CELEBRATING 53,000 Classical CD reviews on-line (Sept 2016); 21,000 page views each day. Return to MusicWeb International
Opera Singers of the Past
Posted by Noah Tunell on October 28, 2024, 7:42 am
As someone who is just about to start my operagoing, I have a question for some of the older operagoers here, and I am only interested in answers based on live performances you have attended. I was wondering if the greats of the past (three tenors era and earlier if possible) were significantly better than modern stars live, as seems to be true from recordings. I know recordings are not the best indicator of how someone sounded live, and I really want to know if the difference between old stars and modern stars in a live performance is really as night and day as it seems. Thanks -Noah
I began listening to live opera in the 70s and am in no doubt that I had access to far more great voices of a volume and beauty exceeding most of those today. Most of these I heard in London and New York (where I lived for four years) but I have lived elsewhere and travelled a fair bit, so have heard others elsewhere, too. My selection is inevitably random and subjective, but I especially recall Dame Janet Baker, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Valerie Masterson, Carol Neblett, José Carreras, Yuri Masurok, Fiorenza Cossotto, Tatiana Troyanos, Plácido Domingo - but in his prime! - Jessye Norman, Jon Frederic West et al; I also heard Boris Christoff in Oxford and Teresa Żylis-Gara in Orange both in concert, Piero Cappuccilli in Pretoria, South Africa and José van Dam in Ličge. There are many more but I can categorically assert that they had greater vocal presence than most more recent singers. That is not to say that I have not heard some superb voices in more recent years but there have also been some - whom I shall not name - who should never have been allowed to undertake their roles owing to their inadequate training and development. To generalise, singers from Russia and Eastern Europe now seem to be much better trained and able to fill a hall of several thousand people with the requisite sound. However, I have been impressed by live performances by recently retired singers such as Renée Fleming, Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner, and by some currently active - Sondra Radvanovsky, Gerald Finley, Lise Davidsen - but they are far fewer in number and I have missed out many great singers I heard in my hastily assembled lists above. Furthermore, I fear that I have been greatly disappointed by the disparity between what is heard on recordings and the singer in the flesh; a particular example would be Jonas Kaufmann, whose voice is comparatively small and husky live on stage.
Previous Message
As someone who is just about to start my operagoing, I have a question for some of the older operagoers here, and I am only interested in answers based on live performances you have attended. I was wondering if the greats of the past (three tenors era and earlier if possible) were significantly better than modern stars live, as seems to be true from recordings. I know recordings are not the best indicator of how someone sounded live, and I really want to know if the difference between old stars and modern stars in a live performance is really as night and day as it seems. Thanks -Noah
That is an excellent list of singers to have seen, and I am quite jealous! A shame you missed Vickers and Nilsson. Do you think that the currently performing singers that you mentioned are the equals of those older stars or are they still not on the same level. Also, I am curious to hear about Placido Domingo. He always sounds a little bit pinched in his recordings, especially up high, and I was wondering if that was a product of the microphone or not. Thanks Noah
Previous Message
I began listening to live opera in the 70s and am in no doubt that I had access to far more great voices of a volume and beauty exceeding most of those today. Most of these I heard in London and New York (where I lived for four years) but I have lived elsewhere and travelled a fair bit, so have heard others elsewhere, too. My selection is inevitably random and subjective, but I especially recall Dame Janet Baker, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Valerie Masterson, Carol Neblett, José Carreras, Yuri Masurok, Fiorenza Cossotto, Tatiana Troyanos, Plácido Domingo - but in his prime! - Jessye Norman, Jon Frederic West et al; I also heard Boris Christoff in Oxford and Teresa Żylis-Gara in Orange both in concert, Piero Cappuccilli in Pretoria, South Africa and José van Dam in Ličge. There are many more but I can categorically assert that they had greater vocal presence than most more recent singers. That is not to say that I have not heard some superb voices in more recent years but th
No; unfortunately I never heard Vickers or Nilsson. Domingo came over pretty well, particularly as Radames, Dick Johnson and even Siegmund when I heard him; he never really had a top C - at least, not for long - and yes, he started to sound pinched in the higher regions quite early, hence his ill-advised transition to "baritenor". You set me thinking and I realise that I heard other great voices whose like are long gone: Rita Hunter, Carlo Bergonzi, Rosalind Plowright in her soprano phase, and Angela Gheorghiu at her best. Some whom I thought were wonderful are now comparatively neglected, such as Anthony Raffell as a great Wotan with Linda Esther Gray's superb Brünnhilde at the ENO, Very few singers of the last thirty years are on their level, I think.
Previous Message
That is an excellent list of singers to have seen, and I am quite jealous! A shame you missed Vickers and Nilsson. Do you think that the currently performing singers that you mentioned are the equals of those older stars or are they still not on the same level. Also, I am curious to hear about Placido Domingo. He always sounds a little bit pinched in his recordings, especially up high, and I was wondering if that was a product of the microphone or not. Thanks Noah
Previous Message
I began listening to live opera in the 70s and am in no doubt that I had access to far more great voices of a volume and beauty exceeding most of those today. Most of these I heard in London and New York (where I lived for four years) but I have lived elsewhere and travelled a fair bit, so have heard others elsewhere, too. My selection is inevitably random and subjective, but I especially recall Dame Janet Baker, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Valerie Masterson, Carol Neblett, José Carreras, Yuri Masurok, Fio
What performance and singer do you think has been your favorite that you have seen? I am always excited to hear from people who have heard some of my favorite artists, so I can talk about this all day! thanks, Noah
Previous Message
No; unfortunately I never heard Vickers or Nilsson. Domingo came over pretty well, particularly as Radames, Dick Johnson and even Siegmund when I heard him; he never really had a top C - at least, not for long - and yes, he started to sound pinched in the higher regions quite early, hence his ill-advised transition to "baritenor". You set me thinking and I realise that I heard other great voices whose like are long gone: Rita Hunter, Carlo Bergonzi, Rosalind Plowright in her soprano phase, and Angela Gheorghiu at her best. Some whom I thought were wonderful are now comparatively neglected, such as Anthony Raffell as a great Wotan with Linda Esther Gray's superb Brünnhilde at the ENO, Very few singers of the last thirty years are on their level, I think.
Previous Message
That is an excellent list of singers to have seen, and I am quite jealous! A shame you missed Vickers and Nilsson. Do you think that the currently performing singers that you mentioned are the equals of those older stars or are they still not on the same level. Also, I am curious to hear about Placido Domingo. He always sounds a little bit pinched in his recordings, especially up high, and I was wondering if that was a product of the microphone or not. Thanks Noah
Previous Message
I began listening to live opera in the 70s and am in no doubt that I had access to far more great voices of a volume and beauty exceeding most of those today. Most of these I heard in London and New York (where I lived for four years) but I have lived elsewhere and travelled a fair bit, so have heard others elsewhere, too. My selection is inevitably random and subjective, but I especially recall Dame Janet Baker, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Valerie Masterson, Carol Neblett, José Carreras, Yuri Masurok, Fio
Undoubtedly for ensemble, the Covent Garden "Aida" with Caballé, Domingo, Cappuccilli, Cossotto, Ghiaurov et al conducted by Muti as per the subsequent recording. Close to that, "Il trovatore" with Katia Ricciarelli, Stefania Toczyska, Carreras, Yuri Mazurok and Robert Lloyd conducted by Colin Davis - it just all hung together. The Met New York "Les Troyens" was pretty fine, too - Jessye Norman. However, above all Janet Baker as Charlotte in the ENO "Werther" was the best individual performance.
Previous Message
What performance and singer do you think has been your favorite that you have seen? I am always excited to hear from people who have heard some of my favorite artists, so I can talk about this all day! thanks, Noah
Previous Message
No; unfortunately I never heard Vickers or Nilsson. Domingo came over pretty well, particularly as Radames, Dick Johnson and even Siegmund when I heard him; he never really had a top C - at least, not for long - and yes, he started to sound pinched in the higher regions quite early, hence his ill-advised transition to "baritenor". You set me thinking and I realise that I heard other great voices whose like are long gone: Rita Hunter, Carlo Bergonzi, Rosalind Plowright in her soprano phase, and Angela Gheorghiu at her best. Some whom I thought were wonderful are now comparatively neglected, such as Anthony Raffell as a great Wotan with Linda Esther Gray's superb Brünnhilde at the ENO, Very few singers of the last thirty years are on their level, I think.
Previous Message
That is an excellent list of singers to have seen, and I am quite jealous! A shame you missed Vickers and Nilsson. Do you think that the currently performing singers that you mentioned are the equals of those older stars or are they still not on the same level. Also, I am curious to hear about Placido Domingo. He always sounds a little bit pinched in his recordings, especially up high, and I was wondering if that was a product of the microphone or not. Thanks Noah
Previous Message
I began listening to live opera in the 70s and am in no doubt that I had access to far more great voices of a volume and beauty exceeding most of those today. Most of these I heard in London and New York (where I lived for four years) but I have lived elsewhere and travelled a fair bit, so have heard others elsewhere, too. My selection is inevitably random and subjective, but I especially recall Dame Janet Baker, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Valerie Masterson, Carol Neblett, José Carreras, Yuri Masurok, Fio
SO difficult to narrow this down to one response. However I will NEVER forget hearing Domingo in the early 1980’s “Fanciulla” at Covent Garden. It was the first time I heard him live and his Dick Johnson was mind blowing. As a matter of fact, from the minute he strode into the saloon carrying his saddle and introducing himself as the stranger asking for whiskey and water-well I was hooked!
Previous Message
What performance and singer do you think has been your favorite that you have seen? I am always excited to hear from people who have heard some of my favorite artists, so I can talk about this all day! thanks, Noah
Previous Message
No; unfortunately I never heard Vickers or Nilsson. Domingo came over pretty well, particularly as Radames, Dick Johnson and even Siegmund when I heard him; he never really had a top C - at least, not for long - and yes, he started to sound pinched in the higher regions quite early, hence his ill-advised transition to "baritenor". You set me thinking and I realise that I heard other great voices whose like are long gone: Rita Hunter, Carlo Bergonzi, Rosalind Plowright in her soprano phase, and Angela Gheorghiu at her best. Some whom I thought were wonderful are now comparatively neglected, such as Anthony Raffell as a great Wotan with Linda Esther Gray's superb Brünnhilde at the ENO, Very few singers of the last thirty years are on their level, I think.
Previous Message
That is an excellent list of singers to have seen, and I am quite jealous! A shame you missed Vickers and Nilsson. Do you think that the currently performing singers that you mentioned are the equals of those older stars or are they still not on the same level. Also, I am curious to hear about Placido Domingo. He always sounds a little bit pinched in his recordings, especially up high, and I was wondering if that was a product of the microphone or not. Thanks Noah
Previous Message
I began listening to live opera in the 70s and am in no doubt that I had access to far more great voices of a volume and beauty exceeding most of those today. Most of these I heard in London and New York (where I lived for four years) but I have lived elsewhere and travelled a fair bit, so have heard others elsewhere, too. My selection is inevitably random and subjective, but I especially recall Dame Janet Baker, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Montserrat Caballé, Mirella Freni, Valerie Masterson, Carol Neblett, José Carreras, Yuri Masurok, Fio
I saw that production in the late 70s, too, and agree it was by far one of Domingo's best roles and he was in great form. The subsequent recording was superb, too, though I always felt sorry for Silvano Carroli, who was such a good Rance but was replaced by Milnes as a bigger name for that DG recording.
Previous Message
SO difficult to narrow this down to one response. However I will NEVER forget hearing Domingo in the early 1980’s “Fanciulla” at Covent Garden. It was the first time I heard him live and his Dick Johnson was mind blowing. As a matter of fact, from the minute he strode into the saloon carrying his saddle and introducing himself as the stranger asking for whiskey and water-well I was hooked!
Previous Message
What performance and singer do you think has been your favorite that you have seen? I am always excited to hear from people who have heard some of my favorite artists, so I can talk about this all day! thanks, Noah
Previous Message
No; unfortunately I never heard Vickers or Nilsson. Domingo came over pretty well, particularly as Radames, Dick Johnson and even Siegmund when I heard him; he never really had a top C - at least, not for long - and yes, he started to sound pinched in the higher regions quite early, hence his ill-advised transition to "baritenor". You set me thinking and I realise that I heard other grea
Yes, you are absolutely right about Carroli. He was a superb Jack Rance.
Previous Message
I saw that production in the late 70s, too, and agree it was by far one of Domingo's best roles and he was in great form. The subsequent recording was superb, too, though I always felt sorry for Silvano Carroli, who was such a good Rance but was replaced by Milnes as a bigger name for that DG recording.
Previous Message
SO difficult to narrow this down to one response. However I will NEVER forget hearing Domingo in the early 1980’s “Fanciulla” at Covent Garden. It was the first time I heard him live and his Dick Johnson was mind blowing. As a matter of fact, from the minute he strode into the saloon carrying his saddle and introducing himself as the stranger asking for whiskey and water-well I was hooked!
Previous Message
What performance and singer do you think has been your favorite that you have seen? I am always excited to hear from people who have heard some of my favorite artists, so I can talk about this all day! thanks, Noah
Previous Message
No; unfortunately I never heard Vickers or Nilsson. Domingo came over pretty well, particularly as Radames, Dick Johnson and even Siegmund when I heard him; he never really had a top C - at least, not for long - and yes, he started to sound pinched in the higher regions quite early, hence his ill-advised transition to "baritenor". You set me thinking and I realise that I heard other grea
I well remember seeing the same production with some of the same cast -- Carol Neblett and Domingo -- in San Francisco. The DG recording of Fanciulla is one of the too few recordings of Neblett. I also recollect her striking stage presence and glorious voice as Tosca and Chrysothemis.
Re: Opera Singers of the Past
Posted by Nils-Göran Olve on October 29, 2024, 2:30 pm, in reply to "Opera Singers of the Past" Edited by board administrator October 29, 2024, 3:36 pm
My impressions of many of the artists Ralph mentions coincide with his. Much has changed, but there are other factors at play than purely vocal ones. Like Noah, I became seriously interested in opera and singing in general at an early age. Since the 1960/61 season, I’ve seen most productions at the Stockholm Royal Opera, attended concerts etc. I’ve also collected thousands of LPs and CDs, mainly of singers who were no longer active when I explored their legacies. That season I was thirteen. “My” opera house offered about twentyfive different operas per year, some productions dating far back. I just missed Jussi Björling,but my first Manrico, Radames and Siegmund was Set Svanholm, then 56. I heard veterans like Joel Berglund, Sven Nilsson, Leon Björker and Sigurd Björling. It was still a true ensemble with most works given in Swedish. Annual guest appearances by Birgit Nilsson, Nicolai Gedda and Mattiwilda Dobbs (Swedish-married) were grand occasions but not necessarily that much better. More unique evenings let me hear Dorothy Kirsten, Cesare Valletti, Boris Christoff and Inge Borkh surrounded by “our” singers. I heard recitals by Giuseppe di Stefano, Teresa Berganza and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Concert Hall. My first real foreign trip was to London in 1967, with Sutherland and Pavarotti in La fille du regiment and Solti’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. There was also a mixed bill gala including Christoff (again) and Bumbry in part of Don Carlo, and Sutherland in Lucia’s Mad scene. They were of course magnificent, but I also appreciated a few evenings at Sadler’s Wells with opera in English. Of course I was an immature listener. My ears were better than now, but my understanding worse. Yet I started to realize that the music theatre I could see at home with singers like Ragnar Ulfung, Ingvar Wixell, Margareta Hallin, Elisabeth Söderström, Aase Nordmo Lřvberg, Berit Lindholm, Kerstin Meyer and others appealed to me at least as much as the “stars”. This was reinforced by the most glorious season I can now imagine. As a student at Berkeley in the autumn of 1972, I was able to hear most of the San Francisco Opera season: Sills, Sutherland, Nilsson, Lindholm, Arkhipova, Verrett, Resnik, Pavarotti, Domingo, Jess Thomas, Thomas Stewart… In that huge theatre my first impression was that I wanted to reach for the volume control. It was not as overwhelming as I expected. But Sills and Pavarotti in Lucia di Lammermoor remains maybe the best “Italian” singing I ever heard – she expressive and reminding me of Söderström at home, he a bit of a happy circus elephant but still a credible stage actor. And Domingo and Verrett in L’africaine had dramatic presence. On my way home the next summer I managed to see Marilyn Horne, Tucker, Vickers, Gobbi and a few more of similar star magnitude at the Met. I won’t tire you with my later adventures. Just some conclusions. Several of these grand voices for me, used to our much less glamorous and vocally gifted singers at home, were a bit disappointing. More than now I took it for granted that they would produce glorious sounds. Some gave convincing portrayals of their roles. But the Met and Covent Garden were too large for the kind of opera I craved. Few had the acting skills to compensate. Records gave a true and fair view of these singers. They could really produce the sounds I had heard on discs, and in some cases like Di Stefano (in 1964) the wear and crudeness I had heard on records became insignificant when watching him from eight or nine metres. More than now they were stars. Folke Abenius (Swedish director and head of the Opera for some years) said to me that Schwarzkopf walking from the wings to centre stage for her recital here was a whole course in acting. Almost all were fully capable of singing the roles they essayed, at least in the way they had decided to do it. And they knew it. They had been trained before historically informed practices and conductors intent on producing “their” interpretation had started to complicate life for a seasoned singer, not to speak of today’s interventionist interpretation of how to move and look. Some with just a good voice and little formal musical or stylistic knowledge had been groomed to master their craft so that they felt self-confidence – a conviction they were able to convey to me as their listener. I knew from Stockholm how singers before entering the world’s larger stages had served an intensive apprenticeship for up to ten years in theatres where they sang a lot, acquiring stagecraft and dependable technique, and often a detailed knowledge of their roles from singing them in the vernacular. This was true of most of Europe, and even the UK where ensemble opera at a good level had finally arrived. Add to this that orchestras had not yet become quite as loud – the Stockholm Opera’s pit was enlarged in the 1970s – and that musically talented youngsters started to go into popular music and rock, rather than classical singing. Those who did become opera singers are now too often tempted to undertake too much too soon by directors and agents who are mainly interested in young, fresh faces, rather than experienced singers. Dual-career families and the dominance of free-lance careers also are important. Swedish opera houses used to have thirty or forty soloists. Now there are ten aging ones, with everybody younger on more temporary contracts. To compensate we still get singers from Eastern Europe where training long remained old-fashioned, and even from Asian countries where learning from good examples is still held in higher regard than in the West, where cultural obstacles make it easier to kick-start your career. I’m now a bit unfair. In any generation there are wonderful and less wonderful singers. Today’s young people face unfair competition from all those old records you and I like. There still are extremely talented young singers. In some ways they are better equipped than former generations: they know languages and know how to promote themselves. But both their priorities and those of listeners are different from in my youth. I’ve sometimes talked with older singers who question whether someone today has time and patience to let young freelance singers develop, if they require assistance in learning music and can’t rapidly integrate in directors’ innovative conceptions.
Thank you both for your informative and detailed responses; truly some wonderful performances. It is a bit of a downer that modern singers are not generally as good, but I think that is there is a silver lining for me in that I won’t have any better example to compare live performances to, so they will be less of a let down. Anyway, thank you for your time and your great work reviewing. Noah
Previous Message
As someone who is just about to start my operagoing, I have a question for some of the older operagoers here, and I am only interested in answers based on live performances you have attended. I was wondering if the greats of the past (three tenors era and earlier if possible) were significantly better than modern stars live, as seems to be true from recordings. I know recordings are not the best indicator of how someone sounded live, and I really want to know if the difference between old stars and modern stars in a live performance is really as night and day as it seems. Thanks -Noah
Hey Noah, thought I would chime in. When I was a teenager I started to explore opera recordings and in 1969 when I returned from the service I started attending performances at the San Francisco Opera. And I pretty much agree with everything that Ralph and Nils-Goran Olve have to say about those older singers. What you’ve heard about Nilsson’s voice cutting through the orchestra like a laser is true. It was a phenomenal instrument. Jon Vickers was an extraordinary and unique artist. While I remember and appreciate his performance as Siegmund in Die Walkure it was his portrayal of Peter Grimes that left me astounded. My wife and I still get goosebumps when we reminisce about that performance. As the saying goes there were truly giants in those days. I find it interesting that perhaps Nils-Goran Olve and I were possibly seatmates for the 1972 performances. He mentioned the Sills and Pavarotti Lucia performance and I wonder if he remembers the final moment of the opera when Edgardo in his final dying moment clutches at his beloved Lucia which gave the big man some ample opportunity to do some serious groping on Bubbles! I’m sure in today’s climate there would be protests. Regarding recordings versus live, singers like Sills and Pavarotti seemed to transfer well via the microphone while singers like Domingo really didn’t. I don’t know how to describe it but there was a quality, richness to the voice that just didn’t get picked up by the microphone. Another example would be Giacomo Aragall. In the 70s if there were say 6 or 7 performances of Werther it wouldn’t be unusual for Carreras to do a few and Aragall a few. And nobody complained when Aragall steped in for Carreras or Domingo, his voice live was of that caliber. Yet his recordings don’t really give any indication of that quality, more like an approximation of what his voice sounded like. But, thank goodness we do have recordings of these wonderful artists and their performances. I’m the fellow whose friends make fun of because I have 14 different versions of La Traviata but they are all different like the Butterfly’s and Boheme’s whose amount of performances I’ve lost track of but they all offer something special one way or another. Enjoy your journey. I know I have.
Previous Message