Both are wonderful and in good voice. Carlo Bergonzi told me he disliked this role the most of all of Verdi's tenor roles. Why? The character is not a sympathetic person. You have to sing it perfectly and it is not an easy sing because anything you do which is unnatural is exposed. It is the sopranos evening, and the baritone has the best aria right in the middle of the show. Mr. Gedda is wonderful. He has no break between his pianissimos and fortes, the voice never gets blocked. He is what Alfredo is: charming and he shows he is turned on without overplaying it. She understands that Violetta is afraid of him...he could really love her and not just user her. This clip is live too. A treat.
I know this is from the film, La Traviata, but I think Verdi, himself, would have stood up and applauded these two performers in a live opera! Brave' Anna Moffo and Nicolai Gedda!!
Maestro Gedda your voice Will always be remembered as one of the greatest...and when it comes to French opera you are the one Maestro Gedda! Wherever you are I know there is a reluctant shinning🙏🎇🎆
I'm amazed that "gernamoperasinger" thinks that Moffo had bad technique: perhaps in your narrow world of german technique! Never in your wildest dreams could you possibly achieve her success vocally as she was truly magnificent. The Lady became ill and died early in life which might explain her shorter career.
2)As Gedda was one of the most famous singers, praised for his technique and with very long career evidently this technique served him very well. In his biography he tells that he had some problems with the voice before he continued his studies with Paola Novikova (who thought him the "sorriso" technique)and that after a few months all problems magically disappeared.
this is somewhat unorthodox but he's my favorite Alfredo. He's good at portraying dashing, tragic, besotted and somewhat self absorbed young men... and Gedda fits the role perfectly in my opinion. Plus on the recording with Sills he made the "oh mio rimorso" cabaletta seem like a worthwhile part of the opera, and his soft singing in the duets is beautiful.
Gedda wasn't at all pleased with her, he wrote as much in his memoirs. His portray of her is anything but flattering, as is also the case with Beverly Sills and Renata Tebaldi. On the contrary he is very appreciative of Callas.
How wonderful to finally be able to see both of them in their visual prime. As a kid I dreamed of seeing each on stage, but never had the chance. What limited repertoires modern singers have compared to Mr. Gedda. Bless him!
Nicolai,s gift was enormous, and he shared it for many decades with the world. I am blessed any time I chance to hear him. I especially like hearing him sing duets as I think he inspired the best performance from whoever/whomever he sang with.
Actually Moffo had a bad technique, no support. That's why she burned out so young. There is no doubt, though that she was far superior to Netrebko in terms of natural talent and beauty of voice. She is still one of my favorites (Moffo I mean).
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't deal with all this bullshit, I am going to make a FAQ on vocal technique so people freaking can read it instead of me explaining to people the same damn thing every single time...
If someone doesn't really like this tenor is a preeetty good reason to say he has bad taste. And if you truly respect others opinions so much, why not just leave mine and those of at least 33 fellow tubers, alone. Because, with all due respect, you're being either fallacious or just plain contradictory.
You stand corrected for the bigraphical data but you don't explain what you yourself wrote about the shorter career. I didn't and I won't say anything about the technique, because I don't know anything about it, but the well known fact is that Moffo was losing her voice already in the late sixties and she had a real breakdown in 74. I have for example a live recording of Lucia from 69, which is awful.
1) The question is of course irrelevant,serving only rethorical purposes. There isn't only one technique and different singers may adopt different approaches. Some of them may even not chose the right one for their voice and their careers may be consequently shorter.
But he was following a teacher's recommendation of singing with a smile! This is connected with the position of the throat muscles, if I remember well.
***** Lorengar habe ich in Berlin noch erlebt. Sie war die "Tosca vom Dienst". Sie hatte so viele treue Fans, die ihren Urlaub nach ihrem Besetzungsplan genommen haben. Außerdem gehörte sie zu den Sängerinnen, die wussten, wann sie aufhören sollen.
I seldom see anyone who can stand still and deliver a sentence in an aria anymore. For all the vaunted modern "acting", I often see a lot of busy-ness and very tense emoting in the work of contemporary singing. To me that is worse than the supposed lack of acting in the elders. The stillness and directness, and occasionally a sense of fun in these performers is more like a good broadway performer doing much harder music.
I try to avoid comparisions but I'd like to comment on the Netrebko vs. Moffo discussion. Moffo did not have a perfect technique but she it was FAR greater than Netrebko's ( infinitely better coloratura , better diction, better breath control, easier acuti, more focused sound, greater musicianship etc). In terms of whose timbre is more beautiful, that is subjective. Personally, I think Moffo's voice is far more colorful, attractive and distinctive.
i disagree totally! if you know how vowels are made then you know that tongue position plays the biggest role in vowel production. vowels should be formed by the tongue and the dropping the jaw. the lips only aide in the process. singing with too much of the lips actually dampens the sound causing tension. ultimately making it harder to sing by chewing the consonants.
i stand corrected on more poor biographical facts regarding the lifespan of Ms. Moffo, but I stand firm on the other issue. my issue with Germanoperasinger remains the same, and you two ladies who chose to correct me took no issue with such maljudgement shown there by the afore-mentioned Germanopersinger. celebrate our american 'greats' and leave the snips of their few faults to the idol ones who do little more than live their lives to be critical.
you can keep your mouth in the same position and by changing the position of the tongue only make clear i,E, and A. only for the O and U are you forcesd the slightly pucker the lips to make a distinction. But the tongue still does most of the work. The lips are more influential in the formation of consonants which should always be rapid late and clear. making way for the vowel!
there is no way you can form vowels without moving the tongue. the sideblades of the tonge automatically touch the top back molars when singing e, and E, you cant get around it. if yours arent try it; it just may help your singing. watch the mouths of any of the greats they role their tongues so forward to create the right vowel formants.
I agree, there isn't just one technique. what works for one student may not work for another. A student should run if their teacher is not constantly learning and trying new ways to make him/her understand what it is they want to hear. Gedda's technique works for him. His teacher found what works and look at the great output. it is one of the cleanest and clearest tenor voices i've ever heard. May i add beautiful
Helps focus the tone, if you consciously feel that area, many singers don't have to do that, they just sing into that space naturally, without having to do this.
I do not like Gedda at all! I Think myself he´s the worst Swedish singer ever. Fake technique and arrogance. Moffo, that dependes. Bad technique, musicallity, physical beauty and that´s all. She lost her voice when she was suppose to be in prime...
