# Una Lagrima Furtiva...best tenor?



## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

I'm a bassoonist so it'll come as no surprise that this is a popular aria in my house. The problem I have is that too many tenors want to belt it out with as much gusto as possible. It's a gentle piece - you're mostly competing with a bassoon and a harp. No need to blast everyone in the front row.

Who do you favour for this aria? Who stands out? Any particular recordings?


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Tito Schipa


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Jussi Bjoerling


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Then there's Fritz Wunderlich. Yes I know it's in German, but he just might have the most beautiful voice of them all.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

The irreplaceable Carlo Bergonzi


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

As much as I love Bergonzi and Schipa. I would still go with Pavarotti in this....his 2nd Met DVD is very special. THere is a sparkle in his eyes and he sings this aria beautifully


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

It's a gentle piece, to be sure. The harp and the bassoon introduce the aria in a minor key, this is related to Amina's sentiments, that are appreciated by Nemorino. But later Donizetti moves to a very bright major key, "M'ama!". We are moving slowly, and we are returning to the minor key. But then, towards the end, we got from the composer an even brighter passage, more expansive for the singer.

It's true there are many, many outstanding performances of this aria. It's normal, with such a famous piece. My personal favorites?. Difficult to say. I'll just name three of them:

Enrico Caruso, in 1904: 




Alfredo Kraus (I have watched him having to encore the aria in the theater, due to the enthusiasm of the audience): 




And the third one, it has already been mentioned in the thread, it's by Tito Schipa.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

A word in for Nicolai Gedda.

Anyone but Pavarotti.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Rolando Villazon


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Caruso's version is the best imo, in fact its one of the best tenor recordings ever made.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Another vote for Caruso - its one of those voices that stops you in your tracks ... even when it is over a hundred years ago, recorded acoustically, with squeaks and hisses

As for the others, what about Joseph Schmidtt - widely available on you-tube etc - a most delicate and beautiful voice, very different from Caruso's


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> The problem I have is that too many tenors want to belt it out with as much gusto as possible. It's a gentle piece - you're mostly competing with a bassoon and a harp. No need to blast everyone in the front row.


Dead Couac, I completely agree :tiphat: I really like Renzo Casellato's version. He finishes it particularly softly:


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

On recordings I've enjoyed Bergonzi, Pavarotti, and Ramon Vargas.

If you're interested in knowing more about the aria itself, here's a video in which Placido Domingo teaches a master class on it:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The aria should be "Una Furtiva Lagrima".

Best I've heard is Jussi Björling.


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## JohnGerald (Jul 6, 2014)

Schipa. It's never been betterd.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

hpowders said:


> The aria should be "Una Furtiva Lagrima".


Yeah we know. Couac's a bassoonist so we make allowances. 



hpowders said:


> Best I've heard is Jussi Björling.


Excellent choice.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

sospiro said:


> The irreplaceable Carlo Bergonzi


Funnily enough it was the Bergonzi thread that reminded me of this aria.

Lots of good suggestions but they seem to confirm what I suspected when I first thought about this aria. It's been a very long time since it was done well. As previously mentioned, I agree that Vargas and Villazon are probably the pick from recent years. Neither would be my first choice but at least they seem to understand what's required.

I saw Alagna do it here in Paris but he butchered it. It was technically proficient and all but it was too clever for its own good. Personally, I think the aria is too reserved and tender for the vocal gymnastics that were on display that night.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Caruso, Schipa, Bjorling - I agree with all of these. Here's another tenor who should still be heard and talked about, Cesare Valletti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8LtFAPE8Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8LtFAPE8I

At the risk of being reviled by the youngsters, I must point out that all these guys are dead, and ask: Who sings like any of them now?

I await the answer.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

I'll show my bias, my pick is Beniamino Gigli, followed by Enrico Caruso.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> I'll show my bias, my pick Beniamino Gigli, followed by Enrico Caruso.


Another great dead guy. How long can we keep this up?


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Caruso, Schipa, Bjorling - I agree with all of these. Here's another tenor who should still be heard and talked about, Cesare Valletti:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8LtFAPE8Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht8LtFAPE8I
> 
> ...


But who needs vocal versatility when you have youth, beauty, and a bad haircut?--- Well, 'beauty' is a stretch.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Quote Originally Posted by DiesIraeVIX View Post
> 
> I'll show my bias, my pick Beniamino Gigli, followed by Enrico Caruso.





Woodduck said:


> Another great dead guy. How long can we keep this up?


That 'booing' you're hearing?

-- It's just ghosts clapping.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Please! *PLEASE* .... has anyone heard my pitch into the ring - Joseph Schmidt - it will only take you just over 3 minutes.






Have a listen and tell me .... isn't it a remarkable voice? As to whether it was the 'best' .... well, perhaps not, but .... !

"Few tenors of his era evoked as much affection as Joseph Schmidt, the tiny tenor who in spite of his diminuitive stature, became a beloved figure in both German opera and cinema" http://www.chazzanut.com/schmidt.html


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Please! *PLEASE* .... has anyone heard my pitch into the ring - Joseph Schmidt - it will only take you just over 3 minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Schmidt does have a remartkable voice, open and free, and sings beautifully, but I don't hear much light and shade. Playing Caruso straight after was an edifying experience, the range of colour and expression just breathtaking.

The cut aways to the listening women in the Schmidt video were hilarious, by the way!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Schmidt was under five feet tall, wasn't he? Too short to perform in opera.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

The general public can't tell the difference between a good/bad voice anyway. I don't know where to even start with this video. It's not even the singer that annoys me but rather the faux tears and glowing praise. A simple thanks but no thanks would've kept me happy.

...probably make millions. I just remembered why I'm not a judge on The Voice.

As usual, brace yourselves.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

^ good thing the singer is cute, otherwise hello run-of-the-mill everything, even by pop singer standards.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> At the risk of being reviled by the youngsters, I must point out that all these guys are dead, and ask: Who sings like any of them now?
> 
> I await the answer.


I think that's what's known as a rhetorical question 

Thanks for the Valletti link, I enjoyed his performance very much. It definitely helps when you can see a singer as well as hear him- it's one thing we miss out on when we listen to the early guys.

I think I'd cast my vote for Fernando de Lucia, although I get why people prefer Caruso- FDL couldn't match the younger Neapolitan for sheer vocal splendour. De Lucia, Schipa and Caruso are quite hard to choose between. Here's de Lucia:


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Caruso, Schipa, Bjorling

This is an easy question!


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

What, no votes yet for McCormack? I don't generally gravitate towards his operatic records because they don't normally sound as idiomatic or as emotionally committed as his wonderful song recordings, and some of them were made at a very early period when he wasn't yet a mature artist. However, Una furtiva lagrima is one of his good ones: he was at his vocal peak in 1910, and was by then the accomplished artist we know and love:






It really suits his voice, don't you think? Even though you probably do need a proper Italian tenor from Italy and not one from Athlone in this music.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> I think that's what's known as a rhetorical question
> 
> Thanks for the Valletti link, I enjoyed his performance very much. It definitely helps when you can see a singer as well as hear him- it's one thing we miss out on when we listen to the early guys.
> 
> I think I'd cast my vote for Fernando de Lucia, although I get why people prefer Caruso- FDL couldn't match the younger Neapolitan for sheer vocal splendour. De Lucia, Schipa and Caruso are quite hard to choose between. Here's de Lucia:


Thanks for that. Definitely a contender. The recording quality is poor even for 1917, and doesn't flatter the voice, which I'd guess was bright rather than rich like Caruso's. The style is old-fashioned (not meant disparagingly) in its rhythmic freedom, rapidly executed graces, perfect legato, and mezza voce effects - things singers don't seem to care much about now. What _do_ they care about? Just one of my rhetorical questions (sigh).


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> What, no votes yet for McCormack? I don't generally gravitate towards his operatic records because they don't normally sound as idiomatic or as emotionally committed as his wonderful song recordings, and some of them were made at a very early period when he wasn't yet a mature artist. However, Una furtiva lagrima is one of his good ones: he was at his vocal peak in 1910, and was by then the accomplished artist we know and love:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beautiful singing, without question. Wonderful dynamic control. Lacking just a little bit in style, I think - but oh to have someone around now who could match it!

Thanks again, Fig. Keep 'em coming.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Oh I just thought of another one- can't think how I overlooked it, as I've had it on a CD since I was 18! Julius Patzak:






He sings quite stylishly and very tastefully with an attractive tone, but I never feel the desire to listen to him these days. I'm not sure whether Patzak was just an uncharismatic singer (and I feel guilty for that damning verdict on a tenor who always seems to sing irreproachably) or whether he just seems that way when you compare him with earlier recordings from a time when singers were permitted more individuality. I think interpretations by the time Patzak was active- early 30s or so- seem to have become more standardized and central, and while it's excessive to say 'if you've heard one you've heard 'em all', there isn't the same thrill of discovery you get when you discover a new (to you) recording made very early in the 20th century when a pretty wide range of singing styles were in existence and performances of glorious eccentricity could be found.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> Schmidt does have a remartkable voice, open and free, and sings beautifully, but I don't hear much light and shade. Playing Caruso straight after was an edifying experience, the range of colour and expression just breathtaking.
> 
> The cut aways to the listening women in the Schmidt video were hilarious, by the way!


Indeed - the 1930s clearly had a different idea of audience interest. I agree with you about the lack of light and shade and certainly I would go along with Caruso being a voice to stop you in your tracks immediately, even with a century between recording and listening


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Schmidt was under five feet tall, wasn't he? Too short to perform in opera.


Yes, apparently so.

Sad that physical size and appearance affected male as well as female singers .... albeit that there was a greater degree of tolerance given to overweight middle-aged males (at least on the opera stage)

He was by all accounts an excellent cantor - though I lack detailed understanding of this specialised area of singing


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Yes, apparently so.
> 
> Sad that physical size and appearance affected male as well as female singers .... albeit that there was a greater degree of tolerance given to overweight middle-aged males (at least on the opera stage)
> 
> He was by all accounts an excellent cantor - though I lack detailed understanding of this specialised area of singing


Strange- if apparently true- that Schmidt was deemed too short for opera, yet made movies. I've seen clips where he's shot in full body and standing next to normal sized people, making obvious both his small stature and the fact that he is wearing high heels! Perhaps a midget Nemorino might cause titters when he first appears on stage, but the audience would soon get used to him and who knows, his appearance might even add poignancy to a story of a love affair between people of different social classes (even if the legacy received by Nemorino at the end causes the class issue to be skirted somewhat.)

Physique du rôle, always a difficult question. Provided it wasn't too heavy for his voice, the role of Eleazar in La Juive might have been possible for him, since- aside from the obvious Jewish connection- he's an old guy who might plausibly have shrunk a little, and isn't supposed to look like a pin-up. In another time and place Leon Escalaïs made a signature role of Eleazar: he was probably a bit taller than Schmidt and had a far more glorious voice, but his career goes to show that arbitrary rules about how conventional looking singers have to be are made to be broken, albeit to a different extent at different times and places.

Yes, cantorial training is a massive advantage musically for an opera singer, though I don't claim to know much about it either. Caruso was lucky that Gershon Sirota never made a career out of opera. Cantors do get to wear cool hats though- perhaps the height of some of them held an appeal for Joseph Schmidt!


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

sospiro said:


> Yeah we know. Couac's a bassoonist so we make allowances.


...and to further highlight my disability, I've only just realised the mix up in the thread's title.
I'm off to shed a lagrima - or a furtiva. One or the other.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> Yes, cantorial training is a massive advantage musically for an opera singer, though I don't claim to know much about it either. Caruso was lucky that Gershon Sirota never made a career out of opera. Cantors do get to wear cool hats though- perhaps the height of some of them held an appeal for Joseph Schmidt!


Gershon Sirota was the greatest of all cantors and a vocal phenomenon whom Caruso would actually attend Jewish services to hear. He had as great a tenor voice as anyone on records, as well as a complete vocal technique, including an unbelievable trill (Caruso, by the way, also had a fine trill, as heard on his "Ombra mai fu"). Every lover of singing should have Sirota in his collection, and there is no better introduction to the cantorial art. I promise you, this guy's singing will make your hair stand on end!


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Gershon Sirota was the greatest of all cantors and a vocal phenomenon whom Caruso would actually attend Jewish services to hear. He had as great a tenor voice as anyone on records, as well as a complete vocal technique, including an unbelievable trill (Caruso, by the way, also had a fine trill, as heard on his "Ombra mai fu"). Every lover of singing should have Sirota in his collection, and there is no better introduction to the cantorial art. I promise you, this guy's singing will make your hair stand on end!


I've only discovered him quite recently. Someone sent me an mp3 of him singing Ah si ben mio, with trills of course. It's probably my favourite recording of that aria in Italian. Apparently there's also a Di quella pira which I would love to hear. The liturgical stuff is fascinating vocally, although I'm not knowledgeable enough about that repertoire. YouTube has his Celeste Aïda, recorded when he was quite old, but still in thrilling voice. It would be nice if he'd sung Una furtiva lagrima, both for its own sake and so we could talk about Sirota on this thread without dragging it off topic!


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Gershon Sirota was the greatest of all cantors and a vocal phenomenon whom Caruso would actually attend Jewish services to hear. He had as great a tenor voice as anyone on records, as well as a complete vocal technique, including an unbelievable trill (Caruso, by the way, also had a fine trill, as heard on his "Ombra mai fu"). *Every lover of singing should have Sirota in his collection*, and there is no better introduction to the cantorial art. I promise you, this guy's singing will make your hair stand on end!


Agreed! I'd have joined Caruso in trotting along to hear him too - given the chance. As well as a magnificent technique, it sounds as if he could have set the whole building rattling with his power


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Sirota made me think of Russians which made me think of the great Ivan Kozlovsky. I didn't manage to track down Kozlovsky's Una furtiva lagrima and I'm not even sure if he recorded it, although he seemed to record everything else! But while I was looking I found this, by Sergei Lemeshev:






It's perfectly OK but I'm afraid I will always think of Lemeshev as a comparatively uninteresting version of Kozlovsky- although the latter wasn't always interesting for the right reasons!


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

I don't know if this is strictly relevant,but does anyone know of any acoustic era recording of the aria by a French tenor? L'elisir doesn't seem to have been in the standard repertoire in France at that time- a 1904 revival at Monte Carlo was basically a star vehicle for Caruso so doesn't count. They did like their Lucie de Lammermoor and their La Favourite, but I think that was as much Donizetti as the French could handle in those days, unless I'm looking in all the wrong places for information!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Couac Addict said:


> I'm a bassoonist ...


But are you as good as this? 






Edit: Apologies for going totally off topic!!


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

sospiro said:


> But are you as good as this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nobody's as good as that guy! I just laughed so much I started choking!


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

sospiro said:


> But are you as good as this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I need to move to the UK :lol:


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Brilliant....although he does look like a guy who needs to google _sexy phrases_.


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## Earl Okin (Sep 19, 2014)

*Best Versions?*



Couac Addict said:


> I'm a bassoonist so it'll come as no surprise that this is a popular aria in my house. The problem I have is that too many tenors want to belt it out with as much gusto as possible. It's a gentle piece - you're mostly competing with a bassoon and a harp. No need to blast everyone in the front row.
> 
> Who do you favour for this aria? Who stands out? Any particular recordings?


I can't see anyone having mentioned the versions most admired over the last century.
Caruso's 1904 version has been remastered with a new orchestra for those not used to acoustic recordings...It's just about perfect...






...and Gigli's version was almost equally fine, though in a manner all of his own.
1933, I believe.






Schipa, mentioned elsewhere, provided another great version. 
Nobody post-war has approached their versions even remotely...


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

JohnGerald said:


> Schipa. It's never been betterd.





Earl Okin said:


> I can't see anyone having mentioned the versions most admired over the last century.
> Caruso's 1904 version has been remastered with a new orchestra for those not used to acoustic recordings...It's just about perfect...
> 
> 
> ...


They've all been mentioned quite a few times- maybe you just got distracted by Brett Domino and his bassoonery

In fact I sent you the link to this discussion because I know you love that Caruso record- plenty of love for Enrico on here too!

Good to see you on the forum anyway!


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## Idit (Nov 9, 2014)

Maybe not the best but I love it!


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## Badinerie (May 3, 2008)

I have a soft spot for Bergonzi so yeah...probs. Caruso would more likely be the actual best. He nailed it soooo long ago.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

My three favorites, in no order. 

Gigli
Schipa
Caruso


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Hermann Jadlowker: a singer to be reckoned with, although I prefer him in more florid music where he can really show off his skills, like 'Ich baue ganz'. As you would expect, the cadenza (is this the word I mean?) at the end of 'Una furtiva lagrima' is done really smoothly and well, but otherwise I think the aria is too plain in style to really let him be Hermann Jadlowker, and there isn't a lot of tenderness that I can detect. Perhaps I am being too harsh. Anyway, I'm still rooting for de Lucia!


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