Titta Ruffo ( b Pisa, 9 June 1877; d Florence, 5 July 1953) & Beniamino Gigli (20 Mar 1890 - 30 Nov 1957). You can hear that Ruffo's voice is just far beyond Gigli's in size, but they still sound fantastic together!
It is nice to hear Ruffo sing a role that he would probably not have sung on stage. Usually people talk about the size of his voice but Ruffo was a wonderful artist, sensitive, introspective and above all musically intelligent. His voice was volcanic or like the surf pounding on the rocky shore of an island. But listen to his "Era la notte" from Otello; hear how he tones down the huge voice and molds the phrases. Now that is singing!
Thanks so much for posting this. My suspicion ( to the debate below) is that Gigli is further away from the microphone so that they can both be heard without causing the microphone to distort the sound as Gigli in particular goes into his higher register. What glorious singing from both
The more I come to understand the power of the greats the less I’m sure I would want to hear them live. Maybe at the very back of the hall with my ears cuffed. I have sensitive ears 🙉
I think Nilsson and Tebaldi could have hung with him as well as Del Monaco even if he was just a bit bigger. The pitch difference alone would make up the difference. And I would kill to have him singing with Destinn.
Antes de mais nada: que música! Como isso é bonito! Agora, as vozes: que vozes! Como dizia Toscanini: música não é só reproduzir as notas. Seguindo por este caminho: cantar não é só dizer as palavras seguindo a melodia. Por trás de cada palavra, por trás de cada nota, há um universo de emoções, de sentimentos. Gigli e Ruffo - isso é cantar! Ainda bem que existem registros dessas joias porque , se não, as pessoas pensariam que cantar é isso que se ouve hoje por ai, com honrosas e raras exceções, é claro.
"Carrying power" and vocal size are not the same thing. Gigli was lyric. Lyric is not as big as dramatic. Ruffo was SUPER DRAMATIC. So how am I "wrong" about Gigli's vocal size? Uh...
Dramatic also doesn’t necessarily mean a louder voice. A typical light soprano is probably louder than many “darker, bigger” tenors Gigli is actually further back. You can tell if you listen with headphones more ambient noise from the hall when Gigli sings.
@@SilverSingingMethod nah. It just depends on the Individual voice and other factors like timbre, and even personality. I’m sure it’s not uncommon for a lyric or even high soprano to be louder than even a dramatic baritone in some pitches EDIT: because you’re a little bitch and can’t be wrong about anything and deleted my next comment, I’m putting it here... ...and I’m telling you flat out you’re not completely right. Even in this recording Gigli is further back but you say he is not. Anyone with a brain knows that voice type labels are somewhat arbitrary, as how loud a voice is is a matter of psychoacoustics, which obviously does involve timbre because different timbres will have a different harmonic profile which can naturally sound louder even at the same decibel level. I shouldn’t even need to tell you that higher pitches need less decibels to sound equally loud. Just look at a phon or sone chart
I would really like to know what scientific parameters define the "size" of a voice. Loudness? Sound pressure? Kind of perception/characteristic? We witness that Gigli has no problems to cope with Ruffo at least on tape in terms of being well heard.
That was not a tremolo as there is pitch fluctuation. A tremolo is a repetition of pitch without fluctuation. I do think he had the ability, however, to sing a tremolo vibrato when he wanted, but not as a vocal flaw as he had complete control over it. And he did this in his earliest recordings as well.
When was this recording ? I heard Gigli three times in 1954, 1955 or so at the Albert Hall ( 2 Recitals and Verdi Requiem) and , of course , his voice was not as youthful as it sounds here. Steve Houghton.
