AIDA - GIUSEPPE VERDI - 1949 

The performance is not that rare, it's been available on LP, and later on CD, almost continuously since it was recorded.

Agreed. He was one of the very best and greats for sure.

This was recorded after he had a stroke. People thought he wouldn't ever conduct again, and not only did he conduct, but he made it one of the best performances out there. AND ALL FROM MEMORY! He's an absolute hero.

@@tbabubba32682 Tucker when asked by Toscanini . to sing the TV Brdcst. Performance, told the maestro he would, but only if Toscanini personally coached and advised him about singing the role, his first time singing a complete Rhadames, and he was only singing complete live opera's in Italian at that time, (1949) for four years, his Met. debut was in 1945, so Tucker knew it was a great chance to boost up his operatic reputation, which it did with very good reviews. Peerce was asked by Toscanini to sing it, but told me, he said "no way" as he did not feel it right for his voice, so 35 year old Tucker agreed and was given some private coaching by Toscanini and Joe Garnett, his own personal coach, until Tucker died in 1975. I knew both Peerce and Tucker personally and they both looked up to Toscanini as a God, the great Cond. Toscanini RIP.

You are Italian, and knowing the Italian Language but the comment "moonlitnight " recently mentioned about Tucker's Italian doesn't seem really accurate, that is for non Italian singers. Toscanini used Jussi Bjorling and Jan Peerce (his favorite at the time also) but Tucker 's Italian was equal to both those tenors and very good here, early in his career, in fact very early, Bjorling's wasn't really all that good, however Toscanini used him for the live .1940 Verdi Req. he did learn fast with a great ear, later JB's Italian was excellent, I spoke to the late leading well known Cond. for Chicago lyric opera long ago, Italian born "Bruno Bartoletti" about American Richard Tucker and others, including the great, also non Italian Swedish tenor, Jussi Bjoerling and he told me both men, Tucker and Bjoerling sang Italian so well, that they both where excellent for not being Italian and that is even though neither man spoke the language at all. As you know the Italian's gave Tucker the Commendatore medal, among their highest cultural award and he was very popular in Italy, in several major opera houses when he sang there, which later was often in several cities and with success. Tucker's Italian reviews from the critics, that is in every review I've seen ( I have read several in the James Drake book) where excellent, so good in fact that not one mentioned mediocre or poor Italian diction. what is your opinion of his Italian?

Radamès.

Dear Moonlitknight, On the contrary, Tucker had excellent diction which improved under the demanding Toscanini. R.T. also was received with high honors, when he sang at La Scala, Parma, Rome & Florence under the microscope of some tough critics and audiences. Quoted out of Jim Drake's book, Di Stefano said that ''Any man who could sing Manon L. in Rome , Ballo in Florence, Trovatore in Parma, Aida in Verona, and choose Luisa Miller as his debut at La Scala---now, this is a tenor!''

@@sugarbist You know what, I relistened to the performance and agree with you Tucker was superb. He had the perfect voice for Radames. Thanks for your comments.

Tucker e' straordinario ma la Nelli e' un soprano dal timbro banale,qualunque e la Gustafsson e' terribile, brutta voce e brutta tecnica. Come interprete poi e' impresentabile. Toscanini sara' stato un grande direttore ma lasciare una testimonianza del genere con queste donne scrause con il ben di Dio che c'era a quei tempi...si fa fatica a seguire.

there used to be part one and part two ,and in sync. It must have been taken off

Yes, it's live and yet not in sync. from this older posting and no complete Video of the performance has been posted sadly, I'm surprised as it was a classic, first Aida Video "Live " and complete performance and with Toscanini in 1949.

Amen

Dear John, You certainly have the right to dislike any singer. But to make up a scenario or suspicion why Toscanini chose Tucker is truly prejudicial and absurd. The fact is that no one could ever jawbone Toscanini into doing something he didn't 't want to do. A.T. originally asked Jan Peerce, his favorite tenor to sing the part of Radamas, but Peerce who had a voice that was larger than Bjorling's, but smaller than Tucker's refused. A.T. then turned to Tucker who had never sung the role before, and Toscanini insisted that Tucker would be perfect for the role and he was right. But, personally, Imo, The reason that Toscanini opted to engage Tucker was because he knew that Tucker's voice was perfect for the role and was a better choice than JB who was not a true spinto, but had a good recording voice, and not suited for the more heroic role of Radames. I don't believe MDM ever sang under A.T. Tucker was well regarded and respected among his peers including Corelli and Del Monaco. He also received great praise from G. Lauri Volpi who really was careful about delivering compliments. Tucker also did a great Gioconda, Forza, Chenier, Fanciulla and Manon Lescaut. R.T. had a rock solid technique and his Italian was excellent. He also had a very strong theatrical voice with great high notes.Dear John, Maybe you should listen a little more carefully.

I have already said in another place. You gentlemen have your heroes while I selected mine. You like green color while my preferred is blue. Nothing wrong is with that but of course the mixture of these colors looks awful. Based on Harvey Sachs book about Toscanini and Our Lives by Halina Rodzinski, I got a rather clear picture that Toscanini, Rodzinski, Barbirolli and Mitropoulos were openly manipulated. I have no time for detailing it for you. They were my favorite conductors. Reiner at Chicago was not very happy either. Georg Szell, already familiar with Rodzinski hurdles just before signing contract with Cleveland, told managing body, I want this and this as my responsibility and those are yours, OK!!! Management agreed because they did not want to fight another war this time with revolutionary and stern Szell. Even Leonard Bernstein sometimes complained. Those things happened usually at the end of their careers as music directors. If I were Toscanini, I would never pick those singers. I admire this recording because orchestra under Toscanini is there. Not singers. Even you do not prefer Bjorling (In this studio recording he would sound perfectly well) there were other singers. Lauri Volpi, despite still good shape was too old. Too bad studio H8 had very poor acoustic, unlike Boston Symphony Hall. For this great Italian Toscanini’s stature and his historic recorded performance soloist should be from the top shelf. I am not satisfied. Aha, I need to add something. Not now but in 1980 to early 2000ts I listened very often WQXR. There, I heard quite often opinion that Jussi Bjorling was the most admired tenor singing at the Met in XX Century. Sorry that I am spoiling your quickly approaching Thanks Giving Day.

Dear John, You're really not spoiling Thanks Giving as your statements fall short of factual evidence.You seem to have the time to make discrediting remarks, but yet you don't have time to back them up, but, I do. Bjorling was a great lyric tenor with a small but well focused voice that was very cold on records but better in live performances. He could never compete with the likes of the more stentorian voices like Tucker, Corelli, and Del Monaco. I mention Lauri Volpi, not to make a comparison but to sight his incredible knowledge he had about the tenor voice.. My 91 year old friend saw JB about 5 times and dismissed him by stating that ''his voice was pretty, but small''. Proclamations are wonderful for the individual but are rarely accurate as they are in your case. My guess is that you never saw Bjorling live and you are just turning the volume dials up on your amplifier. Bjorling had his limitations as every other tenor did and his was a great voice of beauty but not of emotion and volume.

Bjorling, in his or your wildest dreams could not compete with Lauri Volpi vocally in his repertoire that included Puritani, Gugliemo Tell Ugonotti all sung in original pitch. However Volpi could and did sing everything that Bjorling sung. Plus Otello Forza and Chenier Turandot which Bjorling was smart enough to avoid.

@sugarbeast... Who said that Jussi would compete with Lauri Volpi? I did not and I could not. Volpi with Martinelli possibly. Monaco and Corelli are two very different voices as well. For a very short while I tried to pair Monaco with the French helden tenor Tony Poncet, but I give up. Monaco was able to sing helden roles while not being helden tenor at all. Tony Poncet was a helden voice. Monaco at the beginning of his career had problem with finding proper teachers because nobody knew where to categorize his unusual type of tenor. They considered him as a barito-tenor. Di Stefano and Gigli were different. Bjorling, could be compared with Bergonzi, I think. Each of those compared above represent two different voices connected with one description as "tenors". You did not read carefully what I wrote. Smart singers avoid roles, which can damage their vocal cords. There is no such thing that one singer can sing everything for one type of voice. La donna a mobile performed by Monaco or Corelli sounds bad. This is not role for them, but much more for JB, Bergonzi, di Stefano or Tucker. Tucker even admitted in one of his last interviews (recorded with George Jellinek) that he would not perform in Othello because it is not for his voice. In recent years, Met hires singers based on their ability to connect with assigned roles physically. Not like Caruso who until his final year sang very dramatic roles together with lyric Nemorino. Whole time I have tried to explain that what sounds good/pleasant/beautiful to my ears I like to listen. Opinion of newspaper experts is irrelevant to me.