Robert Merrill & Franco Corelli - La Forza del Destino - "Invano, Alvaro..." (LIVE 1968) 

yes old operatic singing forever!

Ohh heck yeah. This is one of my favorite duets aside from Si Pel Ciel Marmoreo Giuro from Verdi's Otello

As comparison, I heard both Merrill and Milnes in the same auditorium (Ambassador Aud, Pasadena) within one month of each other. Milnes' voice sounded 'canned,' small, and 'woofy.' (I later sang in chorus with him on more than one occasion- the voice was anything but!). One month later, we heard Merrill- it was a HURRICANE of sound. Sadly, I never heard/worked live with him as I did with Milnes. So, yes. Of the two voices, Merrill's was the bigger. My two cents.

Giangiacomo Guelfi's voice sounds much, much larger then Merrill's voice, Corelli actually sounds like light lyric tenor next to him.

yes gone, but we have RU-vid

@@janosvas8597 thank God

Given his myriad virtues -- which no contemporary tenor begins to have -- Corelli more than earned the right to be bombastic from time to time. And truth to tell, I don't hear much of that in this performance. I hear more bombasticism (assuming that's a word) from Merrill. And given that voice, still in its prime here, I accept it.

Who bloody hell cares if he is? There have been no spinto voices to match his before or since.

I must have heard every great baritone voice on record, but none had the sheer beauty of Merrill's. You tube allows me to go back to a note over and over to simply bathe in the sound.

@@shadboltbill Merrill's voice reminds me of Bastianini's voice.

@@judithbereczky4114 Hmmm,... I hear Bastianini as having pure steel in the center, not as rich as Merrill, however... I can see how you are reminded of Bastianini - Merrill has got a lot of focus and an impeccable interpretive sense - and yeah,... Bastianini is extraordinary in so many ways - just like Merrill. So happy to have experienced both voices in my lifetime. Life IS good! :-)

@@thomassicard3733 My favorite baritone is Bastianini, an my favorite (my love) tenor is Corelli. I heard both artists in 1959 at la Scala in Hercules (Handel), when I was 15 years old. Corelli looked like Adonis.

Siempre pense que corelli tenia mas volumen que la voz de tucker noo por mucho, pero si mas volumen, pero con lo que me comenta, cambie mi postura.

Que interesantes son sus comentarios. Me podria decir las diferencias entre tucker y corelli.

Per me Corelli ha più volume ed è più duttile, il fraseggio più accorato e gli acuti sono sfolgoranti. Tucker ha dalla sua una voce tagliente , maschia , virile ed è stentoreo, un vero tenore verdiano. Due giganti del vero canto verdiano, io preferisco Corelli per l accoratezza e l intensità interpretativa Tucker nelle invettiva e l ardimento del capitan de' granatieri.

Corelli was far more nuanced artist then Tucker, he uses diminuendo in this duet for example. Even Del Monaco performed this duet with much nuance then Tucker. Tucker had a great voice, in dramatic and spinto repertoire you don't have to think that much about nuance. Tucker's approach works fantastically for roles such as Pagliacci for example. But overall Corelli performed with far variance and colours.

What I would give to have heard them live!

Nils Brown I love the way you put it about Merrill and 'the Note!' It was beyond words, the effect of it. There are other fine versions of this duet, but no one give the note at this place like him....!

me too!!!

I think Corelli is more exciting than Tucker.

everyone has an opinion, no right or wrong.

More exciting !!!

No. Franco here is as good as he could be. From the 70s his voice started to decline. But in the 80s, and even the 90s it returned. Yet he never returned

I pity your tone deafness.

This was 1968-dudh-72-73 issues began

NONSENSE!...This was in 1968...[possibly at the old Met]...I saw them both [they never sang together, since Tucker was always Merrill's partner in song in Don Carlo at the new Met in the early 70's and they were fantastic...Yes, his vibrato, by the mid 70's got less vibrant and slower, but his tone, his pitch accuracy and his unforgettable stage presence and interpretations were legendary...The last time I heard him there [I did see and hear him at a master class in the 80's after he had retired, in Merkin Hall in NYC] was in Romeo and Juliet by Gunoud and he was still extraordinary...Pity he was largely self-taught and would have had a much longer career with a great teacher at his side, guiding him in terms of what role to play next [ a crucial decision in the preservation of one's voice] ...He was 50 years old then …[contrast Carlo Bergonzi, who actually still sang quite well at age 90...]

I agree, Mr. Xucla, but I heard him sing in his sixties and he sounded fantastic. Singers are human, too. Every singer has a bad of mediocre performance. He remains and will remain in the Pantheon of Outstanding Tenors of All Time .