My friend and I were talking about the opera last night and he would take it as one of his three items on a desert island. I find that it's filled with a lot of cacophony that you have to wade through to get to the delicious bits. However, when we get to the show stoppers they give me chills throughout. "Non Piangere Liu" is one of my favorite arias of all time. It always makes me cry.
Sono completamente assolutamente d'accordo. Un capolavoro assoluto. Puccini alla fine della sua vita ha voluto cercare di andare ancora "oltre". Un genio.
Opino lo mismo es impresionante todas las voces cantando al mismo tiempo! Aunque no cantan lo mismo el contraste es hermoso todo diferente... mi opinion
Il miglior Calaf di tutti i tempi é stato Corelli… gli si avvicinava Martinucci… El mejor Calaf era Franco Corelli. Martinucci era muy parecido a Corelli.
En el área cuminante del Primer Acto de Turandot, el príncipe Calaf le pide a Liu que no desampare a su padre Timur, pues camino del destierro podrían morir. La súplica se torna en un frenético deseo del príncipe por aceptar el desafío, mientras la esclava, el padre y los cortesanos de la princesa le suplican que se vaya, porque su vida se perderá igual que sus antecesores; finalmente el pueblo entra cantando que su fosa está cavada para cumplir su cruel destino. Calal no se rinde, y en franco despliegue de coraje toma el martillo y golpea el gong tres veces, y otras tantas llama a la princesa por su nombre, diciéndole que está listo a probar su suerte. La orquesta complementa el dramatismo del aria comenzando en un leve pianíssimo, y compás tras compás va en progresivo crescendo reforzando la fuerza del instante, para terminar en una coda fortísima que se repite cinco veces en un cierre que paraliza y deja en suspenso los corazones, en espera de la continuacion y el desenlace.
Liù: Have pity Timur: Have pity of me and Liù Calaf: I'm that who asks pity Liù: My Lords pity of us! Calaf: I hear no one anymore! I see her brighting face,I see her,She's calling me! Liù: Pity! Ping Pong Pang: Bring him away! Stop this crazy man! Calaf: Your forgivness is asking that who doesn't smile anymore... Timur: You pass on a broke body... Liù: Pity! Ping Pong Pang: Come on!Bring him away! Calaf:Leave me! I suffered too much! The glory,the glory is waiting for me over there!(continues)
A thrilling and visually stunning performance. It must have cost a fortune to stage. The result was wonderful. That Puccini died before completing this work robbed us I think of a more fulfilling ending to this otherwise rollercoaster of a thriller.
Tengo este video en DVD del Metropolitan Opera House. Cuando pongo esta ópera, especialmente esta aria se me eriza el cuerpo. Me imagino como se debería sentir esa voz de Plácido y los otros cantantes más el coro dentro del teatro. Una belleza.
I was there 13 years ago just saw at the met a few months ago what a great cast....love every note of Puccini/alfano music score....it was grand opera at the met...........
Liù: Pity of me! Calaf: There is not a human force that can stop me! Ping Pang Pong: Bring him away! Calaf: Turandot!Turandot!Turandot! Everyone: The death! The death! Ping Pang Pong: And let him go! When the gong ring,the death is coming!
Le passage le plus poignant de l'opéra. LIu vient de lui demander de ne pas risquer sa vie pour Turandot et ne pas affronter ses épreuves pour devenir son mari. Il lui demande de ne pas pleurer, et finit par sonner le gong pour l'épreuve.
Are you serious? Corelli is Calaf - the best of all times in this role. In "Non piangere Liu" Corelli express sweetness, sadness and all the feelings that the aria request. Listen this, and probably you will change your idea. ;-) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7vTo6NWPEVM.html
If you understand the words,you'd find it more beautiful! It says: Don't cry Liù,If one day I smiled to you Calaf:For that smile,oh my sweet girl,listen: Your Lord tomorrow will be maybe alone in the world Don't leave him,bring him with you Liu: We shall die on the way of exile Timur: We shall die! Calaf: make the way of exile sweeter for him This,this asks who doesn't smile anymore Timur: Ah,for the last time... Liu: Win on the terrible charm Ping,Pong Pang: Life is so beautiful (Continues...)
Ho visto giusto ieri su rai 5, una Turandot vomitevole!! (Mi scuso per la parola) Sembrava un locale per scambisti!! Di buono, si fa per dire, c'era solo che l'Opera terminava dove il Maestro l'aveva lasciata incompiuta.
Puccini's ability to musically portray complex psychological states is almost unparalled in music history. Puccini, Wagner, Mozart and Verdi are the only ones I know who achieved that so far.
Eeeww! Heads on poles! God I love this production - watched the VHS to tatters and was finally able to find it on DVD - What a joy to watch and to listen to. Every lover of Puccini should see this.
Both are awesome in a different style. Plácido Domingo is more emotional Franco Corelli is more heroic Corelli’s high notes are more thrilling however Domingo as a better legato
@AstrialCOW. I respect completely Your view on Domingo's singing .I do not want to comment negatively on Domingo on a video of His but I could go on all night extolling the virtues of the greatest tenor that I ever listened to namely Franco Corelli.Franco had a natural gifted gorgeous powerful tenor voice at the outset of His career.He studied the great tenors such as Caruso. Pertile. Lauri Volpi.Gigli. Etc. until He became the greatest tenor of them all.Corelli's voice had expression. feeling.gorgeous dark timbre and sang from the heart.He had the most secure high notes and go into a diminuendo greater than any tenor I ever heard.Iwould respectfully suggest You would listen to and view Corelli in this role and compare as I did with Domingo.
+John Oregan Hi John. Yes I did listen to Corelli very carefully. He is no doubt extremely good with singing the high range tenor arias. Low ones? Not so much. He's more of a throwback tenor singer. For example in Turandot, Domingo sang ALL of the notes with focus, power and beauty of phrasing and language. For example listen to his "io t'ho sorriso, per quel sorriso..." here. The consonants were all gently touched and roundly curved in perfect lyrical style. whereas Corelli sang most of the lower notes (the riddle answering, non piangere Liu) almost like a pop singer would, with little power or beauty of phrasing. This is even true for Nessum Dorma, in which I was of course impressed by Corelli's (as usual very powerful) B-flat. But it really took a while to get there since the rest of the notes were just dull to me. Domingo on the other hand, drew me in completely from note one with his beauty of singing. Only when he attempted to hit the high note did I notice his limitations. But by that point I no longer cared (it is the LAST note of that aria after all). Domingo also studies the great singers and he has his own unique qualities that I think many people overlook.I also don't like Corelli's language. I know that he's Italian but it's clear to me that he sang most of the consonants and vowels the old way to emphasize on openness of throat and as a result compromising clarity of the words that are been sung. For example when Corelli sang "quando la luce splenderà!" his "Quando" sounds something like "craaalo..." Domingo on the other hand pronounced it very clearly. I think most people like to judge a tenor just based on the few thrilling high notes and they don't pay attention to the low ones, which a lot of tenor, like Corelli, struggle on. For example, listen to his second "Nessum Dorma!" which are the low notes, Corelli could barely sing those notes out, same with the rest of the low notes in that aria. Domingo on the other hand is a born-baritone range singer, so his low notes are much more powerful than natural-born tenors such as Corelli, which honestly, is vast majority of the male singing.
VivaMariaCallas "we can see the difference between singing heavily and singing with a heavy voice. Corelli clearly has a heavier voice, so he can sing the lower passages less effortfully without compromising the 'baritonal' effect." LOL. completely opposite. Once again, listen to Corelli's Nessum Dorma (/watch?v=sE4EgIG0pew), like I said he could barely sing ANY low-range tenor notes out and clearly struggled on the second low "nessum dorma!" so he is certainly NOT a baritone in any way like Domingo, who sings the low-tenor range extremely clear, like a true baritone, which is why he could sustain such long phrases in this "non piangere Liu" aria which starts quite low for a tenor. It's true that Corelli has a darker voice, but voice is not the same as range, that's timbre. Corelli is clearly clearly natural-born tenor, which is also shown by the fact that he sustains high notes in one breath way longer than the low ones. Domingo is not "compromising" anything really in terms of techniques. He's just a baritone-range singer who is ambitious enough and talented enough to sing the tenor-range, which obviously gives a male opera singer more important protagonist-roles, that's probably where his ambition came from. His voice is also, like you said, light enough to sound like a true tenor in the mid to high range. But he's really a baritone. Listen to his recent baritone performances (for example:/watch?v=VSFjI6XezuI), he sounds virtually indistinguishable from baritones who sang it such as Sherril Milnes. And despite being old so a little out of breath, it's clear that he sang it quite comfortably in that range.
VivaMariaCallas "he's doesn't really 'save himself' for high notes and touch passages - so I can see why you feel that Corelli sometimes skimps out on the lower passages. It's more of an interpretive issue than a vocal one." If one "saves himself" for a certain range for power, then IT IS a vocal issue, not an interpretive one. I'm not however saying that the differences between two has no interpretative elements in them whatsoever. However, longer, more sustained phrases show that your vocal ability is better, so if you interpret it in other ways that deviates, that's your loss. Just as, I can play Mozart with even scales, or I could play it uneven and call it "interpretive." I think most classical music experts would say that the latter means my skill is just not on par, despite the subjectivity to it all.
VivaMariaCallas once again, there is a difference between "timbre" and range. I only mean that Domingo is a natural-born baritone range, I'm already said that I agree that his voice is on the light side which makes him sound like a tenor, which was why he eventually went for tenor and built those tenor notes note-by-note, he himself said so in interviews. And also, obviously domingo is not a bass/baritone and I've never said he is. which is why I compared him to Sherill Milnes. He's more of a high baritone, which is why he could build notes to high tenor range.
VivaMariaCallas "The thing is, a tenor is a tenor, even if he might have a 'baritonal range,' just as a baritone is a baritone" So what? I brought this up only as a point and explanation about what Domingo could do with his voice that I think many people overlook, I never said that he's not a tenor. His singing baritone roles have quite a bit of success also, at least Simon Boccanegra was pretty well-received, so not everybody clinches onto him as a tenor. Every singer is different and what you have experienced is very subjective, it depends on how you've succeeded in singing your own particular repertoire and then training your voice to tune to that specific repertoire in turn. It's a feedback loop really. But people are naturally born a certain range over other ranges, and that does affect how you sing, so to say that a "tenor is a tenor" or "a baritone is a baritone" is just simplifying things and ultimately it doesn't mean much. And this really gets me when discussing singers like Domingo, since people have this "tenor is just a tenor" simplified concept in their head, when Domingo can't hit some of the really high notes they dwell forever on that.
Che Spettacolo!Grande Domingo meravigliosa scenografia e regia dell'immenso Zeffirelli.Prendano esempio (qualora ci riuscissero),i registi(o pseudoregisti)di oggi che trasformano il Melodramma in "Merdodramma"
a magnificent cast and supporting cast - i'm sorry but the role of turandot was NOT very impressive to me having seen this production live - i felt she was substandard for the part
Do you truly believe that Domingo was one of the best Calaf's in history? Corelli, Lauri Volpi, Mario Filippeschi, Del Monaco, Martinelli, Cecchele, Mauro, Martinucci were all great and excellent Calaf's. Domingo squeezes and cuts phrases short and lacks the great high notes that are necessary for the role. His voice is not simply heroic enough
