H"). That's the play.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Given that Del Monaco has such a suitable voice for Otello, it's inexcusable that he chooses to ignore much of the actual music he's given to sing. But muttering, quavering, yelling, sobbing and gasping instead of singing seems a sort of tradition in this music. Lauri-Volpi does it too. When did that start, i wonder? Did Verdi ever hear anyone do this to his music? I'm quite certain that setting an extended sequence of words on a single pitch was a deliberate artistic decision, intended to convey pent-up emotion to be released as he, not some ham actor, chose to release it.

I wouldn't recognize Pertile here, so far past his prime is he. Lauri-Volpi's on his last gasp too.

No, no, and no. I'm with wkasimer on the magnificence of Melchior. Such dignity and pain, and all the voice one could want. The absence of a radio transcription of a complete performance by him is one of opera history's oversights, but the Met wouldn't let him sing the role at all. Someone suggested that had they let him do it, Martinelli might have insisted on singing Tristan. Well, why not? He was certainly loud enough.


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## kappablanca (9 mo ago)

Not any of these three's best performances, probably. Melchior, as all others have said, has a much more reserved interpretation, in which he lets the music brood. I'll have to go for del Monaco. At least the recording was made before started switching to shouting half the aria instead of singing it (around 1959). 
Linked for your enjoyment: Melchior's Otello in Italian. Wonderful start to finish. I think Melchior's performance of "Si, pel Ciel" in this recording almost comes near rivaling the Caruso/Ruffo one, if that's not too blasphemous to say. Or maybe it's just the better recording quality.






Also, Del Monaco without as many hysterics (studio):


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Disregard


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

The choice is hard. I'm not very fond of this opera, I can't say I understand it well. It's not my first choice in listening usually. Probably I need time.
I heard it live only once, in the early years of my acquaintance with opera. Then Iago was much more bright than Otello and Desdemona. By now it disappeared from the calendar of my opera House, I suspect, due to the scares of Otellos. Lately I saw a video from Liceo with Cura, Stoyanova 😍 and Ataneli. And I had some things shelved a little.
These performances are not so good as we probably wish, but if I'd seen them in the theater, I would remember them as one of the most spectacular evenings. Del Monaco sounds hysterically-veristically, but the timbre is gorgeous. Both veterans despite of passing their prime sing decently, like many singers don't in their forties. I voted for Lauri-Volpi because I like the voice. Just so.
My glass is unusually half full today. And not of poison.
P.S. Melchior is magnificent.


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