# Pavarotti - Bocelli - Potts



## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

I always find it depressing when I see people in the internet or in everyday life who think that the above three are the only tenors in existance and compare them by their own parameters as if they knew what they are talking about. It gets tragicomical when some people say Paul Potts is better than Pavarotti. This is a bit Pav's own fault in my opinion, he helped creating a superficial, commercialized space for "opera" in the world of TV, mass media etc. which lead into an era where Andrea Bocelli is intorduced at the 2015 Expo inauguration concert as _maestro_, while real opera singers like Diana Damrau aren't, and where millions of people argue who sang the best Nessun dorma from three singers who shouldn't even be anywhere near Turandot. Maybe I'm just too much of a conservative pessimist.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

When Nessun Dorma sounds boring even when most real opera singers sing it I can´t understand how people can enjoy hearing Paul Potts and Andrea Boccelli sing it.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Sloe said:


> When Nessun Dorma sounds boring even when most real opera singers sing it I can´t understand how people can enjoy hearing Paul Potts and Andrea Boccelli sing it.


Or those who "usually don't listen to classical music" but are somehow moved by Bocelli singing the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria which would put me to sleep immediately. Bocelli singing _anything_ is so slow and boring, the most ridiculous part of the Expo concert in Milan was his take on _Di quella pira_. The sheer shock of witnessing that kept me awake but when he started doing the Andrea Chénier final duet I almost threw my remote in the TV. :lol:


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

It is quite funny and sad at the same time. Pavarotti is the only one of the three that is actually an opera singer. I like listening to Bocelli in the right material, but I wouldn't never call him an opera singer. And Potts is well best left unsaid. Pavarotti is very good, but there are better tenors. I wouldn't really call Nessun Dorma boring.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> It is quite funny and sad at the same time. Pavarotti is the only one of the three that is actually an opera singer. I like listening to Bocelli in the right material, but I wouldn't never call him an opera singer. And Potts is well best left unsaid. Pavarotti is very good, but there are better tenors. I wouldn't really call Nessun Dorma boring.


Since he actually performs in operas he unfortunately is an opera singer.
At least he makes the other singers appear better.






Nessun dorma can be fine sometimes when it is sung by the right singers.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I've never even heard of Potts - does this make me a total philistine or one of the blissfully ignorant?


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> I've never even heard of Potts - does this make me a total philistine or one of the blissfully ignorant?


Judge for yourself.






He is according to 301 470 youtube users a likeable Calaf.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> I've never even heard of Potts - does this make me a total philistine or one of the blissfully ignorant?


It means that you're a lucky person. That is until you came across this thread.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

elgars ghost said:


> I've never even heard of Potts - does this make me a total philistine or one of the blissfully ignorant?


I hope this hasn't ruined your day. (No it certainly doesn't make you a philistine).

I often seem to have conversations with people who say they like opera, and invariably they start dropping names of the 'greats' such as Potts, Bocelli, Jenkins and Russell Watson. Needless to say I try to educate them!

Here's a question: If you wanted introduce someone like this to great opera singing, what CD would you recommend? Something fairly recent, not Callas or Sutherland or old stuff.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Alexander said:


> I hope this hasn't ruined your day. (No it certainly doesn't make you a philistine).
> 
> I often seem to have conversations with people who say they like opera, and invariably they start dropping names of the 'greats' such as Potts, Bocelli, Jenkins and Russell Watson. Needless to say I try to educate them!
> 
> Here's a question: If you wanted introduce someone like this to great opera singing, what CD would you recommend? Something fairly recent, not Callas or Sutherland or old stuff.


My parents have a Bocelli CD (mostly Neapolitan songs I believe) which they like because they think it's high culture! I'm thinking of getting them a disc of the same repertoire sung by Giuseppe Di Stefano. My preference in Neapolitan songs would be for Fernando de Lucia, but his records drew some of the loudest protests from family members when I was growing up, so I assume they are not ready for him yet!

No Callas yet either for your Jenkins/ Bocelli fans, you need something conventionally easy on the ear. I have no idea about recent; recent means electrically recorded as far as I'm concerned!


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Alexander said:


> Here's a question: If you wanted introduce someone like this to great opera singing, what CD would you recommend? Something fairly recent, not Callas or Sutherland or old stuff.


How about making them listen to Juan Diego Florez singing a discount Ave Maria and then hopefully move on to some beautiful bel canto arias? When your at it you can go on to explain that _bel canto_ is a historically defined art of singing and not schmaltzy stuff like Il Volo singing O sole mio.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> *How about making them listen to Juan Diego Florez singing a discount Ave Maria* and then hopefully move on to some beautiful bel canto arias? When your at it you can go on to explain that _bel canto_ is a historically defined art of singing and not schmaltzy stuff like Il Volo singing O sole mio.


I think they should pay full price for Florez. Potts and Bocelli they can have for nothing!


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

If Potts draws people in to opera what's the problem? Perhaps it will not draw them any further than the lobby but will it do damage to the cause of opera that there is a bunch of 'uneducated' listeners? I would think they would help to support it, keep opera as a viable concern even when not directly supporting the non-pop core of the business.

These singers offer rather syrupy renditions with the edges taken off, but if that is what it takes to help the opera medicine go down then perhaps they aren't so bad. They aren't there to cater for the hard liquor drinkers of opera but some of their listeners might progress to better recordings and performances, or at least stumble into them.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

People, people! Please! This thread is depressing me! I'd almost rather listen to Martinelli! Oh God! What am I saying?


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

quack said:


> If Potts draws people in to opera what's the problem? Perhaps it will not draw them any further than the lobby but will it do damage to the cause of opera that there is a bunch of 'uneducated' listeners? I would think they would help to support it, keep opera as a viable concern even when not directly supporting the non-pop core of the business.
> 
> These singers offer rather syrupy renditions with the edges taken off, but if that is what it takes to help the opera medicine go down then perhaps they aren't so bad. They aren't there to cater for the hard liquor drinkers of opera but some of their listeners might progress to better recordings and performances, or at least stumble into them.


My concern is when they are seen to represent opera.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

elgars ghost said:


> I've never even heard of Potts - does this make me a total philistine or one of the blissfully ignorant?


The latter.:tiphat:


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Alexander said:


> My concern is when they are seen to represent opera.


Why do we get in a lather about this? When a work colleague told me she was going to hear 'the opera singer' Andre Bocelli in concert I didn't tear my hair out. Just wished her an enjoyable evening which I'm sure she had. He's not the greatest but then life doesn't always work out that the greatest artists are the most popular with the public.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

No-one here is getting 'in a lather'.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Alexander said:


> No-one here is getting 'in a lather'.


Strikes me they are of you look at the postings! We need to chill. Opera is about entertainment.


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## alan davis (Oct 16, 2013)

Some years ago, driving to work I was listening to a tenor on the radio. My first thought was "that's David Hobson" (fellow Aussie). I'd heard he'd been through a period of voice problems and boy, it really showed. Turned out to be Andrea Bocelli. I've avoided him like the plague ever since. Of Potts I know little. Pavarotti is one of my greats and I have many of his recordings. Never tire of him.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

Alexander said:


> My concern is when they are seen to represent opera.


Exactly! People have all the right to listen to what they want but I begin to worry when in the context of a classical concert which is at the same time a big, global media event (Expo inauguration) someone like Bocelli is presented as a _maestro_ who sings Verdi and Giordano. This is nothing but educating people to farcical commercialism. Seeing such boring figures in bourgeois evening spectacles is also a big turn off for young people who contrary to popular belief are not dumb at all. I bet that more young people would care for opera if they saw a clip of Corelli or Callas in TV.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Alexander and Cesare are right IMO. I have no problem with microphone singers making records of opera arias if that's what they want to do- it's the way that these singers are aggressively marketed and misleadingly portrayed as representative of opera singers, that does the damage. One of my favourite recordings of Nadir's aria 'Je crois entendre' from The Pearl Fishers is by the French crooner Tino Rossi. It's a record which can be enjoyed (or not) on its own terms: it's never been touted as an example of what opera is all about, so has no power to hurt or help perceptions of operatic singing.






I wonder if Paul Potts has recorded it? That would certainly be a _nadir_ in the discography of that aria!


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Figleaf said:


> One of my favourite recordings of Nadir's aria 'Je crois entendre' from The Pearl Fishers is by the French crooner Tino Rossi.


Rossi really has a beautiful voice. A nice version.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> I've never even heard of Potts - does this make me a total philistine or one of the blissfully ignorant?


I'd never heard of him either until a couple of years ago -- and then when I did hear the name, the name of a certain dictator immediately sprang to mind. I still have yet to hear the guy sing (Paul Potts, that is).

Seriously, though, Andrea Bocelli's is a voice that has never appealed to me. I've heard people say it's beautiful...All I can say is, those people are hearing something in it that I'm not hearing.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Potts........wasn't he on Happy Days?


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

Well, we have actual "real opera goers" who think Placido Domingo is a great baritone. Just sayin' there are further levels of hell to navigate... :lol:


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Strikes me they are of you look at the postings! We need to chill. Opera is about entertainment.


Personally I always think opera, like good literature, theatre and cinema should be about a lot more than mere entertainment. TV soaps are entertainment. Surely great art operates on an altogether higher plane. I have no problem with the popular success of concerts like The Three Tenors, but let's not confuse them with, say, my last visit to Covent Garden (*Rigoletto* with Simon Keenlyside and Aleksandra Kurzak) which literally moved me to tears.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Alexander said:


> Here's a question: If you wanted introduce someone like this to great opera singing, what CD would you recommend? Something fairly recent, not Callas or Sutherland or old stuff.


They may like basses (just sayin')


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

DavidA said:


> Strikes me they are of you look at the postings! We need to chill. Opera is about entertainment.


Badly-written fairy tales and Marvel Comics are about entertainment.

Opera at its best is a sublime work of art.

A_ Rosenkavalier_, an _Otello_, and a _Ring _cycle are 'mere entertainment' in the same way _King Lear_ or Hamlet are '_just drama_.'


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

GregMitchell said:


> ... I have no problem with the popular success of concerts like The Three Tenors, but let's not confuse them with, say, my last visit to Covent Garden (*Rigoletto* with Simon Keenlyside and Aleksandra Kurzak) which literally moved me to tears.


Tell me about it!! SK's _Cortigiani, vil razza dannata_ was harrowing.


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Should I be happy that I've never heard Potts and very little Pavarotti and Bocelli?


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Should I be happy that I've never heard Potts and very little Pavarotti and Bocelli?


Personally I think that there is nothing wrong with Pavarotti. He is a very good tenor. So feel free to listen


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Should I be happy that I've never heard Potts and very little Pavarotti and Bocelli?


Absolutely yes regarding Potts and Bocelli. Pavarotti actually was a great lyric tenor, only that he got all the mediatic credit for the wrong repertory. I still wouldn't be sad if didn't listen much to him, at least not if I listened to huge amounts of Anselmi, Schipa, Gigli, Björling, Di Stefano and Gedda instead. :lol:


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

DavidA said:


> Opera is about entertainment.


That is the thing.
If people are entertained by hearing Bocelli how entertained will they not be if they begin listening to singers that can give more entertaining performances.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

What about Harry Secombe, arguably the Bocelli of the 1950s- though I think he was in fact a trained tenor.






'None shall sleep' indeed... in case they have a nightmare in which Neddie Seagoon is singing Puccini...


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

MoonlightSonata said:


> Should I be happy that I've never heard Potts and very little Pavarotti and Bocelli?


Yes. My kids aren't as musical as you but they are musical enough to despise their granny's CDs of 'smelly Bocelli' as some immature person (certainly not me) once dubbed him.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I


Figleaf said:


> What about Harry Secombe, arguably the Bocelli of the 1950s- though I think he was in fact a trained tenor.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Harry was a comedian who sang. He was not foremost a singer. He was popular in light repertoire and shouldn't have sang operatic arias like this.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Diminuendo said:


> Personally I think that there is nothing wrong with Pavarotti. He is a very good tenor. So feel free to listen


Pavarotti was a very great tenor indeed - one of the great voices of the 20th century. Just that as he got older he tended to get lazier and found he could make money just by singing handkerchief in hand. Who can blame him? Caruso did quite a bit of light repertory on the side


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## sabrina (Apr 26, 2011)

I think Pavarotti was one of the best tenors of the XX-th century. I also enjoyed his "lazy" stage, even most of his "Pavarotti and friends" as I discovered some pop singers. There were some disasters, but on the bright side, I was quite shocked by the wonderful, eclectic duet with James Brown and their take on "It's a man's world"
I know Potts from his original video on BHT on youtube. Other than that I have no idea what happened with him...
Bocelli is good in the pop opera section, but good God, who had the idea to allow him doing full operas?


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

.....seriously? Paul Potts and Andrea Bocelli are on the same list as Pavarotti? please excuse me while I go sing a final high C and fall off a ledge to my death...


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> .....seriously? Paul Potts and Andrea Bocelli are on the same list as Pavarotti? please excuse me while I go sing a final high C and fall off a ledge to my death...


I do rather wonder why the three have been lumped together. Pavarotti had a real career in the opera house. The other two most definitely did not.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> I do rather wonder why the three have been lumped together. Pavarotti had a real career in the opera house. The other two most definitely did not.


Simon Cowell changed all that.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Simon Cowell changed all that.


Damned for all time!


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> Damned for all time!


Dante has a special rung in the _Inferno_ just for him for "traitors to taste and to higher humanity."


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Dante has a special rung in the _Inferno_ just for him for "traitors to taste and to higher humanity."


You know who is waiting :devil:


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> You know who is waiting :devil:


The Energizer Bunny?

_;D_


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Marschallin Blair said:


> The Energizer Bunny?
> 
> _;D_


I ment that :devil: is waiting for


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> I ment that :devil: is waiting for


I know what you meant. _;D_

It's just that I take the Energizer Bunny more seriously than I do Simon and his bad haircut.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Just to interject a charitable word (though not to divert the discussion unduly in that direction), I recall reading that Bocelli's deepest desire was to sing opera, which God in his infinite mercy made impossible for him. I'm sure he's been grateful for his few opportunities to wrap his sweet but modest voice around the music of Verdi and Puccini. That said, we have the happy privilege of not listening to him.

I have never heard Paul Potts. I hope always to be able to say that.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Just to interject a charitable word (though not to divert the discussion unduly in that direction), I recall reading that Bocelli's deepest desire was to sing opera, which God in his infinite mercy made impossible for him. I'm sure he's been grateful for his few opportunities to wrap his sweet but modest voice around the music of Verdi and Puccini. That said, we have the happy privilege of not listening to him.
> 
> I have never heard Paul Potts. I hope always to be able to say that.


The problem I have with Bocelli is that he sings everything monochromatically and with no feeling or passion, even in his own language. I have not heard Potts. Pavarotti certainly had a wonderful voice qua voice but, to me, was effective in very few roles.
I saw him often in San Francisco, where he could do no wrong and whose performances always sold out. His best here were his early performances (in the Seventies) of Edgardo, Cavaradossi, Rodolfo, and Calaf.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Sloe said:


> Since he actually performs in operas he unfortunately is an opera singer.
> At least he makes the other singers appear better.


And now is Mimi dead for real. 

I hope Bocelli will have a long and happy life regardless of what I or other think about his capability as an opera singer but considering how this year have turned out so far who knows.

I also think it is a bit unfair to compare Pavarotti with a talent show competitor.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

DavidA said:


> [Harry Secombe] was popular in light repertoire and shouldn't have sang operatic arias like this.


I agree that _Nessun Dorma_ never fell within his range, but it's a freakish aria anyway. Secombe was actually more than competent in all but the most larynx-busting tenor repertoire; his _Lamento di Federico_ (not an easy aria to pull off by any means) was quite something. Secombe wasn't in the Pavarotti/Gigli/Tagliavini league of course, but he was head and shoulders above Paul Potts and Andrea Bocelli.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Update:
Paul Potts sung the Steersman (Flying Dutchman) at the provincial Hungarian city of Szeged in July. He's finally made a start, even if he did have to wear a spacesuit in this production. I can't find a review.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> Update:
> Paul Potts sung the Steersman (Flying Dutchman) at the provincial Hungarian city of Szeged in July. He's finally made a start, even if he did have to wear a spacesuit in this production. I can't find a review.


Well, you made me break down and actually listen to Paul Potts ("You made me listen, I didn' wanna do it, I didn' wanna do it..."). This was all I could handle:






His voice teacher actually said "very good"?  The city of Szeged must be desperate. Why do mediocrities (no, disasters) like this become famous? How come I'm not famous?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sloe said:


> And now is Mimi dead for real.
> 
> I hope Bocelli will have a long and happy life regardless of what I or other think about his capability as an opera singer but considering how this year have turned out so far who knows.
> 
> I also think it is a bit unfair to compare Pavarotti with a talent show competitor.


That's ever so kind off you to say.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> I agree that _Nessun Dorma_ never fell within his range, but it's a freakish aria anyway. Secombe was actually more than competent in all but the most larynx-busting tenor repertoire; his _Lamento di Federico_ (not an easy aria to pull off by any means) was quite something. Secombe wasn't in the Pavarotti/Gigli/Tagliavini league of course, but he was head and shoulders above Paul Potts and Andrea Bocelli.


I'd rather have Potts singing _Nessun Dorma_ than Laura Bretan


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

sospiro said:


> I'd rather have Potts singing _Nessun Dorma_ than Laura Bretan


A young girl singing "Tu pure o principessa, nella tua fredda stanza" turns an aria about sexual anticipation into something from Andersen's fairy tales, and a powerhouse set-piece into a generic "pretty tune". Crossover is all very well, but girls singing male repertoire (or vice versa) perhaps takes it a little too far.

Coming up: Meatloaf sings _Casta Diva_


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## interestedin (Jan 10, 2016)

sospiro said:


> I'd rather have Potts singing _Nessun Dorma_ than Laura Bretan


It's so weird and embarrassing to watch how the audience and the TV industry people in that video (no idea who they are) go crazy about that caricature of Puccini...

It is kind of funny how one of the most widely known male "opera singers" _finally_ makes his debut: In the role of Steuermann (next: Siegfried?)  To me that Steuermann sounds like he is fighting for his life (and death appears to be winning...).






On the other hand if Paul Potts or that girl or anyone else make people happy with their singing, that's what they should continue to do and they deserve appreciation for that! We can't argue about taste after all.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

interestedin said:


> It's so weird and embarrassing to watch how the audience and the TV industry people in that video (no idea who they are) go crazy about that caricature of Puccini...
> 
> It is kind of funny how one of the most widely known male "opera singers" _finally_ makes his debut: In the role of Steuermann (next: Siegfried?)  To me that Steuermann sounds like he is fighting for his life (and death appears to be winning...).
> 
> ...


The music is already dead. I you want to hear music phrased one note at a time, Potts is your man.

What on earth is happening onstage, by the way?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

interestedin said:


> It's so weird and embarrassing to watch how the audience and the TV industry people in that video (no idea who they are) go crazy about that caricature of Puccini...
> 
> It is kind of funny how one of the most widely known male "opera singers" _finally_ makes his debut: In the role of Steuermann (next: Siegfried?)  To me that Steuermann sounds like he is fighting for his life (and death appears to be winning...).
> 
> ...


Indeed.

Nobody emerges from the womb* an opera fan and we all have to start somewhere. Maybe the people who enjoy this will explore other operas.

*The exception could possibly be Simon Keenlyside's son, Owen. When Mrs K. was pregnant she'd go to rehearsals so unborn baby could hear Dad's voice.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> A young girl singing "Tu pure o principessa, nella tua fredda stanza" turns an aria about sexual anticipation into something from Andersen's fairy tales, and a powerhouse set-piece into a generic "pretty tune". Crossover is all very well, but girls singing male repertoire (or vice versa) perhaps takes it a little too far.
> 
> Coming up: Meatloaf sings _Casta Diva_


She is singing Nessun Dorma she is not playing Calaf.
Maybe in 20-30 years from now she will play Turandot or Liu.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> The music is already dead. I you want to hear music phrased one note at a time, Potts is your man.
> 
> What on earth is happening onstage, by the way?


I suspect that's Senta, dreaming of the Dutchman?

Potts performed in amateur opera well before going on and winning Britain's Got Talent. And while I didn't think he was very good, at least he wasn't singing Erik. (Can't say the same for the _Tosca_ he was in this summer; he was Cavaradossi there).

I think his "Nessun Dorma" at the finale was better, but not good, really.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Sloe said:


> She is singing Nessun Dorma she is not playing Calaf.


Even if we take Calaf out of the equation, we still have an aria that deals with the singer's intention to kiss and sexually conquer a frigid princess. It's not even an aria for a boy treble, never mind a young girl.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> Even if we take Calaf out of the equation, we still have an aria that deals with the singer's intention to kiss and sexually conquer a frigid princess. It's not even an aria for a boy treble, never mind a young girl.


Most people don´t understand Italian anyway. 
Not much worse than having a man reading the dialogue for a woman or vice versa.


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## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

I bet people went and saw this _Der fliegende Holländer_ that otherwise would not have gone. I bet for some it was their first opera. Opera is expensive business, and I'm not sure I can entirely dismiss this.

There will be some people that hear Paul Potts and think that is all opera has to offer, but not anyone that attends one of those professional performances with other professional singers. And for everyone discouraged by this, there will be more that would not have heard anything like opera. I mean, that's why Paul Potts won this TV show competition; because most of the audience hadn't really heard a better rendition of the arias he sang.

There will be people for whom crossover (or whatever) singers are enough. But others will hear them and want something different. I don't think Potts or Andrea Bocelli or Pavarotti working with pop singers ruins opera, or keeps people from appreciating other/better singers.

It's a strange balance. I hear people talk about how opera used to be very popular, which is really a distortion. Attending the opera was very popular, but not so much for the art form itself. More people were exposed to it and if you knew about it you had something to talk about with the other wealthy/powerful people attending the opera to be seen.

I'm glad opera isn't something everybody attends and talks throughout. I'm annoyed when I go to a rock show and people are just there to chat and drink and occasionally yell with the crowd when a song that was on the radio or a television show is played.

Of course there's no real danger of that right now.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

mountmccabe said:


> I bet people went and saw this _Der fliegende Holländer_ that otherwise would not have gone. I bet for some it was their first opera. Opera is expensive business, and I'm not sure I can entirely dismiss this.
> 
> There will be some people that hear Paul Potts and think that is all opera has to offer, but not anyone that attends one of those professional performances with other professional singers. And for everyone discouraged by this, there will be more that would not have heard anything like opera. I mean, that's why Paul Potts won this TV show competition; because most of the audience hadn't really heard a better rendition of the arias he sang.
> 
> ...


If Paul Potts and Andrea Boccelli can actually get some of their fans interested in opera, then the pain is not entirely in vain. I do wonder, though, how great the effect of putting them in a professional production of Tosca or Dutchman is. I suspect not very great - and the price is that others who attend and have listened at home to Pavarotti or Wunderlich are not getting much for their money. And meanwhile Puccini and Wagner have their bony digits stuck in the ear holes of their skulls.

Is there ever a good reason for not casting the best voices we can find and afford (granted that money is a problem and somebody like Potts would probably do it for free)? Seems to me that nothing will create more interest for opera than singers who make people say not "How come he wasn't as loud as he was on TV?" but "Wow, I didn't know voices could sound like that without a microphone!"

Perhaps there's no definitive answer to this. Just don't offer me tickets.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Perhaps for Szeged, it's money well spent? I commend both parties for making this happen. Not sure about the spaceship production though. It looks like they have good setup in Szeged, and I'm tempted to visit next year.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Sloe said:


> Most people don´t understand Italian anyway.


True, but a song should have meaning, if not to the audience, then to the singer. Otherwise it's just vapid crooning.


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