Not as huge as you might think, but the impact was enormous and he was a great actor. On record it sounds monumental, so in the house it was a normal big sized voice, but the darkness diminished it somewhat. Warren and MacNeil had bigger brighter voices. Love London, but I know many Americans are obsessed with size so thought I'd put it in perspective.
Well a former teacher of mine who sang internationally and became the voice chair at Indiana university before he passed would disagree. He said both London's and siepi's voices live sounded like someone cut a hole in stage floor and their voices poured out of that hole instead of their mouths. But yes Warren and Macneil also had huge voices
George London is my absolute favorite bass-baritone of all time. That thick, dark yet bright sound is thrilling. His Scarpia and Wotan are beyond words.
Much as I like Gobbi's slyness, his voice is nowhere near the power of London's amazing instrument, and the role requires this level of power. Extraordinary!!!
Of all the Scarpias I have heard live or recorded, nobody can come close to GL 's interpretation. Thank you Mr. London for leaving behind samplings of your greatness.
London's performance as Scarpia commands the listener's attention. It was a tragic loss for the world of opera when London was forced to retire from singing in the late 60s.
I agree with the writer - stage presence and sound are the requirements for great opera. George London had it all. How fortunate we are to have these videos. Bravo M. London.
....one of those unique voices and personalities in history of musical interpretation. They were - like George London- there will never come anyone like them. RIP
Acting wise along with gobi and herlea this is first rate performance,scarpia needs to scare you,that foreboding music deserves a voice to frighten you.every time he is on stage,we should be scared,london does this magnificent ly
This is not only one of the best of all "tre sbirri..."s but also his best. He sounds much better here than in the studio recording with del Monaco and Tebaldi
Guelfi was one of the greatest. As was Gobbi, London -- a tiny number of others. But I find the Scarpia I return to the most these days is actually Giuseppe Taddei. I find he combines the suave and the terrifying to an amazing degree!
Simply one of the all-time greatest voices ever. Thanks for posting this amazing video which captures this great singer in one of his greatest roles!!!
This is the ideal sound of Scarpia - profound ,black, resonant, scary. kind of a baritone Gottlieb Frick. LIsten to that E and F - I believe his power, his passion. Nothing like opera when it works!!!! You want opera to survive it has to have this kind of excitement in the sound. Pretty faces are secondary. Stage presence and pure sound is the only way opera will remain special and unique. These are not microphone voices - it is a special art form that is unique in its power to transmit human feelings and emotion in a totally human, natural way to a large group of people and live without enhancement. Do you hear me Metropolitan. I understand they mic all their stars now. Shame on you frauds.
No, gratefully there is no amplification at the Met. On the other hand, the quality of the voices has declined terribly. But that is the case all over the world and has been for many years now...a tragedy for which, sadly, there is no remedy.
@@CarlosRojasBaritono , I think what he means is that London is the baritone equivalent of Gottlob Frick...same type of dark, resonant sound but in a different voice type.
You know... I love Gobbi, don't get me wrong... but watching his videos today, I don't think his interpretation has aged very well. His acting is rather hammy by modern standards. I would still prefer London, who keeps it more suave and sophisticated, but still quite menacing.
I have to wonder what you're listening to or hearing here. Forcing? Where? The vibrato is always spinning. He sings a wonderful "piano" at 1:46, which, for a voice of that size and darkness, is incredibly difficult, and the voice spins throughout. Are some of the pitches approximated? Sure, because it's dramatic, declamatory singing. Neither Warren, Macneil, or Gobbi sing it as cleanly and authoritatively as this. I can't help but think that you're not actually a singer
On the one hand he has problems with the speech. there are some words he sung wrong. For example "mirae" instead of "mira". Also he didn't hit the right tones at some points, for example before the first "fra le mie braccia".
He was laboring under a couple handicaps. One of his vocal chords ,by this time, was atrophied and plumped up my silicone injections. Some nerves in his face were effected as well, making him sing even more out of the side of his mouth. His technique of carrying all the weight to the top of the voice is very hard on the voice, and many of his attacks are rough. In a few years he would have to retire. Then came the massive heart attack that left him incapacitated, almost vegetative, for the rest of his life. Dutchman was his, he owned it. Also love his Verdi Requiem , and Brahms Requiem with Bruno Walter.
Respectfully, I believe that in 1961 he was not yet suffering from the nerve damage, unilateral vocal cord palsy (UVCP). London's relatively young age, the diagnosis of laryngitis prior to his UVCP, and the course of his disease indicate that the underlying cause of the termination of his singing career was post-viral neuropathy. That's taken from a research paper. To be clear, I only mention it because some will assume that he retired early because of bad technique. On the contrary, he had a remarkable technique and sang with his own voice. You don't sing with that sound for twenty years if it's not real. Trying to imitate that sound, you would last about three months! If people can't imagine how in the world one can produce a sound like that, they are simply failing to understand the technique and the variation in physiology. It's basically ego. We do need to separate vocal technique from other health issues in this case.
@@langleytw his technique worked for him, but carrying that much weight to the upper voice puts a lot of pressure on the cords. His problems with one of his chords began much earlier than I thought, and he kept it a secret for several years. He kept going by guts and determination. I have never read a real analysis of what caused his initial atrophy of his chord, and plumping it up with silicone was pretty experimental. And it worked for a long time. Not sure if his unusual sound was a cause or the result.
@@langleytw thank you. I'm looking for the source that claimed he was having issues with one chord as early as 1958, but there was no reason to go public at that time. It wasn't until 1965-66 that he started cracking and could no longer control it. Do you know the cause of his UVCP?
I own highlights recording of Tosca with Renata Tebaldi, Mario Del Monaco, and George London. @stevevandien the Te Deum you first heard may be from the recording I have. London is magnificent. That is a baritone!!
I too find that even though it is vocally extraordinary, I feel the lack of something in his performance, the accent does not help but it is not that either, there seem to be segments when he loses the melody somehow or perhaps cuts the words short....not being musically trained I can't pinpoint closer than that.
Le récitatif commençait plutôt bien,le ton et le jeu y étaient crédibles;quand le chant intervient celà se gâte.Mais au moins,on l'entend au milieu du choeur.
+José Miguel Poncela Ramos The CD is a live recording of concert performance(s) in Philadelphia's Academy of Music. I attended one of the performances.
Que me disculpen todos los aquí opinantes y admiradores de London, pero su actuación es un poco tiesa, pues; yo no veo al personaje Sacarpia evocando a Tosca y pronosticado su pronta sujeción y sometimiento a sus lujuriosas pretensiones y deseos. Veo en cambio, a un barítono cantando en un teatro para un público aplaudidor y queriendo lucir su gran voz y su buena dicción italiana, al grado, de que declama su cantar telegrafíando su dicción y gesticulando con la cara la obligada pronunciación exigida como correcta. Su caracterización de Sacarpia, es tiesa, sobre actuada y maniquea y algo caricaturesca o fingida. En cambio; mi querido compañero y estimado amigo Gustavo Escudero, cantó el Sacarpia interpretándolo muchísimo mejor, de forma natural; pero con la debida solemnidad requerida por el personaje y, con la perversidad lujuriosa de una graduada aceleración emotiva, hasta alcanzar el clímax con el agudo en la sugerida blasfemia dentro de casa de Dios y, todo ésto; Gustavo Escudero lo cantó con una semejante buena voz de barítono en Bellas Artes en 1983; alternando con la soprano de bellísima voz Guillermina Higareda y el tenor Plácido Domingo; quien al no destacar por encima de sus compañeros de escena, pretextó tener un pequeño catarro que sólo él notó en su laringe y su canto menos lucidor.
Semplicemente Puccini non era il suo repertorio ... nulla da dire sul suo grandissimo Wagner o sul suo indimenticabile Boris Godunov ... ma Puccini e' tutt'altra cosa!!!
Powerful and demonic dramatically, but vocally not distinguished. Growling out one side of one's mouth does not constitute good singing. Scarpia was also too high a part for London's voice, which was more bass than baritone albeit by a narrow margin.
Andrew Margrave Out of one side because he had suffered a stroke and beat it. Growling? You’re entitled to your opinion, but you are outnumbered on that one. As for Scarpia, it is more of a bass-baritone role (think Gobbi), and that is exactly what London was.
Puccini wrote NOTES to be SUNG. This is not getting the job done. The attitude and look is great, but poor London is forcing so hard here. It must have been soon before he ruined his voice permanently.
