# Favorite aria no one has ever heard of



## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

What is your favorite aria that you've never seen get any love? Extra points if it is actually an aria that nobody here has ever heard of!
I'm probably not going to win with this one, but it's so gorgeous and I never see it done in recitals (except, obviously, the recital this is from!) or on recital CDs:


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

From 1:40:57 to 1:46:20


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I doubt it's unknown, but this aria (and the opera it comes from) is rarely performed, and never so exquisitely as it is here by Nicolai Gedda.

_Magische Tone_ from *Die Konigin von Saba* by Goldmarck.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)




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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> I doubt it's unknown, but this aria (and the opera it comes from) is rarely performed, and never so exquisitely as it is here by Nicolai Gedda.
> 
> _Magische Tone_ from *Die Konigin von Saba* by Goldmarck.


That's a nice choice of aria and recording, though I still prefer Leo Slezak's famous record to all others. Here at least, he has the perfect combination of sweetness and strength. Caruso made a very nice record of it too.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Though not really so unknown, one would be _Roxana´s Aria _from "King Roger" by Szymanowski 





Hearing it again, I can´t help finding some similarities (?) with the songs in Gorecki´s 3rd Symphony.


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## Tietjens Stolz (Jun 2, 2015)




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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Well this is funny... I posted the wrong aria! Ha! Always follow your own links. I meant to post _this_ piece:


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## fantasia2000 (Apr 25, 2015)

This is my area of specialties! LOL! I guess I have a penchant for obscure arias (and operas)! 

First, one of my most favorite arias of all time! Martin y Soler's "Sento che dea son io", from "L'Arbore di Diana". Once it was one of the most famous operas during Mozart's time, sadly this opera went to extinction. This aria, a rollercoaster of colloratura passages, anticipated Mozart's Queen of the Night arias. I still hope Diana Damrau will at least record this in the future.






Second, Diana Damrau did record the next aria, from Salieri's "Europa Riconosciuta", "Ah, lo sento", another amazing Arie di bravura.






Third, I posted here before, an amazing baritone aria from Paisiello's "Il Re Teodoro In Venezia" ... "Io re sono e sono amante". As good as any Figaro's arias in Nozze di Figaro.






Lastly, not an aria, but my most favorite duet of all time, from Handel's "Floridante" ... "Fuor di periglio". Listening this always makes me happy and feeling that everything is going to be alright!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

schigolch said:


>


My goodness! This woman is marvelous!

The name rang a bell, so I went to Wiki. Aha!

*Carosio is most often remembered today as the singer whose indisposition in January 1949 led to Maria Callas learning and singing the role of Elvira in Bellini's I Puritani in five days, while she was performing Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre at Teatro La Fenice in Venice. This feat created a sensation and made operatic history. It also awakened the public's ears to the dramatic possibilities of the bel canto repertoire being sung by fuller, darker voices which could still manage the florid intricacies of this music, and ultimately resulted in the "Bel Canto Revival" that lasted for several decades. This development tended to submerge voices such as Margherita Carosio's, though the gentle expressivity, tender elegance and feminine charm of her singing, as heard in her many recordings, would be appreciated in any age.
*

It would certainly be appreciated right now.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Carosio was certainly a gifted singer.

Here she is singing "Perché dovrei tremare" (itself a rather little known, but beautiful, aria), from Mascagni's _Nerone_. Carosio was part of the cast of the world premiere, alongside Bruna Rasa, Pertile, Granforte, Pasero...






Of course, she will be a most welcome addition in the theaters of the 21st century.


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

I don't know what counts as "no one has ever heard of" - but since less popular Verdi seems kind of obscure, I'll nominate "In braccio alle dovizie" which is just a very _neat_ aria. I prefer Giorgio Zancanaro's version, but this rendition by Vladimir Stoyanov is also very good (the actual aria starts at around 2:50):






Also, "This is prophetic" from Nixon in China knocks my socks off.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> That's a nice choice of aria and recording, though I still prefer Leo Slezak's famous record to all others. Here at least, he has the perfect combination of sweetness and strength. Caruso made a very nice record of it too.


The Gedda one I have been familiar with. My cellist friend kept recommending it over and over. The Caruso one is a nice surprise. It is amazing how much he could achieve with his thick voice.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

silentio said:


> The Gedda one I have been familiar with. My cellist friend kept recommending it over and over. The Caruso one is a nice surprise. It is amazing how much he could achieve with his thick voice.


I've learned never to underestimate Caruso. I suspect many tend to think of him as the dark-voiced, even baritonal dramatic tenor we hear in his later recordings. But he was born in 1873, and his last recordings date from 1920, when he was 47 years old. In 1909, when "Magische Ton" was recorded, he was 36. His recordings from this decade often show a wonderful flexibility and refinement, with a beautifully controlled mezza voce, allied with the potential to expand the voice powerfully when needed. This combination of tonal richness and depth, power, and technical facility enabled him to embrace an enormous repertoire, from the bel canto of Donizetti through Verdi to Massenet and verismo. The more you hear of his approximately 290 recordings, made between 1902 and 1920, the clearer it becomes that there was virtually nothing that he could not sing masterfully at some point in his career. Had he lived, he would no doubt have taken on Otello and possibly even Wagner (we know that he could sing parts of the role of Tristan), and we would be able to hear even more of the brilliance of his timbre on electrical recordings, which were introduced in 1925. Still, the acoustic horn was somehow kinder to his voice than it was to many others, and there's never any doubt that we're listening to a phenomenon.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Not that it is unknown, but most people rarely ever talk about it or know where it comes from:
"Lontano, lontano" duet from _Mefistofele_.




(wait for it -- halfway through)


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

I like this one:
http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=6Y3UWNvLvGo -"Flammen, perdonmai" from Mascagni's _Lodoletta_

And this one, though I'm not exactly sure if no one here has heard it:
http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=eJ2xVhD267I -"Atchevo eta prezhde ne znala" from Tchaikovsky's _Iolanta_


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

This is one of my top favorite arias. Not "unknow", but certainly not operatic mainstream either.

'Ich ging zu ihm', from Korngold's _Das Wunder der Heliane_. Let's hear a wonderful performance by Lotte Lehmann, that sang the role at Vienna, in the 1920s:


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

schigolch said:


> This is one of my top favorite arias. Not "unknow", but certainly not operatic mainstream either.
> 
> 'Ich ging zu ihm', from Korngold's _Das Wunder der Heliane_. Let's hear a wonderful performance by Lotte Lehmann, that sang the role at Vienna, in the 1920s:


Yes, _Ich ging zu ihm_. Fleming did a fantastic job too.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

This delicious aria from Rimsky-Korsakov's _Servilia_ will surprise many. It sounds like a mixture of Tchaikovsky, Korngold and Puccini.


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## Queen of the Nerds (Dec 22, 2014)

One more... 
"E ver... gode quest'anima" from Rossini's _Armida_.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

"Grazie sorelle... Padre ho pregato" in Cecilia by Licinio Refice as sung by La divina Claudia Muzio:





"L'aria della piovra" in Iris by Pietro Mascagni as sung by Rosanna Carteri:


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

The scena "Il mio dolore" from Beatrice di Tenda:






N.


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## Bardamu (Dec 12, 2011)

"Ferito! L'hanno ferito!" in L'oracolo by Franco Leoni as sung by Joan Sutherland:





"Grand Aria" in Chopin by Giacomo Orefice as sung by Pia Tassinari:


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## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

famous tenor aria from Erkel's Bánk bán. it's about patriotism.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

My favorite aria from _Beatrice di Tenda_ is perhaps the one sung by Filippo at the start of the opera, "Come t'adoro, e quanto", that is not a staple of the operatic repertoire, either:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Nicolai Ghiaurov - "Piff, paff..." - Les Huguenots


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## OperaMaven (May 5, 2014)

Visuals don't match the opera - that's Ghiaurov in full Boris rig.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

OperaMaven said:


> Visuals don't match the opera - that's Ghiaurov in full Boris rig.


Who cares, you get my point I hope


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## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

José Mardones (1869-1932): _Di sposo, di padre le gioie serene_ from the opera _Salvator Rosa_ by Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896):





Also by Carlos Gomes:

Maria de Sá Earp: _Gentile di cuore_ from _Il Guarany_:





Again _Gentile di cuore_ from _Il Guarany_, this time performed by Brazil's opera legend Niza de Castro Tank:





And once more _Gentile di cuore_ from _Il Guarany_, no performed by another Brazilian opera legend, Bidu Sayão:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Speaking of Carlos Gomes, this aria "Quale orribile pecato" is from my favorite Gomes's opera: _Fosca_.

Ida Miccolis singing:


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

1. The offstage aria of the Shepherd Boy in _Tosca'_s 3rd Act.
2. The rarely mentioned beautiful "Lontano' lontano" from _Mefistofele_.
3. Not enough mention of the plaintive Gremin's aria from _Eugene Onegin_.


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## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

WOW! Ida Miccolis is had by many as one of the greatest Carlos Gomes interpreters recorded on disc ever. Schigolch, I'd guess the recording you've posted is the real awesome 1966 one recorded at Teatro Municipal de São Paulo.

And here is Ida Miccolis performing the aria _Come Serenamente_ from Carlos Gomes' opera Lo Schiavo:


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## Jorge Hereth (Aug 16, 2015)

From the opera _Jupira_ (1900) by Antônio Francisco Francisco Braga (1868-1945), here the aria _Migrante Morente_ performed by Ida Miccolis and recorded at Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro in 1962:





And from the same opera, Ida Miccolis performing _Vendetta!_:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Yes, I like this opera by Braga. I have this recording:










The ending is quite powerful, indeed.


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## kangxi (Jan 24, 2014)

Try this one for size: it's from Myslivicek's opera Il Bellerofonte & is a fabulous tenor aria called Già cinto sembra mi. Enjoy!


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## Ainsley (Dec 22, 2016)

This may not be the most difficult aria to sing, but Che Fiero Momento from Orfeo ed Euridice (Vienna version) is gorgeous!!!


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## russetvelvet (Oct 14, 2016)

Actually I'm quite sure many have heard of it, but in a different context. Aer tranquillo e dì sereni from Il rè pastore was clearly developed from the first movement of Mozart's first violin concerto, or vise versa...


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Bardamu said:


> "L'aria della piovra" in Iris by Pietro Mascagni as sung by Rosanna Carteri:


I consider every aria from Iris as belonging to my favourite arias. It is really a wonderful opera.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sloe said:


> I consider every aria from Iris as belonging to my favourite arias. It is really a wonderful opera.


Sung by a wonderful soprano, like that voice very much.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

One of my favorite arias, that is also rather unknown, is this "Amor, celeste ebbrezza", from Act2 of Mascagni's _Loreley_.

Sung by Magda Olivero:


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

schigolch said:


> One of my favorite arias, that is also rather unknown, is this "Amor, celeste ebbrezza", from Act2 of Mascagni's _Loreley_.
> 
> Sung by Magda Olivero:


A thump on the noggin to me for never having heard my favorite soprano singing this absolutely beautiful aria.
Thank you for this special holiday gift to me.


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