Il Guarany (Gomes) duet with Enrico Caruso (born Feb.25 or 27) in 1873, and Emmy Destinn, born Feb.26, 1878. What more can one say????

 People wonder why I am so critical of the carryings-on of Franco Bonisolli. In the words of Anna Russell, "tenors have resonance where their brains should be." Of course that is not true in general, but if you heard all the crazy speeches-to-audiences the man makes during live performances and his general conduct as a singer, you might agree that he gives tenors a very bad name!

  However, he has a lot of fun in this San Francisco Gala (wearing Errol Flynn's boots) and the C's are fabulous. He died too soon, and I am indeed sorry, but I always felt a superb talent was partly  wasted with his carryings-on.

 By the way, he always DEMANDED an encore of the aria. On a Vienna tape, he yells "Wasser' before the first high C and gets booed. I do not know if he sang it twice that night, but anyway you cannot say he was dull!

Another of my compilations, derived from various files of the past. I am happy you enjoy this kind of post, because it allows you to play a guessing game and/or enjoy a wide variety of great singing. Here is the information:

1. Beniamino Gigli      Fedora         "Amor ti vieta"  (HONEY!!)

2. Maria Ivogun           Seraglio       "Martern aller artern"

3. Selma Kurz               Rigoletto      "Caro nome"    (Can she TRILL!)

4. Marjorie Lawrence/Lauritz Melchior   Gotterdamerung       Dawn Duet

5. Giannina Arangi-Lombardi      Aida    "O patria mia"

6. Leyla Gencer            Idomeneo           Electra's aria

7. Beverly Sills              Louise                "Depuis le jour"

8. Christa Ludwig/Sherril Milnes            Macbeth duet

9. Meta Seinemeyer     Andrea Chenier   "La mamma morta"  (Sadly,she died at 33.)

10. Nelly Melba/Enrico Caruso     La Boheme    "O soave fanciulla'  (Just her high C indicates what she was!)

11. Beverly Sills          Aida (her only one)  "Ritorna Vincitor"

12. Mark Reizen           Boris Coronation Scene  (See his Onegin aria at age 90 on Youtube.)

13.John O'Sullivan       William Tell       "O muto asil."  (He must have shaken the chandeliers.)

14. Rosetta Pampanini     Adriana Lecouvreur    "Poveri fiori"

15. Aureliano Pertile      Andrea Chenier         "Come un bel di di Maggio"

16. Ewa Podles                Rinaldo             "Or la tromba"

17. Diana Soviero/Dominic Cossa    Pearl Fishers Duet

18. Renata Tebaldi      Tristan und Isolde      "Liebestod" (In Italian)

19. Luisa Tetrazzini      La Sonnambula          "Ah non giunge"

20. Marcel Wittrisch      Paganini aria