As far as we know this is the only recording where you can listen to Vezzani speak and sing LIVE. It was recorded on his hospital bed in 1948 after he had suffered a serious attack while rehearsing Sigurd in Toulon. In the excerpt the voice logically sounds tired, sort of emaciated and the power isn't anymore there BUT it is genuine Vezzani. It's is taken from a documentary from Radio Marseille going back to the time of Vezzani's death.
You can hear the LIVE singing at 1.07 then the programme continues in French with arias from La Juive and Tosca which aren't rare at all but we thought of uploading the whole thing nevertheless which will certainly appeal to all lovers of strong tenor singing and the great Vezzani in particular
The clip is illustrated with photos from the Charles Mintzer archive amongst others. Charles discovered a unique document concerning Vezzani : his letter to the Met proposing to sing there on his upcoming trip to the US. Vezzani's first ever foreign (read outside of France) appearance was in Antwerp as Cavaradossi at the Theatre Royal and NOT at the "Flemish Lyric theatre" as stated in an article in the Record Collector. In fact there was not even a Flemish lyric theatre but a Flemish Opera which became the Royal Flemish Opera in 1920. The "Royal" was a different theatre. The same article also uncritically states that Vezzani replaced Caruso in a concert in the Casino Kursaal in Ostend and that Caruso donated his Canio costume to Vezzani. Nonsense of course. The last time Caruso appeared in Ostend was in 1909-1910 and Vezzani was at the start of his career!!!
NOTE ON THE SONG VEZZANI SINGS
This song is stated everywhere as a Corsican folk song and is entitled "U bandito d'onore" YET it is similar to Funesta che lucive a song attributed to Vincenzo Bellini and thus of Sicilian origin.
25 май 2013
