Fascists watch Turandot at Caracalla (w/ Galliano Masini) - 1938

Long before "Nessun dorma" was used on the Trump campaign soundtrack, Fascists were enjoying Turandot in the open air! Look, it's Mussolini between Governatore Piero Colonna and Dino Alfieri! (01:04)
These painfully teeny snippets of singing are a curiosity mainly because they include some of the only examples of live singing from the great tenor Galliano Masini. I found these newsreel clips sped-up and pitched too high. I've attempted to correct them as much as possible.
01:35 Galliano Masini in his opening phrase, "Figlio del cielo, io chiedo d’affrontar la prova!"
01:50 Chorus and Iva Pacetti in basically a gasp-cut of her line "Pure nel tempo..." from 'In questa reggia.'
02:26 Masini singing "No, principessa altera" with the high C. Sucky audio, unfortunately.
02:33 Then some snaggy audio of Pacetti blasting out one or two notes.
03:04 Lots of chorus, though
Oh, and if you don't know what the theater at the Baths of Caracalla USED to be, check out the photo at the end. Open-air "auditorium" constructed that very year to seat 20,000 people. In those days it was all done without amplification. Not that this was always satisfactory, especially if there was a little wind-something a number of people commented on over the years. From Gigli's memoir: "The acoustics at Caracalla, perhaps inevitably, fall something short of perfection. When one sings on the left side of the stage , there is a treacherous little breeze that carries one's voice away from the audience." Perhaps that's why that clip of Masini at 02:26 sounds as it does!
#Opera #TermeDiCaracalla #Mussolini