# Giuseppe Di Stefano



## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Hello!

I just joined yesterday, but I had read the forum before joining for a few months. There are very diverse threads, but one was missing. There were discussions on many singers, but not about Pippo (nickname used by fans, family and friends). And yeas I know about the Del Monaco vs. Corelli vs. Di Stefano thread. A nice thread, but it is more about why one is better than the other, and not about why you like or don't like that particular singer. If you have read the New MARIA CALLAS box set...... thread then you have read GregMittchell's fantastic reviews. Di Stefano was on many Callas recordings so there was something about my favorite tenor. But that was only one persons opinion.

I would like to do something different. In this thread it would be nice if you could tell others what you think about Di Stefano. What you like about him or what you don't like about him?

My first tenor was Pavarotti. At that time i hadn't really heard anybody else. One day I started to listen my Maria Callas Platinum Collection cd. That was when I first heard about Di Stefano. I don't remember the particular track, but it must have been O soave Fanciulla from La Boheme. Well it's the only track that he is singing. But because I was so concentrated on Callas, I didn't pay much attention to him. Then one day I started to listen some of his recordings from spotify. Probably E lucevan le stelle, Nessun dorma etc. After that he became my favorite tenor.

The things I like about Di Stefano:

- The voice is just so beautiful
- He gives 100% every time he sings
- To him music was about communication and drama (and sometimes long high notes )
- Open style singing and that fabulous diction in both french and italian
- He didn't take thing's too seriously (which my signature can verify)
- The technique that allowed him to do almost anything with his voice

Well pretty much everything really 

I know that he didn't last long, but in his prime to me he was just better than everybody else. I really liked his take on dramatic roles, but in the same time I know that he is wrecking his voice.

But then I think that he knew it and just wanted to give everything he had, no matter what the role, for as long as he could do it. When Gigli told him that he would loose his high notes by smoking. Di Stefano said that then he will sing neapolitan songs.

What a man and what an artist.

And now it's your turn to give your love, respect and admiration, or something else if you prefer:devil:, to this (as EMI labeled him in their ICON cd collection http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71B6p07+-PL._SX522_.jpg) The Opera Singer


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

Wellcome to this forum Diminuendo! 
I also discovered Di Stefano through Maria Callas...


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Hello and welcome to the forum! I've joined only a few weeks ago myself, it already feels like home 

Di Stefano - or _Pippo_ how we like to call him lovingly in Italy - is one of my all time favourite tenors and my number one preferred singer for neapolitan songs. I could listen to him endlessly for several reasons:

1. As you said, his voice had a unique natural beauty in timbre, second to no one. 
2. He was a true artist through and through, his phrasing and the sentiment put into it is simply beautiful to listen to. Pippo sang with huge passion but in a totally non-vulgar, gentle and musical way.
3. Just like his great contemporaries Del Monaco and Corelli, Pippo was a professional, never disappointed his audience, never attempted to perform when not 100% sure to honour the music.
4. Di Stefano was the living operatic example of the _It is better to live one day as a lion and die than to live a thousand as a goat_ - idea, his voice sadly didn't last long due to forced attempts of singing heavier repertory (Forza, Aida, Turandot etc.) but when it was still at its best, there were no rivals for Pippo's beautiful singing.

I love him most in the roles that valorized his lyrical voice, where he sounded most natural and technically at ease.

- Nadir:






- Nemorino:






- Federico:






- Rodolfo:


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Thank you sabrina and Cesare Impalatore for participating. Hopefully you will be the first of many!

Here are few more videos:

Cavaradossi:






Duke:






Vainement, ma bien-aimée from 1973. The voice isn't what it used to be, but still great.






Here is an interesting interview from 1989 for those who are interested:






Here is a link for Di Stefano's appearance on BBC's Desert Island Discs. Guite funny at times and informative. You can also find Tito Gobbi's interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mv1m

And last but not least two radio programs about Pippo. Both sites have programs also about Callas, Gobbi...

http://hampsongfoundation.org/singers-on-singing-giuseppe-di-stefano/

http://www.onandofftherecord.com/giuseppe-di-stefano/


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I have somewhat equivocal feelings about Di Stefano. A lyric tenor who, like Carreras, pushed his voice into repertoire to which it wasn't suited. He really had no business singing Manrico on the Callas/Karajan recording of *Il Trovatore* or Alvaro on the Milanov *La Forza del Destino*, but he just about gets away with both by the sheer force of his personality. We have live recordings of him singing Radames, but the role really wasn't for him.

The voice was ill trained, the top sometimes ringing and free, at other times strained. almost as if he was holding onto the notes with his throat. He could also be a bit slapdash with the score, a mite careless. There is a sense that he never really took his craft too seriously, born out by reports of his behaviour during the rehearsals for the Visconti *La Traviata*. he was always the practical joker, and had little patience for Visconti's painstakingly serious work. Alfredo was a role he had sung many times and he simply couldn't understand why Callas, Visconti and Giulini were taking so much time re-examining the score. Of course the production was a huge success, as was his part in it if the reaction of the audience on opening night is anything to go by, but sadly he walked out in a huff after that first performance.

That said there is something lovable about Pippo. His diction is superb and he always sings off the text, and he has charm in abundance when it is required. It is easy to see why any Gilda would fall for his Duke, why Amelia would succumb to his Riccardo, why the young flighty Manon would be completely taken by his youthfully ardent Des Grieux, why Mimi would succumb to the embrace of this Rodolfo, why Tosca would be so passionately in love with his Cavaradossi. His Alvaro may be a notch or two too small of voice, but he sings possibly the most interesting version on disc, with a meltingly lovely opening to _Tu che in seno_.

On the other hand, he can be a superbly caddish Turiddu on the Callas/Serafin *Cavalleria Rusticana*, though his Canio is a touch too conventional for me. A more thuggish Canio makes more sense, such as Domingo (especially in the Zeffirelli movie) and Vickers.

In the _bel canto_ repertoire, he is defeated by Bellini's high lying lines (mostly adapted to suit him) in *I Puritani*, but is a splendid Edgardo in *Lucia di Lammermoor*, especially live under Karajan, and a charming Nemorino.

Then of course there are those recordings of Neoplitan songs, shot through with Italian sunshine. He brought face and personality to all he sang.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

GregMitchell said:


> I have somewhat equivocal feelings about Di Stefano. A lyric tenor who, like Carreras, pushed his voice into repertoire to which it wasn't suited. He really had no business singing Manrico on the Callas/Karajan recording of *Il Trovatore* or Alvaro on the Milanov *La Forza del Destino*, but he just about gets away with both by the sheer force of his personality. We have live recordings of him singing Radames, but the role really wasn't for him.
> 
> The voice was ill trained, the top sometimes ringing and free, at other times strained. almost as if he was holding onto the notes with his throat. He could also be a bit slapdash with the score, a mite careless. There is a sense that he never really took his craft too seriously, born out by reports of his behaviour during the rehearsals for the Visconti *La Traviata*. he was always the practical joker, and had little patience for Visconti's painstakingly serious work. Alfredo was a role he had sung many times and he simply couldn't understand why Callas, Visconti and Giulini were taking so much time re-examining the score. Of course the production was a huge success, as was his part in it if the reaction of the audience on opening night is anything to go by, but sadly he walked out in a huff after that first performance.
> 
> ...


I really think that this thread is getting started now that the one and only GregMitchell has graced us with his opinion :clap: Hopefully others from the Callas thread pitch in too. I hope that people will no get the courage to participate.

I know what you mean about I Puritani. He really can't sing that high. But when he sings those high notes in I Puritani you get the feeling that he really is giving everything he has to those notes. But that's the thing about Pippo. When he sings roles that don't really suite his voice you can hear it, but somehow he makes it work. In Il Trovatore there is one point which I wished for another tenor. In his own way he makes it work, but in Di quella pira he sings the whole thing fine except the last note. Before that everything was fine, but the last note is a bit of a letdown.

I almost forgot about the neapolitan songs. Everybody sings them and everybody sings them differently. But to me Pippo is the best. One of the things that make him special is that to him neapolitan songs are just as important as opera. I mean he even started his career as Nino Florio singing popular songs. Sometimes when you listen to another singers singing them you get the feeling that they are singing them because it is expected. If you know what I mean.

Nobody sings Core 'ngrato as good as Pippo. My favourite version is the studio one made for Decca. especially at the end when he sings softly.

Here is one version from 70's. The voice isn't what it was, the sound and picture quality is what it is. And you can't hear him that well when he sings softly, but he is still the best.






There is one song that somebody sings better, and that is O sole mio. Nobody does that better tha Del Monaco. I mean the way he sings the ending. Like Del Monaco said in his last interview: "When you get to sta nfronte a te you aither got it or you don't"

Here is a video of Del Monaco singing O sole mio. It starts at the ending.






Thank you once again Greg :tiphat:


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> I really think that this thread is getting started now that the one and only GregMitchell has graced us with his opinion :clap: Hopefully others from the Callas thread pitch in too. I hope that people will no get the courage to participate.
> 
> I know what you mean about I Puritani. He really can't sing that high. But when he sings those high notes in I Puritani you get the feeling that he really is giving everything he has to those notes. But that's the thing about Pippo. When he sings roles that don't really suite his voice you can hear it, but somehow he makes it work. In Il Trovatore there is one point which I wished for another tenor. In his own way he makes it work, but in Di quella pira he sings the whole thing fine except the last note. Before that everything was fine, but the last note is a bit of a letdown.
> 
> ...


I've always thought that Di Stefano, like his predecessor Gigli whom he resembled in charm and sweetness of voice, was very much at his best as a singer of songs. A tape of his album of Neapolitan songs played on a Sony Walkman got me through my breaks during a rather dull waitressing job after graduation, and if Di Stefano had done nothing else, he'd deserve my undying gratitude for that! My favourite was 'Parlami d'amore, Mariu':






Remember that perfume ad where a gorgeous hunk is swimming in a blue lagoon to the soundtrack of that song? The only way it could have been better is if Di Stefano had been singing.

Until recently I hadn't heard any of his early recordings from the 40s, as far as I recall, but yesterday I was messing around on Youtube and found this 1945 recording of Tosti's Ideale. It's a stunner: he sounds rather different, even sweeter of voice and stylistically somewhere between the intimacy of a microphone singer and the full throated splendour of a trained operatic tenor. (In this song Gigli, clearly an influence here, walked a similar tightrope even more successfully, and of course with more finished technique.) Di Stefano doesn't quite have the subtlety of Schipa, whose recording was my favourite for years, or of de Lucia, who sadly only recorded one verse, but he sounds totally sincere, and it's a beautiful record.






There is another 'O sole mio' better IMO than those you mention, and I hope it won't be off topic to mention it here: it is by Fernando de Lucia, the most famous Neapolitan singer at the time many of these songs were written and a man who never makes anything sound hackneyed or kitsch, which can be an occupational hazard in this repertoire. De Lucia sounds so tender, spontaneous yet artful at the same time, that it's hardly recognisable as the ice cream sellers' jingle, and the slow tempo suits the sentimental mood of the song well (even if, to quote Eric Morcambe, he won't sell many ice creams going at that speed.)






Di Stefano's Core 'ngrato is certainly a beauty, and a strong contender for the title of best ever. Still, since it's a 'crossover' type of song, I don't feel too bad about admitting that my favourite is still the first one I heard in my teens, crooned in an ethereal falsetto by Tino Rossi:






Then a close second to Tino in my affections is Tony Poncet, hampered by a French translation that doesn't quite fit the music and with a rather less dulcet timbre than one usually expects in this music, which adds a certain interest:






Any more recommendations, with or without Youtube links, for early Di Stefano?


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Well Figleaf if you have access to spotify/tidal there is for example an Giuseppe di Stefano - early treasures album which has neapolitan songs + opera arias. From youtube

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=giuseppe+di+stefano+1944

Have you listened Pippo's famous Salut! Demeure chaste et pure?






The rest of the San Francisco concert is also on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=giuseppe+di+stefano+san+franc isco

It can also be found from spotify and tidal. Giuseppe Di Stefano: my first concert. The one that has a sailboat on the cover is the best one.

Those of you who subscribe to Met Opera On Demand:

There is Il barbiere, Manon, two La Bohemes and La Traviata. Manon can be found from spotify, but the sound quality is worse. Il barbiere can be found on spotify in good quality.

I have to say that I only listened some parts of the operas from met on demand before I stopped paying for it, but that Manon. Di stefano+Manon+1951+singed in french= Exquisite.

I know what you mean about o sole mio. I meant more that nobody does the ending better than Del Monaco.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

For those who are on spotify. You can find me by user name temula. I have a small playlist of Di Stefano. The playlist doesn't have everything, but you can see the albums where you can find more.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Oh and for neapolitan songs check also Sergio Bruni who is greatly admired in Naples. And Figleaf Pippo is a singer of opera AND popular songs


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

He had a lovely, clear timbre, great diction, and a lot of spontaneity. On the other hand, I find that the "sound picture" I carry of him in my mind is too often of an inelegant stylist with unpleasantly "wide-open" high notes. All in all, I agree with GregMitchell's assessment, upthread.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I agree with Greg too. That guy sure saves us a lot of work.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Well open high notes was his style. Some like it and some don't. Di Stefano's technique is quite puzzling because he made it himself. He studied a while with a voice teacher, but then decided that it wasn't for him. He could do almost anything with his voice(hich c diminuendo) and then sometimes have strained high notes. He is not the most elegant singer, but in opera I think that you don't necessarily have to be. Although for example I like Kraus very much.

Here's Di Stefano from 1952






In the comment's section people write that he is of pitch. To me it sounds just fine. Maybe my lack of musical education and knowledge about things like pitch is sometimes an advantage. And besides the audience clearly likes it too.

Here's a duet from Callas's and Di Stefano's concert from Japan. Quite a lovely duet considering the state of both their voices by that time.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

What is your favorite piece sung by Di Stefano? It is hard to say, but if I had to choose I'd say E lucevan le stelle from the 1953 Tosca recording. It has passion, soft singing, fabulous diction and what Di Stefano does with the line La belle forme discioglea dai veli. Of course the live ones are more exciting, but the studio recording has the best balance. And of course the La Scala orchestra and Victor de Sabata conducting.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

And what do you think is Di Stefano's best role? I'd say every one, but I know that those who are as crazy about Pippo as me, can answer this better and actually name a role.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Best role: Rodolfo
Favourite piece: Che gelida manina

I think that Puccini's wonderfully warm music in La bohème gets the best out of Pippo, both vocally and in terms of passion, interpretation and so on. Di Stefano is not _sdolcinato_ (too much of a softy) like many tenors singing Rodolfo, thanks to that dramatic edge that separates him from most lyrics.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Did you know that Di Stefano was supposed to be paired with Tebaldi at Decca, but he asked too much money and they refused. That made him available for EMI. Makes you think, doesn't it.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Diminuendo said:


> Did you know that Di Stefano was supposed to be paired with Tebaldi at Decca, but he asked too much money and they refused. That made him available for EMI. Makes you think, doesn't it.


I'm happy that it ended up being Tebaldi/Del Monaco and Callas/Di Stefano. Contrary to Callas, Tebaldi had the ability to deal with MDM's explosive personality calmly, non-competitively without being overshadowed by him (Gabriella Tucci could do it as well). Callas and Di Stefano were simply made for each other.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> I'm happy that it ended up being Tebaldi/Del Monaco and Callas/Di Stefano. Contrary to Callas, Tebaldi had the ability to deal with MDM's explosive personality calmly, non-competitively without being overshadowed by him (Gabriella Tucci could do it as well). Callas and Di Stefano were simply made for each other.


I'm happy too, but Callas and Del Monaco made same great live performances, like Mexico Aida and La Scala Norma.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Diminuendo said:


> And what do you think is Di Stefano's best role? I'd say every one, but I know that those who are as crazy about Pippo as me, can answer this better and actually name a role.


I'd say his singng in Tosca with Callas showed him at his best.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Here is Pippo participating in an Italian tv show. He guesses song from short excerpts and at the end sings a song. He really could have just sang popular songs.






And here is Di Stefano from 1995. Still great.






Pippo as Turiddu from Cavalleria Rusticana






What do you think about his acting abilities? There ain't that much video material, but from what we have I'd say he is pretty good. He didn't practice like Callas or Gobbi, but he is more spur of the moment. It's of course difficult to say when you don't have complete performances filmed like Del Monaco.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Diminuendo said:


> What do you think about his acting abilities? There ain't that much video material, but from what we have I'd say he is pretty good. He didn't practice like Callas or Gobbi, but he is more spur of the moment. It's of course difficult to say when you don't have complete performances filmed like Del Monaco.


I certainly appreciate his acting, it's not as intense and distinctive as Del Monaco's but nonetheless very good for a tenor. If you compare his Turiddo with his Duca di Mantova for example you can clearly see that they are entirely different personalities from the physical acting alone - something Pavarotti was never able to do in comparison.

Pippo could also do an excellent Don José, passionate, hurt and possessive as he should be (live at the Bucharest National Opera in the final scene of Carmen together with the great Romanian mezzo-soprano Elena Cernei):


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

He's lip syncing, but you get the idea.






Older, but a mature performance.






One legendary tenor singing at an others memorial






I want to look that good when I'm seventy.






Quite good birthday quests!


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

He's wrecking his voice, but damn his good 






A song and a quite funny interview











Di Stefano + two singers who both think their the prima donna here.






He had a cold, but it doesn't matter.






Such a life loving, fun man. It was sad to read about his beating in Kenya 2004. Pippo really deserved a better ending. I read somewhere that the thugs were trying to steal his wife's jewelry and he tried to stop them. So they beat him.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Pippo with Stratas 1963. He is past his prime, but there is still magic.











In Italian in 1947. Very special, but I prefer the Met version from 51 in French.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

I noticed that there is a live performance of L'ELISIR D'AMORE from 1961 in Bergamo with Di Stefano and Renata Scotto. I don't have much knowledge of Pippo's live performances with other singers than Callas. So is the performance worth buying?


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

If you follow the link you can listen Di Stefano singing Niun mi tema from Otello from a live performance of the opera from 1966. The role is too heavy for him and his voice is not what it was in the 50's, but still a very moving performance. I haven't listened the whole performance, but I think it would be worth listening.

http://operadepot.com/products/verdi-otello-di-stefano-gobbi-pobbe


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Here is a concert in honor of Pippo's 70th birthday. There are guest artists Ricciarelli, Carreras and Verrett. And Pippo sings too 






Pretty good for a 70 year old. Even in the texts in the program his name is Pippo Di Stefano


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Pasta anyone?


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Since Mignon was just on the recommended cd/dvd thread here is Di Stefano singing Ah non credevi tu and Addio Mignon.

Enjoy


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

In an earlier post I posted an tv interview. In it Pippo said that he had a bit of a problem in his Met debut. It was Rigoletto and his manager forbid him not to have sex before the performance. Anyway the performance started and Di Stefano started to sing questo o quella. Everything was fine until the first high notes. He started to feel pain "below the belt". After that they put an ice bag in his pants. It helped the pain, but of course it started to melt. Every time it dripped he went out of tune. Audience thought it was just nervousness, because it was his first opera at the Met. After the performance he told his manger, that this was the last time he did that.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

What I love about Pippo is his individuality. He did everything his own way. Whether it was his singing technique, style, interpretation or his role choices. And to him opera was all about the drama and communicating with the audience. One has to admire anyone who does things his own way.

And here is Pippo singing La fleur and La vita e inferno live in his vocal prime











Simply magnificent. In some pieces he really brings tears to my eyes


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Quite interesting recordings. I love the neapolitan and sicilian songs. Some people don't like the orchestrations, but I love them. DI Stefano + neapolitan songs + stereo =  The Core 'ngrato is simply superb. I have only listened some parts of the elisir. The most interesting thing in this collection are the opera arias. Which I don't listen since he has sang them better earlier. When you listen them you can hear how his voice has deteriorated. He tries to sing things like he used to and sometimes he manages. Some things take more effort that before. And some things he just can't do anymore. I couldn't find this recordings salut demeure chaste et pure from YouTube. Those who have the recording or have spotify or tidal can listen the high c. The note itself is good. Not like it was before, but it's good. The saddest thing is when Pippo tries to do the diminuendo that he was famous for. You can hear him trying his best to do it, but eventually he has to give up and he ends it like other tenors.


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## DiStefano (Feb 5, 2016)

*Loving Pippo*

Thanks for some of the videos i didn't seen already, although im a big fan of Di Stefano.

If you are interested you can find on Spotify the playlist i made of him, my user is: anchibi. (It is full of repeated songs, but i love him so much, that i really enjoy appreciating the diferences between the versions of the same Operas, like the Lucia or Puritani of Mexico, and the ones he recorded in the studio...)

http://es.bteye.org/thread/di-Stefano-La-Voce-del-Cuore_81bd0f.html

Here you can download an interesting documentary with some clips of Pippo and an interview... even though there isn't a torrent file, you can download it by magnet link and would find some seeders.

The 2 main things i love from him are:

1- His last 40' era, where he sang with that sweet, softly and adorable voice all these napolitan songs, despite the bad audio quality, it gets compensated by his voice quality... Here are just a few examples:

No descriptions needed, just listen and melt yourselves:
















2- From 50' till 57' where he became a real tenor, singing with a beautiful and powerfull voice, putting on it all his soul like no one has done since then.

Lucia di Lammermoor, Mexico 52', i prefer this version to the others with better sound, for the passion he puts, specially in "Fra poco a me ricovero" listening by accident this specific part is where i fell in love with him.






His Ballo in Maschera's are almost as great as his Tosca's.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

DiStefano said:


> Thanks for some of the videos i didn't seen already, although im a big fan of Di Stefano.
> 
> If you are interested you can find on Spotify the playlist i made of him, my user is: anchibi. (It is full of repeated songs, but i love him so much, that i really enjoy appreciating the diferences between the versions of the same Operas, like the Lucia or Puritani of Mexico, and the ones he recorded in the studio...)
> 
> ...


Welcome to the forum. Always nice to meet another fan of this amazing singer.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Diminuendo said:


> What I love about Pippo is his individuality. He did everything his own way. Whether it was his singing technique, style, interpretation or his role choices. And to him opera was all about the drama and communicating with the audience. One has to admire anyone who does things his own way.
> 
> And here is Pippo singing La fleur and La vita e inferno live in his vocal prime
> 
> ...


Oh, my! Pippo in his prime is ever so much better than him later on. Wow! So expressive! Such a gorgeous color and the bloom at the top is remarkable! Thanks.


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

Reading this thread is like watching a bedroom scene in a movie. I kind of feel like I'm intruding...
he was pretty marvelous though.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Badinerie said:


> Reading this thread is like watching a bedroom scene in a movie. I kind of feel like I'm intruding...
> he was pretty marvelous though.


So this is the reason why more people haven't posted. I knew something was wrong. Feel free to post your thoughts and feelings on this great artist. When I started this thread I thought that this might be a gathering place for like minded people who liked or loved Pippo. This is by no means a private party and all fans are invited. Di Stefano himself didn't take things seriously and loved life so I hope this thread isn't too serious. Thread started great but for some time know I have myself tried to keep it going. Ad long as I'm on this forum I will try to keep this thread going. 2 000 views is quite good when most of the post are from me. Hopefully now people will know that it is all right to post. But then again even my Callas thread La Divina didn't keep going so what hope is there for a tenor.

I think that Di Stefano was a remnant of older days when tenor was just a tenor. Whether it was a lyrical or dramatic role he sang it the same way. Well his lyrical voice couldn't take it in the end, but while it lasted... In an interview from 2002 he admitted that he had a lyrical voice, but in the 50's he said that singing more dramatic roles gave him a man's voice. Other's would say the roles ruined it  A pity there aren't more filmed performances of him in his prime. Del Monaco has complete performances filmed in Japan and Corelli has also RAI filmed operas, but Di Stefano has none like Callas.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Those of you who read the Maria Callas box set thread might have noticed that not everybody loves Di Stefano. When talking about Il Trovatore some wished that Björling would have been under contract by EMI. Jussi is a fantastic tenor so it would have been great. I have to say I prefer Di Stefano, but I can understand why some feel differently. How great would it be if Callas had recorded one with Di Stefano, one with Björling and one with Corelli? Them everyone could choose their favorite. Of course this would never happen in real life. Although some artists do record the same opera more than once. Callas did some too. Personally I'm happy that Tucker didn't do the recording so that we got Di Stefano instead. Woodduck complained about Di Stefano's scooping and screaming. The role is too heavy for Pippo, but when I listened the recording I didn't hear screaming. Other's have also mentioned the scooping before, but I'm not quite sure what they mean. After doing little googling I learned what scooping meant. I don't know if it he did it for dramatic effect or if it was part of his singing technique. All I can say is that it doesn't bother me. Bad thing for those who don't like it since the recordings are what they are. But then many people hate the Tebaldi/MDM recording. 

Well I think that it's nice that people have different opinions and different tastes. I myself look at some recordings and have hoped for another singer in some role. But there is nothing we can do now. I just hope that some record company doesn't get the bright idea to mix different recordings together. You would think that nobody would be that stupid, but then again... I just hope that it happens after I have died. But then again I don't have to listen something if I don't want to. But still I hope that it will never happen.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Scooping - striking a note from below and sliding up to it - can be an expressive device and has its place in certain styles of music, but is, with many singers, overused. In classical music, musicians consider its frequent use a bad habit and find it annoying. Tenors in particular seem prone to it, but many great singers in all vocal categories do it routinely. Rarely is music helped by it; expression should come from phrasing and coloration, not from sentimentally (or thoughtlessly) sliding into notes. Callas was adamant: she insisted on attacking the center of every note (except perhaps for an unusual expressive purpose), and in most operatic music from the 19th century and earlier I think her strictness was justified. This makes her an odd match with a lot of tenors, Di Stefano and Corelli in particular, for whom scoops were a way of life (Corelli's can verge on the absurd). I would enjoy both of those tenors a lot more if they'd taken a few lessons from the "clean" style of Bjorling.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Yesterday I was listening Manon from 1951 from the Met with Licia Albanese, Martial Singher and Jerome Hines. I just loved the performance. Des Grieux after all was Di Stefano's operatic debut in Reggio Emilia in 1946. The role of an ardent lover is jsut so perfect. And his French diction is just fabulous. And the role just fits his voice like a glove. All fans of Pippo and the opera should listen this performance once in their lives. You can find the performance in Spotify and Tidal. The Walhall release doesn't have quite as good sound as in the Met on Demand service, but just listen and enjoy. And Albanese wasn't too bad either...


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## brescd01 (9 mo ago)

Just seeing this thread. I disagree with most (not all) of the negative comments about Di Stefano. I would never call him a bel canto stylist, who was at the time except perhaps Bjorling in some aspects (and Lisitsian)? But he was a great tenor. Reports of his "poor technique" are greatly exaggerated, as they are for Callas. These artists had enormous and enormously long careers. Historically, opera stars had much shorter lives and careers. While someone like Lisitsian or Olivero had to have terrific techniques they had to to have such long careers, I am not sure that the converse is accurate, that the shorter careers demonstrate "poor technique"> Furthermore neither Di Stefano nor Callas has short careers. Callas made her first great recording at age 18. Not everyone becomes a star at 8 like Ponselle, it is a function of the music market at the time.

Di Stefano was no bel canto singer surely. But in the post World War I style he was fabulous and fabulously stylish. To churlishly complain his Manrico did not suit his voice or might have sounded better with Bjorling is nitpicking, that is a great recording perhaps THE greatest extent of that opera. I agree that the role didn't suit his voice perfectly. But another role that didn't suit his voice's tessitura, Faust in Mefistofole, is, to me, very beautifully phrased.

One interesting exercise to see "how great" Di Stefano was, is to listen to him in recordings WITHOUT the great Maria Callas. He makes almost any artist sound better, for example Renata Tebaldi. I noticed the same effect when I heard the recording of Tebaldi in Tosca with the great Tito Gobbi. Say what you want about Maria Callas, but besides a great singer she had great taste in colleagues they make everyone with them sound better! Di Stefano had marvelous diction that made everything more moving. I get a lot of pleasure from his Don Alvaro for example, or his Enzo, even if the voice had lost that gorgeous bloom by then.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

brescd01 said:


> ...neither Di Stefano nor Callas has short careers. Callas made her first great recording at age 18.


The first recordings we have from Callas (born 1923) are from 1949, when she was 26. She did, however, make her professional stage debut in 1941, before her 18th birthday, so you're right in observing that her career was longer than it's sometimes thought to have been, extending from 1941 to 1965. Of course in 1965 she was only 42, when a singer should still be in something close to her prime, so that if we can't call Callas's career short we do at least have to call it abbreviated.

Di Stefano (born 1921) debuted in 1946, and as his voice declined he continued singing, less and less frequently and successfully, into the 1970s. How many years he was in his prime is a matter of opinion, but as with Callas there's little dispute that his prime was too short. The reasons for Callas's decline are undoubtedly complex and are still debated. In Di Stefano's case I think they reside more obviously in his vocal production, which even in his good years often gives me the impression of a man trying to send his larynx flying across the stage.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

.........................


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## battistini (Jan 22, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> The first recordings we have from Callas (born 1923) are from 1949, when she was 26. She did, however, make her professional stage debut in 1941, before her 18th birthday, so you're right in observing that her career was longer than it's sometimes thought to have been, extending from 1941 to 1965. Of course in 1965 she was only 42, when a singer should still be in something close to her prime, so that if we can't call Callas's career short we do at least have to call it abbreviated.
> 
> Di Stefano (born 1921) debuted in 1946, and as his voice declined he continued singing, less and less frequently and successfully, into the 1970s. How many years he was in his prime is a matter of opinion, but as with Callas there's little dispute that his prime was too short. The reasons for Callas's decline are undoubtedly complex and are still debated. In Di Stefano's case I think they reside more obviously in his vocal production, which even in his good years often gives me the impression of a man trying to send his larynx flying across the stage.


Thank you for the corrections but I still say that their careers were long by historical standards and the expectations that their voices would last longer, is unrealistic. That their technique is to be faulted is a sort of unfalsifiable trope.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

My favorite Pippo (there are so many) that stands above the rest when I think of him, is his 3rd Act Edgardo from Lucia. He just nails it like no one else can.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

battistini said:


> Thank you for the corrections but I still say that their careers were long by historical standards and the expectations that their voices would last longer, is unrealistic. That their technique is to be faulted is a sort of unfalsifiable trope.


I tend to agree with Woodduck. Callas is my favourite singer, but even I would have to agree that her voice started to fail her at quite an early age, even if she had been singing major roles since she was 15. Maybe her career wasn't excessively short but her vocal decline was rapid. She would only have been 37 in 1960, but her best days were already behind her. I won't go into all the various theories for this, but no doubt all of them have a grain of truth. There is no doubt that she studied long and hard to become the singer she was.

On the other hand, Di Stefano profited from a naturally beautiful voice, that was sketchily trained. Even in his best days, top notes could either be free and ringing or tight and strained and there is little doubt he sang a few roles that were probably too heavy for him. Nonetheless, I can't help liking him. The sheer force of his personality comes across brilliantly on his recordings. He can be musically careless, it is true, but I think of his recordings of Turiddu, Canio, the Duke, Alfredo, Edgardo, Riccardo, Des Grieux, Rodolfo, Manrico etc and each one emerges as a distinct character. In *Rigoletto *for instance he manages to be both debauched _and _utterly charming. The Duke is not a nice character, but my word, he makes you understand why both Gilda and Maddalena would fall under his spell. That, I think, was his gift.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

battistini said:


> Thank you for the corrections but I still say that their careers were long by historical standards and the expectations that their voices would last longer, is unrealistic. That their technique is to be faulted is a sort of unfalsifiable trope.


If by "unfalsifiable trope" you're implying that we can't detect the soundness of a singer's deployment of the mechanisms involved in singing, I'd have to disagree. The voice is sensitive to a multitude of influences, physical and psychologial, voluntary and involuntary, and so it isn't always possible to say why a voice deteriorates. But there are warning signs that point to the need for a singer to reassess what he's doing vocally.

Statistics on how long various people go on singing regardless of the quality of their singing don't tell us much. The length of a person's career is less worthy of note than what happens to his vocal production in the course of that career. Why do some people lose their vocal ease, power, suppleness and beauty in their twenties, thirties or forties whether or not they continue to perform (and many do perform long after they can no longer sing well), while others show little decline in their sixties? Barring physical or psychological illness or trauma, I'd say that technique - how the singer deploys his body in the production of sound - is the thing to look at.

Di Stefano's tendency to push a wide-open upper register into overdrive is quite audible, often remarked, and certainly a problem of technique, and one that would very predictably be exacerbated through incursions into increasingly dramatic repertoire.


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## brescd01 (9 mo ago)

Unfortunately your comments are "unfalsifiable tropes" because all you do is retrospectively look at people whose careers or singing lives "should have lasted longer" and then go back and identify what you think are flaws of technique that conveniently explain the decline.

Insofar as "statistics", you dismiss statistics about singing careers in favor of "statistics about length of good-singing-years", which superfically seems like a good idea, except that neither exist!

You have very little crediibility for the above reasons. You could start with dropping DiStefano who has always been low hanging fruit for these sort of discussions, and apply your "principles" to other singers on both sides of the divide (good and bad), across various voice types. This obsession with top notes is a good place to start. Before Rubini, who supposedly "invented" the high C from the chest, did tenors have longer careers, for example?

I don't have an encylcopaedic knowledge of vocal decline but without even trying I can think of artists famous for their extraordinarily short careers or "years of good singing", Emmy Destinn, Pasquale Amato, Tito Ruffo, and Lawrence Tibbett. Didn't Grissi have some ridiculously short five years or such? I may be confusing my 19th century divas.

With a little thought I'm sure I could produce lots of other names of singers whose careers or good singing years were blazingly short. Bellincioni?


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

brescd01 said:


> Insofar as "statistics", you dismiss statistics about singing careers in favor of "statistics about length of good-singing-years", which superfically seems like a good idea, except that neither exist!


If we can't identify the number of good singing years then presumably this can only be because we can't identify good singing. At this point, why are you so insistent about arguing Di Stefano is a good singer.


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## brescd01 (9 mo ago)

I am not at all! He isn't even my favorite singer!

I am questioning this trope, that he audibly strained at high notes, shortening his career. That is all. He had a lot of good qualities too, and I know no one argues that point.

But there are lots of singers from whom one hears nothing like Di Stefano's issues, whose voices expired double quick.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

brescd01 said:


> Unfortunately your comments are "unfalsifiable tropes" because all you do is retrospectively look at people whose careers or singing lives "should have lasted longer" and then go back and identify what you think are flaws of technique that conveniently explain the decline.


I haven't "explained" anyone's decline. I said, _"The voice is sensitive to a multitude of influences, physical and psychologial, voluntary and involuntary, and so it isn't always possible to say why a voice deteriorates. But there are warning signs that point to the need for a singer to reassess what he's doing vocally."_ Is this controversial? I also said, _"Barring physical or psychological illness or trauma, I'd say that technique - how the singer deploys his body in the production of sound - is the thing to look at"_ in attempting to understand a singer's decline. What other factors would you suggest we look at, if any?



> Insofar as "statistics", you dismiss statistics about singing careers in favor of "statistics about length of good-singing-years", which superfically seems like a good idea, except that neither exist!


What doesn't exist? Statistics? Length of career? Number of years a singer sounds good?



> You have very little crediibility for the above reasons.


I don't see any "reasons." My statements above either make sense or they don't. You haven't shown that they don't.



> You could start with dropping DiStefano who has always been low hanging fruit for these sort of discussions, and apply your "principles" to other singers on both sides of the divide (good and bad), across various voice types. This obsession with top notes is a good place to start. Before Rubini, who supposedly "invented" the high C from the chest, did tenors have longer careers, for example?
> 
> I don't have an encylcopaedic knowledge of vocal decline but without even trying I can think of artists famous for their extraordinarily short careers or "years of good singing", Emmy Destinn, Pasquale Amato, Tito Ruffo, and Lawrence Tibbett. Didn't Grissi have some ridiculously short five years or such? I may be confusing my 19th century divas.
> 
> With a little thought I'm sure I could produce lots of other names of singers whose careers or good singing years were blazingly short. Bellincioni?


Certainly, some people sing well for a short time, and others sing poorly for a longer time. When people sing well, their technique is good. When they sing not so well, their technique is not so good. Technique may go awry or deteriorate for various reasons. I do not know why Di Stefano sang better - why his voice worked better - in 1944 than he did in 1959, but my ears tell me that he did.











In fact, when I first discovered his early recordings, I was quite surprised at the beauty, the ease and ring, of his high notes. We look forward to vibrant, thrilling high notes from the great tenors, but that's something I can't do with most of Di Stefano's recordings. Often I can't do it with Callas either, which makes for some anxiety as I approach the teeth-clenching climaxes in many of their otherwise admirable recordings.


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## brescd01 (9 mo ago)

Your replies are just repetitions of your deductive reasoning. I am looking for inductive reasoning. I also am looking for some kind of application of these observations to someone other than Di Stefano. I get that you note a decline in his top notes. And you attribute that to his "poor technique" or "flaws in his technique".

What I claimed doesn't exist is any kind of normative data. And circular reasoning that poor technique causes faster vocal decline, is just that, solipsistic and circular.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

brescd01 said:


> Your replies are just repetitions of your deductive reasoning. I am looking for inductive reasoning. I also am looking for some kind of application of these observations to someone other than Di Stefano. I get that you note a decline in his top notes. And you attribute that to his "poor technique" or "flaws in his technique".
> 
> What I claimed doesn't exist is any kind of normative data. And circular reasoning that poor technique causes faster vocal decline, is just that, solipsistic and circular.


Evidently repeating that "_barring physical or psychological illness or trauma, I'd say that technique - how the singer deploys his body in the production of sound - is the thing to look at in attempting to understand a singer's decline"_ isn't enough to stop you from attributing to me a claim I haven't made. I _don't know_ why Di Stefano's vocal production became more strenuous and his high notes forced and unpleasant. It doesn't appear to have been a matter of his physical or psychological health, and it happened early in his life and was thus not caused by simple aging (which needn't result in forcing the voice in any case). If it wasn't one of those, it was a matter of technique. I do not know of any other option. Do you? Surely you'd use your time better offering ideas of your own than criticizing other people here.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Someone posted a DiStefano Lucia moment on here awhile back that they found thrilling for its raw emotion and complete devotion to giving everything he had. I could go find it, but I get here so seldom these days that I'll just have to leave it at that....it's probably familiar to bigger DiStefano fans than me.

It exemplified the reasons for my guess as to why he declined early and also why he doesn't completely appeal to my tastes. 

In that instance, the sound crossed the line for me, the tone no longer being the result of a supported sound that one would expect to be coming from a relaxed throat. Now that recording is one performance but he did it. Put him in front of an audience, desiring their approval... he's already shown he's willing to go there "for the effect". Is it a stretch to imagine him doing it again...and again,and again? After enough times, that throat WILL NOT stay relaxed, that is a fact! The slippery slope has been found.

And as for the giving it all....I don't like performing artists to give it all. I want something held back. 
I believe this is one of the reasons that I often find English actors so compelling. At their best they give me enough to ignite my curiosity and emotions but they know how to let me take the rest of the journey while I watch....I'm an active participant in the drama emotionally and intuitively. DiStefano certainly could do this, his early lyrical singing that I am familiar with is often filled with restraint and its rapturous. And I'm not an expert on the rest of his career. But without the beautiful sound and the restraint - he said he'd sing songs when he lost his high notes???...the late song recital I have never held my attention - his singing loses me.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

While I agree that there is no good, scientifically gathered data on this, I would say that the suggestion that "historically, opera stars had much shorter lives and careers" is at best misguided. By and large golden age singers had 20+ year careers, with some well known signers like Battistini and De Luca singing in good condition for over 40 years. Even Ruffo, famous for blowing his voice out young, had a 20 year career. There were singers like Bellincioni, yes, but Bellincioni is not generally considered to have good vocal technique, certainly not bel canto technique. She was a verista and an actress, so she doesn't prove much with respect to healthy technique and lack of longevity. As for Destinn, her career was interrupted by WWI, not vocal problems. Once she was out of work for a long time her voice did not fully return to what it had been. Even so, she debuted in 1898 and the war didn't break out until 1914, so she had 16 years of exceptional singing and was going strong before external factors intervened. Amato sang for 21 years, a respectable career, though the last few were not ideal, as they were not for Callas and Di Stefano. None of these examples proves that old-school singers had shorter careers.

I do agree that the reasons for vocal decline (or not) are often mysterious and don't always seem to follow straightforwardly from a particular fault. In the case of Di Stefano, it could be less poor technique and more over-exertion of good technique. Amato, for instance, sang a _lot_, which may have overtaxed his fine voice.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I don’t really understand why so many comments are being So careful about the question of DiStefano’s vocal decline. He sang Forza, Carmen, Pagliacci??? A certain sound is expected in these roles and Bjoerling, Carreras, DiStefano, Gedda as well as countless less famous names have paid the price of vocal decline when attempting to make a sound that was not given to them by nature. The most glorious sound starts to diminish when the throat tightens.


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## Parsifal98 (Apr 29, 2020)

ScottK said:


> I don’t really understand why so many comments are being So careful about the question of DiStefano’s vocal decline. He sang Forza, Carmen, Pagliacci??? A certain sound is expected in these roles and Bjoerling, Carreras, DiStefano, Gedda as well as countless less famous names have paid the price of vocal decline when attempting to make a sound that was not given to them by nature. The most glorious sound starts to diminish when the throat tightens.


I believe Björling died before any sort of "vocal decline" could be heard. But I agree with your point. I also agree with Viva. Di Stefano clearly sang a lot, and some of the roles he undertook demanded more than he could give. This incapacity to meet the demand probably opened the door to different mannerisms and "shortcuts" which had a negative impact on his instrument. One can hear lessened falsetto participation in the high register and a tendency to scoop in his later recordings (as early as the 50s). But when I hear such singing, I am reminded of his qualities as a singer, which were numerous:


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Parsifal98 said:


> I believe Björling died before any sort of "vocal decline" could be heard. But I agree with your point. I also agree with Viva. Di Stefano clearly sang a lot, and some of the roles he undertook demanded more than he could give. This incapacity to meet the demand probably opened the door to different mannerisms and "shortcuts" which had a negative impact on his instrument. One can hear lessened falsetto participation in the high register and a tendency to scoop in his later recordings (as early as the 50s). But when I hear such singing, I am reminded of his qualities as a singer, which were numerous:


 What he did best he did as well as anyone ever! And not belaboring the Bjorling point, because to large degree the voice did stay intact, when I think of where he lessened I always think of the upper register which hardened for me which I do think probably came from singing a bit too forcefully. I just mention it Now to point out what I was thinking of but in sum, I’m more inclined to agree with you.


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## brescd01 (9 mo ago)

I apologize I am JUST seeing these replies and I know I seem like an *** for abandoning the thread but it wasn't intentional. I appreciate vivalgentanuov's superificial recounting of golden age singers, at least that is the direction one has to go. Unfortunately it is quite simply wrong or inadequate. I am not sure one can talk about length of "career" without talking about the definition of "a career". Depending on standards, artists performed either well past their best, or not. Some like Ponselle or Carteri clearly stopped performing before they underwent any decline at all. I am mentioning those completely randomly, they just occur to me. Olivero had a vocail production that was not beautiful from the start, and that became an element of her vocal character (I love Olivero don't attack, but no one could call her voice "beautiful").

I am not some kind of expert on Golden Age singers and even if I were, we would have to drill down to the artist's recordings and critical reception over time to mark "decline". De Luca was jettisoned by the Met rather early in his career and when he returned his voice was hardly what it had been. The difference between Ruffo's earliest reocrdings and his latest are enormous in terms of vocal quality. Destinn is a wonderful example you talk about World War I but from her recordings the war had nothing to do with any hiatus she clearly lost substantial vocal resources very quickly. Gadski is a ready example for me because we have evaluations of her by the same critics over time and she changed enormously over a very short period, maybe 5 years. Rethberg hardly sang beautifully more than 15 years. Her career at the Met was about a decade.

There are obvious objections: is partial decline the same as "fell apart"? Clearly not. Amato supposedly had a catatrophic decline in a very short period. "Less" Ruffo isn't the same as "no" Ruffo.

I personally think Golden Age singers aimed for a higher standard of vocal production because they had to to be successful. They may have created loud and brilliant sounds at the expense of longevity. They also had to keep their voices much more flexible to handle the decorative effects that were expected from them. I don't think that deteriorated their voices but it may have curtailed their careers.

I dont know, truthfully. I just question the tired example of Di Stefano as being representive of a sort of vocal decline. Di Stefano, as wonderful a singer as he was, never had the flexiblity of a De Reszke or the brilliance of a Scaremberg or Escalais, for that matter. His decline was a very narrow one.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> The first recordings we have from Callas (born 1923) are from 1949, when she was 26. She did, however, make her professional stage debut in 1941, before her 18th birthday, so you're right in observing that her career was longer than it's sometimes thought to have been, extending from 1941 to 1965. Of course in 1965 she was only 42, when a singer should still be in something close to her prime, so that if we can't call Callas's career short we do at least have to call it abbreviated.
> 
> Di Stefano (born 1921) debuted in 1946, and as his voice declined he continued singing, less and less frequently and successfully, into the 1970s. How many years he was in his prime is a matter of opinion, but as with Callas there's little dispute that his prime was too short. The reasons for Callas's decline are undoubtedly complex and are still debated. In Di Stefano's case I think they reside more obviously in his vocal production, which even in his good years often gives me the impression of a man trying to send his larynx flying across the stage.


By the time Callas' voice was declining she had already sung for 15 years, which was how long my sister sang for as a house soprano ( she quit to be a mother) and she is still drawing a pension from her career. We forget because of lack of early recordings that Callas had a career that was normal for most opera singers in length. Singers like Sutherland, Nilsson and Melchoir were really the exception to the rule. The tragedy for Callas was her dramatic skills seemed to get better as her voice left her by virtue of maturity. I think she had worked so intensely and under such pressure for so many years that she tired of the work grind, and wanted some social and womanly fulfillment. Onassis's yacht could tempt even a simple boy from Mississippi.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> … I think she had worked so intensely and under such pressure for so many years that she tired of the work grind and wanted some social and womanly fulfillment. Onassis's yacht could tempt even a simple boy from Mississippi.


I don’t think it was the yacht itself, but love - the sex with Onassis -that lured her away. But, why wouldn’t a sumptuous yacht tempt a simple boy…. from anywhere?


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## ganchan2019 (Oct 14, 2021)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I tend to agree with Woodduck. Callas is my favourite singer, but even I would have to agree that her voice started to fail her at quite an early age, even if she had been singing major roles since she was 15. Maybe her career wasn't excessively short but her vocal decline was rapid. She would only have been 37 in 1960, but her best days were already behind her. I won't go into all the various theories for this, but no doubt all of them have a grain of truth. There is no doubt that she studied long and hard to become the singer she was.
> 
> On the other hand, Di Stefano profited from a naturally beautiful voice, that was sketchily trained. Even in his best days, top notes could either be free and ringing or tight and strained and there is little doubt he sang a few roles that were probably too heavy for him. Nonetheless, I can't help liking him. The sheer force of his personality comes across brilliantly on his recordings. He can be musically careless, it is true, but I think of his recordings of Turiddu, Canio, the Duke, Alfredo, Edgardo, Riccardo, Des Grieux, Rodolfo, Manrico etc and each one emerges as a distinct character. In *Rigoletto *for instance he manages to be both debauched _and _utterly charming. The Duke is not a nice character, but my word, he makes you understand why both Gilda and Maddalena would fall under his spell. That, I think, was his gift.


In the interviews I've read, di Stefano emphasized that he always put the text and character firstt, even before the music. One quote (interviewed for Pavarotti's autobiography) went something like: "When most singers perform, rhey mentally envision the notes. I see words." I think this is why he made such a good match with other singing actors like Callas and Gobbi (who also had their own share of vocal imperfections).

I always found him most convincing in the "charismatic cad" roles -- Pinkerton, the Duke etc. In roles calling for nobility or steel, he had more competition from his direct rivals.


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