Thank you for that post….as I super fan of Gigli (and a few others) I’ve never heard that before!!!!! I feel compelled to bring up the sheer greatness of this tiny excerpt. I’m not an arrogant person….and alas, im not a singer, although I have sung. But fortunately, God blessed me with 2 things…..he/she gave me an ear for voice production, and he/she blessed me with the friendship of Licia Albanese and Lucine Amara. Rest in peace, both of these two incredible artists spent many hours listening to recordings of great artists with me…..including their own!!!! And over and over again I would provide feedback on what I imagined was going on in the production of tone…..and both of these ladies told me that I could hear things that only singers can hear….and bel canto things that even many modern singers don’t hear naturally, as Licia still taught master classes in Manhattan in the late nineties and I was invited to observe, with her dear friend and mine Alba Mazza. I know that all sounds so awfully arrogant but I assure u that’s not my intention. My intention is to get either a singer or even better, a teacher to hear the what I’m saying and pass it on!!!! Can you hear how the notes Gigli sings here at ABSOLUTELY UNREAL!!! Not just eye high note on the Italian U vowel…..hell that’s as difficult as it gets right there as SO many change the high note to the A in Ma’appar for they can’t even create a good tone on the “ooooo” tone. But look at what he does with the tone almost exactly preceding the high note…..the “o” in n rapito son. Now this note is approaching the most difficult area for a tenor….the passigio. And Gigli’s passigio began on F natural. So u hear how perfect he colors this note!?!?! So many tenors make this note of little consequence but covering it….by darkening the vowel and thereby sending it back down to partially resonate in the chest. When this is done the not becomes quite easy. This is not what Gigli does…..he keeps the shape pure and true to the Italian “o” and thereby having it resonate in his head. The result is a wonderfully resonating “head tone” that is full of squillo….in proportion to the size of his voice….I’m jot suggesting that he’s Tamagno here lol. But when choosing to color that exact vowel in that manner, how many tenors lose control of the not and have it “spread” on them….losing both color and vibrato. U get the sense that Gigli just belts it out, without any fear. And if to validate my point, look what follows on the “u” vowels…tuuuuuu, UUUUUUUUUU, ma’apartieni. As tight of a U high note as you’re ever going to hear full of color and squillo. Again, how many tenors, who actually sing it on this vowel don’t darken it to sound more like an open “awww” sound…..Caruso keeps it as a U and honestly, produces the note better than Gigli on a spin out from F to FFF. Gigli does this too in his studio recording from ‘28…..but those are the only two who do this……I DONT find that shocking at all. If we could’ve heard Tamagno or Massini sing it, I’m sure the same would hold true….and ANGELO massini, not Galano. If these things could only be taught again….but to be taught they must be first heard. So if you are a tenor and reading this…..pls try and create these tones. Outside of Flores….they haven’t been uttered in 80 years….very few exceptions….very early Pav is one of them. Oh and by the way…..DiSteffano’s problem….he went the other way….he sang them too open and ruined his voice. And I even had the honor to meet him in 1982 before he reopened my family’s theatre in Stamford….but I was just a child so I didn’t say anything to him LOL.
Isso é maravilhoso! Você explica um conteúdo valiosíssimo. Agora quando eu estiver vocalizando e cantando vou me ater a esses detalhes. U natural creio que tenha sido o mais dificil para mim até alguns anos atrás. Realmente se corrompe na emissão e acaba se tornando de peito. Agora sinto tudo muito alto. Isso aliado ao cuidado extremo tem me permitido nunca fatigar a voz. Desde ao acordar está alta ate dó sobre agudo do tenor. Muito obrigado por compartilhar sua vivência maravilhosa. Saudações desde Brasil. 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
I know I already posted a week ago, but I just need to reiterate upon hearing this again…..bear in mind that I’m 48 years old and have been aware of the existence of this recording since 1990, but I never found or listened to it since last Friday. It is truly amazing….and not for super obvious reasons as is with is “28 recording where he expands on the first top note. But for plain and simply this…..this man’s voice gets BETTER in quality the higher up the scale he sings, AND THE MORE DIFFICULT the vowel. Gigli is at his vocal greatest singing high notes on the Italian vowels “u” and “i”. So many tenors….and so many GREAT tenors shy away from top notes on those 2 vowels….not only does Gigli not shy away….he belts them out with more color, more squillo in his voice than any other notes!!!!! And I’ll repeat….that top note is preceded by a very broad and taxing “o” on f#….right SMACK in the middle of Gigli’s passagio. And the note is as broad as his voice can make it, with ABSOLUTELY no strain and no loss of fluidity. Only to be followed up with a high B on the “u” vowel that is even more brilliant. You tenors and teachers alike know…..this is NOT an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve heard many many tenors sing this…..the only 3 that I’m certain that execute with perfection, without ANY loss of color, without any “covering” are Gigli, Caruso, and McCormack. There might be a fourth but I can’t break the reply to verify….but I’m pretty sure Marconi does it too…..there is a possibility that he cheats by changing vowels but I don’t think so……but I don’t think anyone would argue that Marconi didn’t possess the sheer quality that those three produced. As a singer though….my god he was a true exponent of the Bel Canto school. And unlike Caruso, the brilliance of Gigli has nothing to do with size….as he did not have a big voice…..as Pavarotti said he just had the most elastic voice of any tenor that we have record of
Oh my god. You CAN HEAR sir!!!!!! It hurts me so badly but so very few people can hear today….and in my lifetime for that matter!!!! And I’m not young at almost 49 hrs old. But thank the lord that at least someone can still hear and UNDERSTAND what chiaroscuro truly is!!!!! I’m not kidding but that warms my heart. Yes….absolutely….this is the last voice in recording history that sang the other chiaroscuro. I’m this excerpt, he is singing inherently LIGHT color notes with DARK rims around them….in the tessatura and high notes….and that alone is so very dangerous for a tenor. They risk losing the note completely….having it “spread” on them with awful vibrato or even worse, a total crack. The much safer way, which is ALWAYS chosen, today especially, is to cover the note…. Which sends part of it back down to resonate mostly in the chest. The problem is here…..unless you have Caruso’s chest, the note losses all possibility of resonance and squillo. I will make a reply to the original poster but I wanted to say that I’m so happy that someone can still hear today! Take the time to read my reply to the main thread as I wanted to bring up a couple of details which I’m sure you can hear.
BENIAMINO GIGLI Quando Beniamino Gigli, célebre tenor italiano, esteve na Igreja De Nossa Senhora da Glória, onde foi agraciado com um título Honorário da Irmandade, igual ao galo: pela manhã carcareja, Cantou as músicas que fizeram em sua vida um novo capítulo. Músicas sacras, no ambiente eletivo, lembradas em ladainha, Foram cantadas por Beniamino Gigli, acompanhado pelo coro Dirigido pelo maestro Jonas Travassos, com sinos e campainha, Refletindo dentro e fora da Igreja, ambientes de sacro decoro. Maestro Jonas Travassos, no restaurante Health´s, bem situado Na Rua Senador Dantas, em frente do Banco do Brasil, a sede da Academia de Letras, ambiente por nós muito bem honrado, Cantou, em voz suave, ária "Je crois entendre encore", da ópera "Os pescadores de pérolas", de Bizet, a música que não excede A beleza manifestada por Beniamino Gigli e que hoje prospera. (*) (*) FERNANDO PINHEIRO, presidente da Academia de Letras dos Funcionários do Banco do Brasil. - BENIAMINO GIGLI (poesia), de Fernando Pinheiro. - in O mundo de Morfeu, de Fernando Pinheiro.
As far as I can find, this is the only 'live' video of Gigli I can find on RU-vid, and by live I mean he is not lip syncing in the video and the audio is as live as the video. The movies where he lip syncs are still wonderful, but you can't beat the real deal like this. He was so awesome!
There are also a few Vitaphones where he’s singing live and not lip synching: two things from Cavalleria, the Gioconda aria, the Rigoletto quartet with De Luca, and the Pearl Fishers duet with De Luca.
I think this excerpt with just piano from one of the films is live. Just found it recently. Titled: Tu sei la vita mia Isn't this o Paradiso frustrating though..switches to the wrong camera..cuts out at certain points, is only the recit acc. etc. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bUDj6wp7hec.html
@@Ruffiello They weren't recorded at separate times, though. On Vitaphones, the sound you hear *is* the sound that the people in the picture were making. It's just that the sound is being recorded on a different mechanical apparatus from the picture. Basically a record is being cut in the moment. Then in the movie proejction houses, they would get the kinescope/picture and the disc/record, and the Vitaphone machine would sync them for playback.
You notice his hands aren't flopping around like a bird? He's totally concentrating on tone and breath control. I would have loved to hear this man live.
I never went in deep to listen to Gigli. Passed him listening to Bjoerling and Corelli. I’ll listen now after hearing this excerpt. Very different than Caruso, and so much to learn hearing this wonderful artist.
What tenor these days can sing to an audience of 20,000 without a microphone or amplification? Truly a lost art in how to project the voice. Remove the microphone from today's singers and they would sound puny in comparison.
