What a joy!!!! However, crabby Zinka sits there as if she is the only star in the world..Just kidding!!!!!!!!!

 I do not care who or what you are!!!! I ORDER you to do this....It can be in the shower, in your yard, in the car, etc..... Let me knoiw if they take you away by force!!!!!!!!

I know you just ADORE my compilations, so I present no.9,with a few choice comments. If you played any at parties, did anyone ever guess ALL of them?

1. Gigli, Rethberg, Pinza           Attila trio   (Need we say more?)

2. Carlo Bergonzi                        E lucevan le stelle  (a veritable vocal lesson)

3. Jussi Bjoerling                         Romeo 1947 ensemble. (Did the C sound like that live?)

4.  Alessandro Bonci                   Puritani aria

5.  Clara Butt                                 Lucrezia Borgia Brindisi  (they would laugh today.I adore this!)

6. Karen Branzell                          Erda Warning (Das Rheingold)

7. Olga Borodina                           La Favorite aria

8.  Montserrat Caballe                  Adriana Phedre Monologue  (Totally wild!)

9.   Piero Cappuccilli                      Luisa Miller aria  ( A very great man)

10. Irene Minghini-Cattaneo       Azucena aria   (sadly killed when Allied bomb destroyed her villa in WW II)

11. Julia Varady                              Mme.Butterfly  "Che tua madre."

12. Charles Dalmores                     Carmen Flower Song

13. Zinka Milanov  (who?)             "D'amor sull'ali rosee" (Trovatore)

14. Mario Del Monaco                     "No,pazzo son"(Manon Lescaut)   (Example of subtlety)

15. Merrill/Bjoerling                        Don Carlo duet  (pure gold)

16. Birgitte Fassbaender                "Suicidio"  ( even though she is a mezzo.)

17. Kathleen Ferrier                         "An die Musik"  (Schubert)

18.  Lauren Flanigan                         Lady Macbeth aria  (One of the singers who "takes chances" with repertory. One of my favorite ladies.)

19. Beniamino Gigli                            "Vedi,io piango'  (Fedora)

20.  Apollo Granforte                          Credo from Otello  (His name fits his voice.)

   A commercial recording from Bucharest,Rumania under Cornel Trailescu, featuring my beloved Virginia Zeani, tenor Corneliu Fanateanu, and the recently deceased Nicolae Herlea. I feel that Virginia proves once again that she is one of our greatest artists. It is not because of our friendship because I have gotten friendly with some artists AFTER hearing them, and it is not as if I made a friend and then "liked every breath he/she took."

  What can be a problem is when a singer you know as a person sings badly, and you have to be honest (except you cannot write about it on the internet.)

Have you EVER heard a rendition of this scene more exciting??? Stella loved to cry..but look, if George London was yelling at you, would you not shed a tear or two????    Zinka who????? (Sacriledge)

  Our dear Kurt Baum was born on Mar.15, 1900. Despite his having the ugliest voice in captivity and KILLED so many performances, mostly with Zinka.(Silent film acting with the two of them.),he had a great top register. This is an example. His Lohengrin recording with Traubel shows he should have done more German. We HATED the poor guy, but he was "reliable."

    When us oldies discovered that thing called "opera" (and became insane), all we had for information was the friendship of others who would play records (78's to start) and the oldtimers on the standee line, where we heard about names like Ponselle and Gigli.
     Nowadays we are lucky to have at our disposal an enormous amount of information, generated by the amazing opera forums where a number of remarkable and knowledgeable individuals afford us so much knowledge, (including lots of screaming and yelling.) We have Opera-L, founded by Bob Kosovsky, and Parterre Box, the creation of James Jorden,otherwise known as "La Cieca." James organized a successful podcast site for me personally, and I am happy to report that "from Angola to Zanzibar," I have helped to awaken interest in the vocal art.
     Recently, one of the most brilliant opera aficionados, Donald Collup, has created a site known as "Operaticpastcast.com." Here we are able to listen to his magnificent interviews with some of us "who were there," and are able to recall fond memories of our opera experience. The way in which Donald intersperses music with the comments in a mark of great professionalism, as he illustrates comments with vocal examples.
     Donald also has interviewed some of our living opera artists such as Lucine Amara, Olivia Stapp, Elizabeth Carron, and Virginia Zeani. From these interviews we gain a personal insight into the careers and deep-felt feelings of some of our fine artists.
      As I write this, I am listening to the most recent interview, with a fellow named Handelman, and I am amazed at the professional manner in which my comments are so well illustrated by Donald's musical examples.
       I urge you to explore this site, not because I am a participant, but because you will be thrilled at the many memories as recalled by those professional artists and by our mere mortals.
        Many thanks to you, dear Donald, for your tremendous efforts.

 Do you mean I NEVER knew of this?????? I feel so dumb...i guess it escaped me,until a friend sent it.

 Leyla had a 35 year career, and when teachers today fear the idea of chest voice, glottal attacks,etc...I get angry!!!! THIS is a lesson in how to sing with fire!!!!   Love it!!!

)

After I did the Adriana, I thought you would like to SEE Caballe in action!!!!!

Teachers today are afraid to teach singers to use the lower register,causing a lot  of BOREDOM!!!!

If you wish to hear some remarkable vocalism, listen to this 1976 Tokyo Adriana,under Gianfranco Masini, featuring prime Montserrat Cballe, Fiorenza Cossotto, Jose Carreras, and Attilio D'Orazi. Do not fail to pay special attention to the third act Phedre declamation, whish will make you almost "terrfified" in its intensity.  (73 min.)