@@MrCanturu Not that I know of. But what does it matter anyway. When you are so sick that you cannot sing an A (you'll notice that when warming up in your camerino), you should leave it to the understudy. At least in my opinion.
@@MrCanturu Sickness usually affects falsetto even more thsn chest voice. If his problems were due to sickness this trick would not have worked for him.
All I can feel for Joseph Calleja is pity and sadness. His nasality, caprino, and masked way of singing had become worse when he tackled heavier roles. Now, he's paying the price, and it is not pretty. If he had just eliminated his nasal caprino way of singing, he could have been a finer light lyric tenor and had a much healthier career. It is also such a shame when public relations and die-hard fantards cannot listen critically and just follow him no matter what he sings. A real shame!
Konya had a legitimate way of integrating headvoice, falsetto, and mezzavoce into his overall vocal profile. Calleja is struggling. He needs to stop and refurbish so as not to degrade his career.
@@jameslevister153 Thanks so much for reminding me about Sandor Konya. He is one of my favorite lyric tenors with excellent technique and a beautiful tone.
This is absolutely ridiculous. When I was a child you could hear better voices in every restaurant in Italy. That´s not a performance, this is a travesty!
Alagna have some charisma; Beczala can surprise sometimes; and Kaufmann is at least rhytmically and musically secure and can produce some nice sounds in the studio. But Calleja is always like this: why is he even hired?
I saw him once in Traviata at ROH around 2008 or so. The caprino was noticeably weird, but there was no issue hearing him over the orchestra and I wasn’t in a balcony up high where the sound is better, I was on the floor. So that surprised me. His voice didn’t bloom in the top like how other tenors seem to be twice as loud in the upper register than in the middle and low voice. I was impressed only with his evenness of tone and ease, but I guess high notes are easy when you sing in reinforced falsetto all the time. It’s really strange how he’s trained his voice.
Unfortunately people who cast 1) don't care, 2) have no idea about voices (or music for that matter), 3) use the only criteria they understand when casting (in relation to each other): - how famous is the person - how much do they cost - how blinded / delusional are they in terms of what they actually can do vs. what other people can tell them they can do (so possibly for exerting influence) - how good looking they are, or alternatively lately how well they fit the current equality, diversity and inclusion agenda. Extremely sad. Opera is a torture place to go to more often than not nowadays. I keep on coming to the conclusion that what is missing in the world in general, but especially in opera is critical thinking skills, seeing biases, seeing inconsistencies, making logical conclusions, and humility - so basically, human traits that have to be *cultivated* in order to call oneself a person of *culture* , or an artist for that matter! It mainly doesn't exist, just an ego battle at this point 🫤
I’ve been going to the opera about 15 years now, and always assumed he was hired based on a glorious past, but I never found evidence of that. But even if so, it seems he’s spent more of his career in this voice now.
@@Garwfechan-ry5lk Indeed, Schager did what Schager does. Make a lot of sound, signifying nothing whatsoever musical and with a severe pump and wobble to his sound. It can be found on TH-cam in audio form. Garanca on the other hand was pretty damn impressive.
Considering his incessant cancellations in recent years, I thought he had long since finished his career and stopped tormenting the audience with his goat sounds. But this crime against the opera continues, oh my...
th-cam.com/video/uEVjVGpjEGI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=IJCT6gsqqROXwFIi Here comes an another disaster. Angela Gheorghiu speaks out “during the performance” of Tosca. She was mad only for that tenor Alfred Kim sang a bis for E lucevan le stelle. Her argument stopped the music going and frustrated the audience. As an audience who saw it live in the theatre, Mrs. Gheorghiu sang terribly bad Tosca and messed up the whole performance.
Oh dear that’s just too sad… was he ill or something. Surely he must realise that something is really wrong if that is a performance ( not a rehearsal ? )
If I were the Intendant, I would have pulled him out immediately after that aria and would have pushed his understudy right on stage to finish the performance. Maybe with this singer there is always a need to have a fully in costume, fully ready, fully warmed up understudy waiting backstage, just in case. A singer has to know and aknowledge when they are kaput and just stop singing. It's as simple as that.
Damn. When I saw him at the State Opera on April 7, he didn't mark the high notes, but most of them had some unintentional rattling noise on them. As a rock singer, I have to admit I kind of liked these haha, but it seems he's got some vocal problems at the moment.
@@draganvidic2039 I don't think there's such a thing as a faulty voice. You can use techniques that work better or worse, and the high notes Calleja had years ago worked better than the ones he has (or doesn't have) now. You might say that they never worked sufficiently, even though probably a lot of Calleja fans would disagree. My point is, singers like Calleja (and less famous singers too) won't have an easier time adjusting their technique if we stigmatize vocal problems like the one he apparently struggles with at the moment.
@@ToniLinke Stigmatize vocal problems? He seems to be having a grand time singing whenever and whatever he likes while making a lot of money along the way. If anyone else constantly under performed at their job, they would be fired.
The whole music industry is under great threat at this moment. It is ridiculous that people would keep on encouraging bad singing within opera. Or make excuses for singers who constantly perform the wrong repertoire. AI will start to take over within the music industry. Soon it will be easy to simply create perfect AI versions of any music, with any singer you like. Opera could take advantage for this trend by actually promoting great quality live singing without any electronic enhancements. But instead many people keep on making excuses for mediocre talents. Young singers needs to start thinking about learning individuality and actual good technique, because they will soon be competing with AI.
Melchior would really be laughing at Calleja as Parsifal, there again Florez as Tristan and Brownlee as Siegfried would be worth a listen in the nearest toilet!
@@Wotan123456789 With all due respect I do have knowledge of ALL of Wagners opera's , I was making the point and it is a real fair one that Tenors like Calleja Brownlee and Florez and I would put Vogt in to this as well, have no right to sing any Wagner their voices are small like Mosquitos as Tebaldi said. It is an absolute disgrace that Wagners opera's are being killed off by these Bullshitting singers, ( Calleja and Florez ) both are singing Turandot, or attempting to sing it. I have met many GREAT Wagnerian singers in my long life when I was younger , my father interviewed them and my grandfather sang with them, Hans Hotter was a Favourite of mine , so to Melchior both I met , I was born in 1937. I have a Photo with my Grandparents and Parents together with Melchior after he had been Rehearsing Otello just before the War in Covent Garden, my grandmother was a Rehearsal Pianist in Covent Garden from 1911 till 1947, my Grandfather had been a leading Tenor in the Chorus at the Garden from 1909 till 1940. My Grandfather was trained in Italy, after he had learned the English language properly as well as German Italian and French, for he was born in 1879 with the Brythonic Celtic Language (Cymric) or Welsh as the English call it. In those days " Welsh " was spoken as a first Language not only in Wales but also in many English shires, having been eradicated by Law from Cornwall Cumbria and Lincolnshire, in earlier Centuries. I am sorry if I may have been " rude " but I do understand singing, my Grandfather before Italy had singing lessons with his mentor Sir Charles Santley, who had seen my Grandfather winning a Singing Competition of literally Hundreds of Singers and types of voice in a National Eisteddfodau in 1896, a young Tenor not even yet 17, he had sung Fausts aria in Welsh, with the High C full chest. With Santley was Madame Patti and the Great old Welsh Tenor Ben Davies. Music is in my blood, I was brought up not as a Singer but as a great lover of Opera and song, neither was my Father a Singer he had just come out of Magdalen Oxford and was given a short period of thought, before he was called up in 1938 to be an officer Cadet in Sandhurst, in 1939 he was already in France as a young Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he managed very luckily with two of his men to avoid the carnage of Dunkirk after being run over by the Germans at Arras, he got back to Britain through Le Havre with two French officers and one of his brigade the other had been wounded and had to be left, he survived the war. My father was called to London after being in Hospital for a Month with a Bullet and Bayonet wound, he was to be given a commision and to be given Special Training he was a Commando with the rank then of Captain but was to be with the SOE, the Special Operations Executive, he spent most of the War behind enemy lines in the Balkans with Partisans, he did not have an easy war, he had killed many men , as he said to me it was personal, usually one on one, but that was War, he ended the war having been transferred from the Balkans to Germany in early 1945, even then he was behind lines, but he was a witness to Belsen having been with the first group in, he also interrogated the SS men and women there, after the war he became a Pacifist, he was to give evidence in Nuremburg rearding atrocities and Massacres in the Balkans by Wehrmacht SS and Ustashe Croats, also evidence in the Belsen Trials. He was given the odorous tasks of visiting with Russian Officers the Death Camps in the East along with their sub Camps looking for fellow SOE agents and Commando's who had been interned in these places, he found many in Jars labelled for specific Universities, that is why he became a Pacifist and worked with the International Red Cross and was Freelance Interviewer and Correspondent for Music Magazines mainly Opera in the UK and some in the US as well, he was friendly with Hans Hotter who I can tell you was incredibly lovely kind and knowlegeable man, he interviewed Martinelli three times Lauri Volpi twice he was not impressed by him at all and Melchior four times all together and dozens of others he was friendly John Steane and they often talked over music in general. So I was brought up in a Military Musical Pacifist home with kindness and love. I do understand your point, but you misunderstood my point. Best regards to you and I hope you are well. Diolch yn fawr i ti ,pob hwyl a'r Prynhawn da.
@@Wotan123456789 Twlly yr du, n You need a Lesson on understanding the Tenor Voice Calleja is a Caprino, he is NOT a Wagner singer, I do know Music I read music and I can write music , also I do understand what voices are and in their correct position in the House, I knew Windgassen and I have met Vogt, his opinions in singing are not mine he would be an anathema to the true Wagnerian Tenor as for Kaufmann he is as about as musical as a Tortoise he sounds like someone drawing phlegm that is the modern singer, I do not care about the channel but to say I have no idea is certainly far from the Truth I do not Troll I look for interest I am still a Regular Visit to many Theatres and I have not been to Bayreuth since those ladies have circumsized the Singing, I was at the Met last year and walked out on a performance of Aida after the Tenor had an arthritic throat in Celeste Aida, he sounded like a prize bull being castrated. we shall beg to differ. I do not believe mr Poli is a Troll
This days opera is industrial singing, and i don’t go there. High days are gone, those male and female performers are CNC product. But that’s just my opinion, I’m 72 years old.
Totalmente de acuerdo, pero eso no pasa ahora Domingo y Cía. Comenzaron con los espectáculos circenses y el marketing y se cargaron la esencia de la ópera.
Wow, that really hurts. He should really think about his Future Jobs and way of singing otherwise he will probably lose the rest of his voice. Fortunately I decided to visit the Tosca performance in Hamburg 1 month ago and could see a sensationell Adam Smith as Cavaradossi. In my opinion Smith and Mühle are todays best Tenors.
100% agree. His material is great. But he won't rework. I’ve watched a recent interview with him, made by some Maltese TV channel (it's on YT). There, he literally says: „There is no other singer in existence who, after having sung for almost 25 years, has a voice as intact and beautiful as mine“. I’m not kidding. He won't reconsider what he's doing.
@@Carmesi66 I doubt it. In the past, when great singers like Stefano and Pavarotti were booed, they said the audience had the right to boo. But nowadays when those awful singers are booed, they always blame the audience!
Me before watching the video: How bad can it be？ Me after watching the video: OK this is pretty bad😂 Clearly he’s trying to dodge the high notes by singing pianissimo. But this aria, and the role of Cavaradossi in general, is not supposed to be sung too lightly. OMG just watch the 1976 Tosca movie with Placido Domingo and Sherill Milnes and avoid this nonsense.
Domingo has his own problems he should not held up as a great Cavaradossi, this a movie with a great Cavaradossi and Scarpia th-cam.com/video/PC1p7daDig8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=drpe5drDy89XdJ9Y
And this isn’t a rehearsal with him marking!? - hall sounds empty… Also the first light phrase he sings “e te, beltade ignota..” is actually written as “pianissimo” - which is rarely done, because it is hard/nearly impossible to do in the context of the rest of the aria. Also his hoarseness mostly sounds like swelling and inflammation from acid reflux to my ears, if his technique was so poor, his falsetto would also be affected.
Opera houses and directors do a great disservice to singers and the health of the voices. Of course, Mr Calleja is at fault too for putting up with repertoire that doesn't suit his voice, but ultimately I fail to see how opera houses think long term miscasting will attract audiences.
Stimmbandschaden! Was ich viel schlimmer finde, dass er vollkommen emotionslos singt. Kaufmann ist such so ein Paradebeispiel, wenn es um herzloses Gegurgel geht!
Opera has really been lost to the Tenorino quartets! Caruso Martinelli Gigli Lauri Volpi Corelli Di Stefano and a hundred more Tenors could fart better than the present lot save a Russian Tenor not the one married to Netrebko, who has a very pleasing sounds real Tenor voice, he is on you tube in Rigoletto but I cannot think of his name, otherwise I listened to a Florez teach in at Covent Garden a while back, I was really taken aback when he said he will do Turandot, he will have to have Mics all over the place, you cannot here him past the Fourth row at the Garden this happened in a performance of Sonnambula , where his Mic was out of sync with his actual voice and we were blessed with two Mosquito's in the Theatre has Madame Tebaldi once famously said.
Calleja hat in einem Interview gesagt, er sei ein großer Tenor, andere Tenöre sind nicht seine Klasse, im übertragenen Sinn. Ich habe kürzlich den 70-jährigen Greggory Kunde als Calaf live erlebt, der weiß, wie es geht.
W.T.A.F. What did I just hear? Had an announcement been made to plead "indisposition?" Or has he drunk the "perfect high notes are all in falsetto" cool-aid? Give me a break.
Perhaps he was having a rough night. I heard him sing Cavaradossi at the Met several years ago and he was great, and definitely did not sing in falsetto.
That user stopped posting after watching the video of what he claimed to be a "rehearsal". And no, Calleja was never a "fine tenor". Corelli's vibrato was completely different.
It's interesting in that the voice sounds healthy. It isn't like it the phonation was too dirty or wobbly. He just didn't trust the top. Strange indeed.
Thank God Teatro Real (Madrid, Spain) doesn't hire this man or Jonas Kaufmann and saves the audience from these "perle nere". Martin Muehle has already debuted as Calaf with quite a success, but sadly he's mostly ignored as a delivering tenor for verismo rep.
@@deropernliebhaber9181 that's what I ask myself with some really talented singers of various tessiture. Clearly some theatres don't use auditions as a casting tool as much as they should anymore, but rather focus on hiring manufactured opera stars or those who are friendly enough with the impressario.
I just recently heard another mosquito Camarena cracking in Rigoletto in Opera Real Madrid. Besides, this company first started the trend to use microphones
@@cutepepy so did I, of course Teatro Real's casts are far from perfect and that Rigoletto was wrong in many senses, Camarena cracking once was the least of the issues with it, even if that was not very acceptable for the price you pay.
This has to be a joke lol. It’s not any more difficult to sing those notes forte than falsetto if you have correct technique. If it’s hard for you to sing high and loud, that’s merely a mental issue and technical issue. If you’re not going to sing the notes to be audible, why even show up and waste the audience’s time?
Y entonces saldrá uno que dirá "tú como siempre hablando de Pavarotti y Plácido". Y, sí, prefiero escuchar una grabación monofónica de Pavarotti o de Plácido antes que escuchar esto en vivo
En el reino de los ciegos el tuerto es el rey. A mu este tenor siempre me pareció vulgar, pero estoy seguro que en esta actuación tenía un grave problema vocal.
@@ZENOBlAmusic I'm really surprised to hear that,for you, Domingo is not a good example of a tenor. I asume that you mean today's Domingo. There are so many tenor rolls where his recordiing is still the best, that only if you simply hate him for other reasons you can say such a thing. For me,he is in the top 5 tenors ever.
Oh, this hurts… but I feel sorry for the singer… No singer wants to deliver a questionable performance… Perhaps he was sick, having problems with the larynx or vocal cords. But then, of course, it would have been better not to sing…
It does sound like he is marking, so probably a rehearsal. But he has clearly been overstressed and overparted in recent years. He was spectacular in at the Met about 10 years ago, and he sounded pretty good in But other roles have not been as successful. He is a light lyric. is not his opera, and certainly isn't.
He is a typical product of these days: since the start of his career he had major defects - nasality and caprino (goating) due to lack of proper technique
This was not a rehearsal. There even is a video of that particular performance: /NGEzsLvRghw?si=zQZNMDs6pu3CZPBh
Can you share a link?
Are you sure that he was not sick that day?
@@MrCanturu Not that I know of. But what does it matter anyway. When you are so sick that you cannot sing an A (you'll notice that when warming up in your camerino), you should leave it to the understudy. At least in my opinion.
@@MrCanturu Sickness usually affects falsetto even more thsn chest voice. If his problems were due to sickness this trick would not have worked for him.
That’s nuts if that’s not an open dress rehearsal.
All I can feel for Joseph Calleja is pity and sadness. His nasality, caprino, and masked way of singing had become worse when he tackled heavier roles. Now, he's paying the price, and it is not pretty. If he had just eliminated his nasal caprino way of singing, he could have been a finer light lyric tenor and had a much healthier career. It is also such a shame when public relations and die-hard fantards cannot listen critically and just follow him no matter what he sings. A real shame!
Konya had a legitimate way of integrating headvoice, falsetto, and mezzavoce into his overall vocal profile. Calleja is struggling. He needs to stop and refurbish so as not to degrade his career.
@@jameslevister153 Thanks so much for reminding me about Sandor Konya. He is one of my favorite lyric tenors with excellent technique and a beautiful tone.
even then he was awful. Travesty to say he is a Tenor
well have Beyonce singing Fricka before long!
This is absolutely ridiculous. When I was a child you could hear better voices in every restaurant in Italy. That´s not a performance, this is a travesty!
Alagna have some charisma; Beczala can surprise sometimes; and Kaufmann is at least rhytmically and musically secure and can produce some nice sounds in the studio. But Calleja is always like this: why is he even hired?
Because of ignorance
I saw him once in Traviata at ROH around 2008 or so. The caprino was noticeably weird, but there was no issue hearing him over the orchestra and I wasn’t in a balcony up high where the sound is better, I was on the floor. So that surprised me. His voice didn’t bloom in the top like how other tenors seem to be twice as loud in the upper register than in the middle and low voice. I was impressed only with his evenness of tone and ease, but I guess high notes are easy when you sing in reinforced falsetto all the time. It’s really strange how he’s trained his voice.
Alagna also sounds absolutely terrible these days, his voice is like one big wobble.
Unfortunately people who cast
1) don't care,
2) have no idea about voices (or music for that matter),
3) use the only criteria they understand when casting (in relation to each other):
- how famous is the person
- how much do they cost
- how blinded / delusional are they in terms of what they actually can do vs. what other people can tell them they can do (so possibly for exerting influence)
- how good looking they are, or alternatively lately how well they fit the current equality, diversity and inclusion agenda.
Extremely sad. Opera is a torture place to go to more often than not nowadays. I keep on coming to the conclusion that what is missing in the world in general, but especially in opera is critical thinking skills, seeing biases, seeing inconsistencies, making logical conclusions, and humility - so basically, human traits that have to be *cultivated* in order to call oneself a person of *culture* , or an artist for that matter! It mainly doesn't exist, just an ego battle at this point 🫤
I am a tenor from South Africa, working very hard to make my way to Germany.
This is very unfortunate to read.
yes they are as tone deaf as much as they are musically inept and incompetent.
True. Unfortunately…
I’ve been going to the opera about 15 years now, and always assumed he was hired based on a glorious past, but I never found evidence of that. But even if so, it seems he’s spent more of his career in this voice now.
Was never glorious.
Heard him more than 20 years ago live and: Small voice with caprino.
Nothing has changed.
Correction: He WAS to sing Parsifal at Bayreuth in 2023 but "got sick" and Schager took over.
was the Shagger any good.
@@Garwfechan-ry5lkno
@@Garwfechan-ry5lk nope
Thanks
@@Garwfechan-ry5lk Indeed, Schager did what Schager does. Make a lot of sound, signifying nothing whatsoever musical and with a severe pump and wobble to his sound. It can be found on TH-cam in audio form. Garanca on the other hand was pretty damn impressive.
Somebody PLEASE tell me he was booed off stage
Well the audience were probably applauding.
I had the misfortune to hear him try Pollione in "Norma" at Covent Garden a few years ago. What a joke that was. He barely got through the evening.
Er wird Pollione in München singen Ende Mai Anfang Juni, man darf gespannt sein 😏
Pollione?
I have no words…
Except: Netreadful as Gioconda.
Considering his incessant cancellations in recent years, I thought he had long since finished his career and stopped tormenting the audience with his goat sounds. But this crime against the opera continues, oh my...
th-cam.com/video/uEVjVGpjEGI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=IJCT6gsqqROXwFIi
Here comes an another disaster. Angela Gheorghiu speaks out “during the performance” of Tosca. She was mad only for that tenor Alfred Kim sang a bis for E lucevan le stelle. Her argument stopped the music going and frustrated the audience. As an audience who saw it live in the theatre, Mrs. Gheorghiu sang terribly bad Tosca and messed up the whole performance.
Haha... incredible.
A travesty! Where is Martin Muehle when you need him?
Deutsche Oper- at least they have common sense sometimes
This poor Martin cannot be everywhere in s’the same time 😅
@@oliviertrommenschlager4747 He does not sing very often, would be glad if he gets hired more frequently
Oh dear that’s just too sad… was he ill or something. Surely he must realise that something is really wrong if that is a performance ( not a rehearsal ? )
Martin's the king! Did fabulous Radames in Savonlinna
If I were the Intendant, I would have pulled him out immediately after that aria and would have pushed his understudy right on stage to finish the performance. Maybe with this singer there is always a need to have a fully in costume, fully ready, fully warmed up understudy waiting backstage, just in case. A singer has to know and aknowledge when they are kaput and just stop singing. It's as simple as that.
Singers are free to “mark” at orchestra rehearsals.
Was this a rehearsal? Hope it was!
@@St.Garoosh of course it was 😄
The first one I thought “unusual, but perhaps “belta” merits the interpretation. But the end gave away the reality of the situation.
Damn. When I saw him at the State Opera on April 7, he didn't mark the high notes, but most of them had some unintentional rattling noise on them. As a rock singer, I have to admit I kind of liked these haha, but it seems he's got some vocal problems at the moment.
No he always had a fawlty voice
@@draganvidic2039 I don't think there's such a thing as a faulty voice. You can use techniques that work better or worse, and the high notes Calleja had years ago worked better than the ones he has (or doesn't have) now. You might say that they never worked sufficiently, even though probably a lot of Calleja fans would disagree. My point is, singers like Calleja (and less famous singers too) won't have an easier time adjusting their technique if we stigmatize vocal problems like the one he apparently struggles with at the moment.
@@ToniLinke Stigmatize vocal problems? He seems to be having a grand time singing whenever and whatever he likes while making a lot of money along the way. If anyone else constantly under performed at their job, they would be fired.
The whole music industry is under great threat at this moment. It is ridiculous that people would keep on encouraging bad singing within opera. Or make excuses for singers who constantly perform the wrong repertoire. AI will start to take over within the music industry. Soon it will be easy to simply create perfect AI versions of any music, with any singer you like. Opera could take advantage for this trend by actually promoting great quality live singing without any electronic enhancements. But instead many people keep on making excuses for mediocre talents. Young singers needs to start thinking about learning individuality and actual good technique, because they will soon be competing with AI.
Melchior would really be laughing at Calleja as Parsifal, there again Florez as Tristan and Brownlee as Siegfried would be worth a listen in the nearest toilet!
@@Wotan123456789 With all due respect I do have knowledge of ALL of Wagners opera's , I was making the point and it is a real fair one that Tenors like Calleja Brownlee and Florez and I would put Vogt in to this as well, have no right to sing any Wagner their voices are small like Mosquitos as Tebaldi said.
It is an absolute disgrace that Wagners opera's are being killed off by these Bullshitting singers, ( Calleja and Florez ) both are singing Turandot, or attempting to sing it.
I have met many GREAT Wagnerian singers in my long life when I was younger , my father interviewed them and my grandfather sang with them, Hans Hotter was a Favourite of mine , so to Melchior both I met , I was born in 1937.
I have a Photo with my Grandparents and Parents together with Melchior after he had been Rehearsing Otello just before the War in Covent Garden, my grandmother was a Rehearsal Pianist in Covent Garden from 1911 till 1947, my Grandfather had been a leading Tenor in the Chorus at the Garden from 1909 till 1940.
My Grandfather was trained in Italy, after he had learned the English language properly as well as German Italian and French, for he was born in 1879 with the Brythonic Celtic Language (Cymric) or Welsh as the English call it.
In those days " Welsh " was spoken as a first Language not only in Wales but also in many English shires, having been eradicated by Law from Cornwall Cumbria and Lincolnshire, in earlier Centuries.
I am sorry if I may have been " rude " but I do understand singing, my Grandfather before Italy had singing lessons with his mentor Sir Charles Santley, who had seen my Grandfather winning a Singing Competition of literally Hundreds of Singers and types of voice in a National Eisteddfodau in 1896, a young Tenor not even yet 17, he had sung Fausts aria in Welsh, with the High C full chest.
With Santley was Madame Patti and the Great old Welsh Tenor Ben Davies.
Music is in my blood, I was brought up not as a Singer but as a great lover of Opera and song, neither was my Father a Singer he had just come out of Magdalen Oxford and was given a short period of thought, before he was called up in 1938 to be an officer Cadet in Sandhurst, in 1939 he was already in France as a young Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he managed very luckily with two of his men to avoid the carnage of Dunkirk after being run over by the Germans at Arras, he got back to Britain through Le Havre with two French officers and one of his brigade the other had been wounded and had to be left, he survived the war.
My father was called to London after being in Hospital for a Month with a Bullet and Bayonet wound, he was to be given a commision and to be given Special Training he was a Commando with the rank then of Captain but was to be with the SOE, the Special Operations Executive, he spent most of the War behind enemy lines in the Balkans with Partisans, he did not have an easy war, he had killed many men , as he said to me it was personal, usually one on one, but that was War, he ended the war having been transferred from the Balkans to Germany in early 1945, even then he was behind lines, but he was a witness to Belsen having been with the first group in, he also interrogated the SS men and women there, after the war he became a Pacifist, he was to give evidence in Nuremburg rearding atrocities and Massacres in the Balkans by Wehrmacht SS and Ustashe Croats, also evidence in the Belsen Trials.
He was given the odorous tasks of visiting with Russian Officers the Death Camps in the East along with their sub Camps looking for fellow SOE agents and Commando's who had been interned in these places, he found many in Jars labelled for specific Universities, that is why he became a Pacifist and worked with the International Red Cross and was Freelance Interviewer and Correspondent for Music Magazines mainly Opera in the UK and some in the US as well, he was friendly with Hans Hotter who I can tell you was incredibly lovely kind and knowlegeable man, he interviewed Martinelli three times Lauri Volpi twice he was not impressed by him at all and Melchior four times all together and dozens of others he was friendly John Steane and they often talked over music in general.
So I was brought up in a Military Musical Pacifist home with kindness and love. I do understand your point, but you misunderstood my point.
Best regards to you and I hope you are well.
Diolch yn fawr i ti ,pob hwyl a'r Prynhawn da.
@@Garwfechan-ry5lk Thanks for sharing your story!
@@Wotan123456789 Twlly yr du, n You need a Lesson on understanding the Tenor Voice Calleja is a Caprino, he is NOT a Wagner singer, I do know Music I read music and I can write music , also I do understand what voices are and in their correct position in the House, I knew Windgassen and I have met Vogt, his opinions in singing are not mine he would be an anathema to the true Wagnerian Tenor as for Kaufmann he is as about as musical as a Tortoise he sounds like someone drawing phlegm that is the modern singer, I do not care about the channel but to say I have no idea is certainly far from the Truth I do not Troll I look for interest I am still a Regular Visit to many Theatres and I have not been to Bayreuth since those ladies have circumsized the Singing, I was at the Met last year and walked out on a performance of Aida after the Tenor had an arthritic throat in Celeste Aida, he sounded like a prize bull being castrated. we shall beg to differ.
I do not believe mr Poli is a Troll
Well, that user went very quiet after I posted the video proof. I wonder who is the "troll" here...
@@AfroPoli Very correct Sir, you have an Excellent Channel.
I wonder if he would scream FUCK in head voice. It would sound hilarious. Like a toddler learning swearwords.
This days opera is industrial singing, and i don’t go there. High days are gone, those male and female performers are CNC product. But that’s just my opinion, I’m 72 years old.
Totalmente de acuerdo, pero eso no pasa ahora Domingo y Cía. Comenzaron con los espectáculos circenses y el marketing y se cargaron la esencia de la ópera.
2:24 What the hell? Compared to this, Eyvazov sounds like Corelli… Calleja sounded better some years ago, now his voice is gone obviously.
Wow, that really hurts. He should really think about his Future Jobs and way of singing otherwise he will probably lose the rest of his voice.
Fortunately I decided to visit the Tosca performance in Hamburg 1 month ago and could see a sensationell Adam Smith as Cavaradossi. In my opinion Smith and Mühle are todays best Tenors.
100% agree. His material is great. But he won't rework. I’ve watched a recent interview with him, made by some Maltese TV channel (it's on YT). There, he literally says: „There is no other singer in existence who, after having sung for almost 25 years, has a voice as intact and beautiful as mine“. I’m not kidding. He won't reconsider what he's doing.
@@AfroPoli sad to hear. But I am afraid as long as he is hired by the big houses and is not booed Off Stage he will change nothing.
@@Carmesi66 I doubt it. In the past, when great singers like Stefano and Pavarotti were booed, they said the audience had the right to boo. But nowadays when those awful singers are booed, they always blame the audience!
@@AfroPoli Clearly he never heard of Salvatore Fisichella!
@@AfroPoli That shows an incredible amount disillusion or denial. He is 46 he suppose to be in his prime, most tenors really start aging around 50.
I was first under the impression that his mic got disconnected (however pitiful would that be). The end (or the lack thereof) gave it all away.
Is this for real? I sounded like that when I was five and tried to sing high notes during my kindergarten sing-along.
Me before watching the video: How bad can it be？
Me after watching the video: OK this is pretty bad😂
Clearly he’s trying to dodge the high notes by singing pianissimo. But this aria, and the role of Cavaradossi in general, is not supposed to be sung too lightly.
OMG just watch the 1976 Tosca movie with Placido Domingo and Sherill Milnes and avoid this nonsense.
Domingo has his own problems he should not held up as a great Cavaradossi, this a movie with a great Cavaradossi and Scarpia th-cam.com/video/PC1p7daDig8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=drpe5drDy89XdJ9Y
And this isn’t a rehearsal with him marking!? - hall sounds empty… Also the first light phrase he sings “e te, beltade ignota..” is actually written as “pianissimo” - which is rarely done, because it is hard/nearly impossible to do in the context of the rest of the aria. Also his hoarseness mostly sounds like swelling and inflammation from acid reflux to my ears, if his technique was so poor, his falsetto would also be affected.
But exactly:
The audience pay your bills.
Why should we pay for so much crap on the stages today?
Opera houses and directors do a great disservice to singers and the health of the voices. Of course, Mr Calleja is at fault too for putting up with repertoire that doesn't suit his voice, but ultimately I fail to see how opera houses think long term miscasting will attract audiences.
Very true.
Damn I've been away from opera for quite a while. This a new low
I think Calleja cannot "fix anything" anymore. It is beyond repair.
The same goes for Kaufmann.
Kaufmann should confine himself to singing in musicals...
@altaischurale7324 Even for musicals his voice is no longer enough. One needs some unity between vocal registers at the very least...
Stimmbandschaden! Was ich viel schlimmer finde, dass er vollkommen emotionslos singt. Kaufmann ist such so ein Paradebeispiel, wenn es um herzloses Gegurgel geht!
Opera has really been lost to the Tenorino quartets! Caruso Martinelli Gigli Lauri Volpi Corelli Di Stefano and a hundred more Tenors could fart better than the present lot save a Russian Tenor not the one married to Netrebko, who has a very pleasing sounds real Tenor voice, he is on you tube in Rigoletto but I cannot think of his name, otherwise I listened to a Florez teach in at Covent Garden a while back, I was really taken aback when he said he will do Turandot, he will have to have Mics all over the place, you cannot here him past the Fourth row at the Garden this happened in a performance of Sonnambula , where his Mic was out of sync with his actual voice and we were blessed with two Mosquito's in the Theatre has Madame Tebaldi once famously said.
Lo avevo ascoltato in Sonnambula a Vienna ca.6 anni fa. Lo stesso. Vocina debolissima
I thought the title was just a joke, but he actually uses falsetto, unbelievable, and he calls himself a singer.
Normal occurrence at a rehearsal
@@Yves_Ka Yes, in a rehearsal it is, but this isn't a rehearsal
@@Bulacio_Elias you sound confused : it was a rehearsal
@@Yves_Ka Afropoli claims it isn't...
@@Bulacio_Elias I claim it was a rehearsal
as soon as he opens his mouth to sing, it is a perle nere...
no chest voice at all..
Was it dress rehearsal???? It does sounds like he is marking
This was no rehearsal...
@@AfroPoli is there any proof of this?
@@tita4359 Sure. There is a video.
@@AfroPoli then share it
@@tita4359 See the video in the pinned comment.
Povero Puccini, 😢.
Calleja hat in einem Interview gesagt, er sei ein großer Tenor, andere Tenöre sind nicht seine Klasse, im übertragenen Sinn. Ich habe kürzlich den 70-jährigen Greggory Kunde als Calaf live erlebt, der weiß, wie es geht.
W.T.A.F. What did I just hear? Had an announcement been made to plead "indisposition?" Or has he drunk the "perfect high notes are all in falsetto" cool-aid? Give me a break.
“Marking” at a rehearsal is standard practice by all singers at all opera houses
@@Yves_Ka hello. That's a performance, says OP.
@@DaDooshinator OP is incorrect info
@@DaDooshinator hello don’t be gullible 😂
Hi Sir, any new Reality Check coming soon ? Have a nice day ☀
Perhaps he was having a rough night. I heard him sing Cavaradossi at the Met several years ago and he was great, and definitely did not sing in falsetto.
No he was never great.
Caprino is never ok.
That user stopped posting after watching the video of what he claimed to be a "rehearsal". And no, Calleja was never a "fine tenor". Corelli's vibrato was completely different.
Fiiiinally another review!!
The last time I heard him live in Ballo in Maschera the higher notes were rough and raw. This is quite some time ago now. Embarrassing!
WTF. Even I- almost tone- deaf- would have heard that…
I'm bursting out laughing hearing him sing with that falsetto 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂 this is next level
It's interesting in that the voice sounds healthy. It isn't like it the phonation was too dirty or wobbly. He just didn't trust the top. Strange indeed.
Thank God Teatro Real (Madrid, Spain) doesn't hire this man or Jonas Kaufmann and saves the audience from these "perle nere". Martin Muehle has already debuted as Calaf with quite a success, but sadly he's mostly ignored as a delivering tenor for verismo rep.
Why isn‘t Muehle hired more often? It is such a shame! Can someone explain?
@@deropernliebhaber9181 that's what I ask myself with some really talented singers of various tessiture. Clearly some theatres don't use auditions as a casting tool as much as they should anymore, but rather focus on hiring manufactured opera stars or those who are friendly enough with the impressario.
@@deropernliebhaber9181They just want someone to sell those expensive tickets.
I just recently heard another mosquito Camarena cracking in Rigoletto in Opera Real Madrid. Besides, this company first started the trend to use microphones
@@cutepepy so did I, of course Teatro Real's casts are far from perfect and that Rigoletto was wrong in many senses, Camarena cracking once was the least of the issues with it, even if that was not very acceptable for the price you pay.
The orchestra did him dirty at 2:24
@afropoli would you be so nice to give me the link to the video you mentioned in your comments? Thank you.
Find it in the pinned comment.
Are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!?!
This has to be a joke lol. It’s not any more difficult to sing those notes forte than falsetto if you have correct technique. If it’s hard for you to sing high and loud, that’s merely a mental issue and technical issue.
If you’re not going to sing the notes to be audible, why even show up and waste the audience’s time?
También es un recurso muy utilizado por Kaufmann. Lamentable.
OMG what a disaster....
He's starting to sound like Sirach Van Bodegraven. :o
😀
I heard him in Berlin with la Boheme. It was brillant. But this Aria? This is NOT a rehearsel?
No.
Maybe it was a rehearsal and was marking?
Unfortunately, it was recorded during a performance.
@@AfroPoli eek
Y entonces saldrá uno que dirá "tú como siempre hablando de Pavarotti y Plácido". Y, sí, prefiero escuchar una grabación monofónica de Pavarotti o de Plácido antes que escuchar esto en vivo
En el reino de los ciegos el tuerto es el rey. A mu este tenor siempre me pareció vulgar, pero estoy seguro que en esta actuación tenía un grave problema vocal.
Domingo is also not a great example of tenor. Pavarotti was great tenor, but not a great Cavadossi.
@@ZENOBlAmusicTotalmente de acuerdo.
@@ZENOBlAmusicEn este papel me quedo con Corelli.
@@ZENOBlAmusic I'm really surprised to hear that,for you, Domingo is not a good example of a tenor. I asume that you mean today's Domingo. There are so many tenor rolls where his recordiing is still the best, that only if you simply hate him for other reasons you can say such a thing. For me,he is in the top 5 tenors ever.
Well, at least this is better than Alvarez.
Oh, this hurts… but I feel sorry for the singer… No singer wants to deliver a questionable performance…
Perhaps he was sick, having problems with the larynx or vocal cords. But then, of course, it would have been better not to sing…
I listened to him in some baroque and it was nice, but Tosca in the Real was simply not ok, he does not have the right voice.
A mi no me gusta nada este tenor, pero imagino que en ese momento tendria algún problema vocal.
Credo che lei a voluto provare altra cosa o allora e veramente stanco.
Yo creo que tenía algún problema vocal importante en ese momento. Se nota perfectamente.
Calleja sounds like a goat or a lamb.
Correct
Oh, that’s dreadful.
Люблю Тоску.
Una pena totale
Unbelievable!!
Mamma mia
vielen Dank!
Che schifo!
Ma fatelo tacere
Ergastolo subito!
What!!!!!!!!!
I love his voice. I don't hear an audience, so it's likely a rehearsal. I wish he would find a world-class dentist.
Unfortunately, it was recorded during a performance.
@AfroPoli Then he deserves no pity or excuses.Those notes are in the score. He chickened out. I don't like that.
He could have been sick, though - or did you hear more of this sort? Usually sounded like more than _that,_ didn't he?
😂😂😂
Что это за ***я?
It does sound like he is marking, so probably a rehearsal. But he has clearly been overstressed and overparted in recent years. He was spectacular in at the Met about 10 years ago, and he sounded pretty good in But other roles have not been as successful. He is a light lyric. is not his opera, and certainly isn't.
Unfortunately, it was recorded during a performance.
He is a typical product of these days: since the start of his career he had major defects - nasality and caprino (goating) due to lack of proper technique
This is obviously a dress rehearsal or stage rehearsal.
Maybe was a rehearsal, he was marking
Bad singing
What is this nonsense lmao
This is a rehearsal.
No.
@@AfroPoli yes
@@Yves_Kait was no rehearsel..you can check it With Google search.There are some reviews online in german.
Search for Calleja Tosca Berlin
@@Yves_Ka
Where you there? No.
@@draganvidic2039 was I there? Yes 😫😫😫
warum musst du dich so als sittenwächter fuer diese abgetakelten warhorses aufspielen? nothing better to do?
Questo e cosa? Nemorino a Roma?????
What a mess!!!!