The great Nicolai Gedda.

  NOTE: I now can put videos on this site!!!  Aren't you happy????????????????????

In memory of the late Charles Anthony, on his birthday, July 15, here is a sample of one of his master classes.

Carlo Bergonzi sings his farewell at Carnegie Hall.

From 1950, I bring you some rehearsal excerpts from Falstaff Act 2 under the great Arturo Toscanini. The cast includes Giuseppe Valdengo,Frank Guarrera,Theresa Stich-Randall, Cloe Elmo, Nan Merriman, Virgilio Assandri, and Norman Scott   (62 min.)

The beloved Magda Olivero, now 102 years young, sings first Poulenc's "La Voix Humaine" from 1970 in Venice under Nicola Rescigno. This will be followed by a series of Ave Marias from several years:

Schubert( 1978), Bracesso ( 1979), Luzzi (1981), Saint-Saens (1985), and Leoncavallo ( 1987). The podcast concludes with a special arrangement,in 1994 (she was only 84), of an Ave Maria that is based on the Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo.  (72 min.) 

Magda is one of the great miracles of opera and when I speak to her every birthday and when friends of mine visit her in Milan, she speaks that gorgeous "Verism0" Italian, and is even more lucid than I am.

Magda Olivero (née Maria Maddalena Olivero, 25 March 1910) is a soprano of the verismo-school of singing. She was born in Saluzzo, Italy.

Olivero made her operatic debut in 1932 on Turin radio in Nino Cattozzo's (1886–1961) oratorio I misteri dolorosi.^[1] She performed widely and increasingly successfully until 1941, when she married and retired from performing. She returned to the stage ten years later, at the request of Francesco Cilea, who asked her to sing the title role in his opera Adriana Lecouvreur.^[2][3]

From 1951 until her final retirement, Olivero sang in opera houses around the world. Among her most renowned interpretations were the leading parts in Adriana Lecouvreur, Iris, Fedora, La bohème, La fanciulla del West, La traviata, La Wally, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Mefistofele, and Turandot (as Liù.)

She sang in Cherubini's Médée in Dallas in 1967 and in Kansas City in 1968.^[4] In 1975, already an international star for four decades, she made her début at the Metropolitan Opera House in Tosca. Her last performances on stage were in March 1981 in the one-woman opera, La voix humaine by Poulenc.^[5] Thus, her stage career ended at age 71 and spanned nearly 50 years. She continued to sing church music locally and, well into her eighties, made a recording of several arias. Recordings exist of many of her great performances of both full operas and arias and scenes.

Among her studio recordings are Turandot (as Liù, with Gina Cigna, for Cetra, 1938), Fedora (with Mario Del Monaco and Tito Gobbi, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli, for Decca, 1969) and highlights from Francesca da Rimini (with Del Monaco, conducted by Nicola Rescigno, for Decca, 1969). In 1993, she recorded, with piano accompaniment, Adriana Lecouvreur (with Marta Moretto as the Princesse de Bouillon); excerpts from this recording were published on the Bongiovanni label. At age 86, she performed Adriana's monologue in Jan Schmidt-Garre's film Opera Fanatic. She made occasional singing appearances into her nineties. Olivero celebrated her 102nd birthday on 25 March 2012.

 In honor of the 88th birthday (July 13, 2012) of the great Carlo Bergonzi, one of the greatest singers of all-time, I present a 1962 Ernani with Leontyne Price, Cornell MacNeil, and Giorgio Tozzi, under Thomas Schippers. I could entitle Bergonzi's long career as "How to sing!!   68 min.

 From 1937, I bring you a Cavalleria Rusticana under Gennaro Papi, featuring the legendary Elizabeth Rethberg, Sydney Rayner, Carlo Morelli, Anna Kaskas (Mamma Lucia), and Irra Petina (Lola.). This is followed by commercial recordings of "Vissi d'arte" and "O Patria mia."  What a great artist she was!    (70 min.)

  I never get to hear my own collection, so,for a change, I decided to listen to this wonderful 1957 Trieste Puritani under Francesco Molinari-Pradelli with Virginia Zeani, Mario Filippeschi, Aldo Protti, and Andrea Mongelli.

    I was "weaned" on those old Cetra operas with Filippeschi in some of them, and despite a voice that is not gorgeous, it sounds like ten trumpets. Virginia said it was not that big, but the top was sensational. I also add as a bonus, Elvira's aria and cabaletta from a 1956 Florence Puritani with Virginia.  Have fun!!  (72 min.)

  The miraculous Kirsten Flagstad, born July 11, 1895, is heard in her debut as Sieglinde with Paul Althouse (1935) and then in a scene from 1937 with Marjorie Lawrence as Brunnhilde in act three. Both are conducted by Arthur Bodansky. We then move to her Brunnhilde in 1940, with Lawrence as the Sieglinde, Lauritz Melchior and Julius Huehn, under Erich Leinsdorf.  (68 min.)