I love opera. I confess I don't know the first thing about its technical aspects -- I just like listening to my favorite singers singing my favorite passages and arias. I guess I'm missing out on the finer points of appreciation because I'm not an educated listener, but I do try to learn the lyrics where I can, and like any true fan I insist on my right to love and hate with irrational whimsy.
[I write the following with apologies in advance for fans of Caruso, Björling, Pavarotti, Domingo, Fleming and Te Kanawa -- forgive me, I'm an uneducated listener, like I said]
Take the first time I ever heard a Caruso recording, many years ago. I no longer remember what the song was, but I do remember being disappointed; I had come to think of Enrico Caruso as The Legend, the gold standard -- after all, wasn't an entire episode of I Dream of Jeannie devoted to Major Nelson suddenly singing like Caruso and shattering glass with his voice (god, I'm old)? But what I heard sounded to me thin and reedy, and rather too pretty, not at all like what I expected(although, to be fair, the tinny old recording could have been partly responsible). The old-fashioned way of ornamenting the melody(if that's what it was) with exaggerated flourishes didn't do anything for me, either. It was almost like listening to a highfalutin' version of early white jazz singing, which I can't stand.
I was somewhat familiar with Mario Lanza at the time because my father had an LP of his role in 'The Student Prince' in his collection, and while I know Lanza had his detractors because he was a Hollywood-Personality-Not-A-Real-Opera-Singer, I much prefer his voice -- the man just sounds manlier.
Gradually I came to realize that I just prefer thick, muscular voices, even in tenors, to bright voices. Which is why I'm also not into Jussi Björling and Luciano Pavarotti (I also can't stand Placido Domingo, but for a different reason).
In female singers I'm more accepting of sprightly, pretty voices, but my favorite gals are still those with just a touch of darkness to their voices (just not to the murky depths of a Renée Fleming or Kiri Te Kanawa). I love Dawn Upshaw, for example; and even though I don't understand all those weird tuneless modern songs she likes to sing, I admire her for her wide repertoire. And for a time I was kind of infatuated with Mirella Freni -- when my dormmate at USC remarked, upon seeing her face on my album, that he thought she was 'ugly' (which is not true!) I was shocked, shocked, I tell you! Pitiable boy, he had no idea that it was the face of the woman who sang the most entrancing and heartfelt rendition of "O Mio Babbino Caro" since baby Schicchi squeaked his way into the world(Bidú Sayão did -- possibly -- the second best version).
Anyway, a little while ago I was eating dinner in front of the computer, perusing YouTube for various renditions of Vesti La Giubbba, when I came across a name I had not seen before -- Giuseppe Giacomini -- and thought I'd give him a listen.
Was I amazed! Here was the most full-throated, deep-chested tenor I'd ever heard -- in fact, he sounded more like a baritone. Wow, I was incredulous. I listened spellbound as he approached the climax, and suddenly my fists started clenching all by themselves and my eyes were welling up with tears. That's right, I literally cried over my bowl of chicken-and-dumpling soup as I listened to Giuseppe Giacomini sing "Ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto--"
Here is a still I stole off a video of him singing it live:
[Some minutes later] Wow, while looking up Bryn Terfel -- for comparison with Giacomini -- I came across a video of Terfel singing a Welsh lullaby, "Suo Gân", in a live performance given in S. Korea -- and how beautiful it is! Isn't it wonderful, how one marvelous discovery leads to another, and another, and still others on the internet? I cannot wait for the day when we'll be able to have super-mini computers directly implanted in our brains (supposing hack-proof quantum computing becomes available before then). Goodbye, studying; hello, Borgassimilation (there probably aren't many people who view the Borg civilization in a positive light, but I do -- kind of)!
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