The 1922 recording of Lauri-Volpi's "A te, o cara" from I Puritani
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.พ. 2025
- To the best of my knowledge, this is the earliest recording of the great tenor's rendering of this famous aria. The rapid-fire vibrato speaks to the early era.
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AS A CHILD MY MOTHER HAD ONLY TWO TENORS IN HER RECORD COLLECTION-LAURI-VOLPI AND GERSHON SIROTA. IT IS THE RAPID VIBRATO WHICH IS NOT ONLY GLORIOUS BUT MAKES THE EARLIER ACOUSTICS SO SPECIAL IN LAURI-VOLPI'S CASE. I ALWAYS REGRETTED HIS LATER STRAIGHTER TONE ON RECORDINGS.
He certainly was. There are a serious number of people who contend that, everything considered, he was the greatest tenor of all time. I don't think one can safely go that far, but I do understand what they mean. He was an amazing man. A stunning intellect, with a huge writing resume, on many subjects, a novelist, a lawyer, a very great tenor; one of those Renaissance men who come along very seldom.
I swear to God ,if I see any more comments about vibrato from the Cult of Collapsed Chest :P I’m gonna... I dunno know what other then have a good belly laugh . It must be some new form of pathology .The Cult needs to have their collective ears and head examined . *I do not mean you , Elias Castillo Rivera*
His vibrato only seems to be fast, not actually a caprino, and it's very noticeable its regularity when you drop the speed of the recording. It could almost be a trill, if the amplitude were wider. Certainly this vibrato helped a lot in his the fluidity of his singing, because it wasn't completely caused for pulsations from the abdominal walls, but from regular "spasms" (more like blinks) in the laryngeal muscles, so precisely, and so beautifully.
Nemmeno Lauri Volpi canta come Lauri Volpi. Questo " A te o cara" e' fuori dal mondo.
AWESOME!!! Thank you my dear friend for sharing this Great Performance of Great Tenor LAURI VOLPI (1892-1979).
BEAUTIFUL!!! Thank you Sir Edmund for sharing this Wonderful performance.
Beautiful.
@SuperLuckydream Thank you very much, my friend. I always appreciate your comments!
Beautiful! A truly golden voice. i love this fast vibrato and the "liquid" sound. Did this school of singing completely disappear?
Thanks for the recording
@Noshirm Thank you! Yes indeed, many people I know consider him among the greatest tenors--and possibly the greatest--of all time.
Si, ben detto! Grazie!
@EdmundStAustell
Would love to see an English translation of his often quoted Voci Parallele. Every now and then there seems to be a rumor that it will be translated.
@oldoperafan Indeed! And I think one would be right. I know at least one critic who contends that he was the gretest tenor of all time. A mighty claim, to be sure, but there is evidence to support it. Hard to say, certainly, but there is little doubt that he was one of the very best.
@MrGer2295 Thank you; much appreciated!
@younglemeshevist Yes - and it is not the only thing that has disappeared...
100 años después...
@1993MGB Thank you! You make good points.
@kablue79 Sono assolutamente d'accordo. Alcune persone pensano che lui era il più grande tenore di tutti i tempi. Anche se che è un'affermazione straordinaria, penso che potrebbe essere possibile effettuare il caso!
@MrGer2295 Thank you very much.
Qui siamo sempre alle solite !!!!!non è in discussione il grande tenore !!lo sappiamo benissimo !!lo amiamo ,lo amiamo e penso che difficilmente ci sarà mai qualcuno in grado di (avvicinarsi ) alla sua grande maestria ,ma ripeto in questa romanza io preferisco FLETA !!!
Take it easy with exclamation marks . We got it , you like Fleta . No reason to tell us repeatedly , we got it from the first , and no reason to tell it on another singer's video . Actually no reason to tell us about your likes and dislikes at all because nobody cares .You are anonymous , we are anonymous , we don't know each other , we don't care about each other's taste . Perhaps I am too direct , but this doesn't make what I say less true
I have toyed with the idea of translating it myself, but I am just am not sure there is that much of a market, and I can't afford to do it as a vanity press job. Also, having just retired from academia, I don't know that I could that easily rouse the energy any longer:-) I might be convinced if I thought there were a market in the English-speaking world, other than a few academic libraries that have a solid music budget. People don't buy books as they once did, since the cyberworld phenomenon.
@CurzonRoad Interesting comment, Doug. Let me ask, in what way do the qualities you describe come across to you...in the music per se or from general information about the man?
@EdmundStAustell
Good, fair question. Actually, felt this way before learning anything about Lauri-Volpi, and after all thee years not sure I recall much about the man (on a comical note, he always reminds me of Bill Murray's 1970s SNL lounge lizard). All the same, his later electrical of A te, o cara reigns supreme.
Ben detto! Ho il massimo rispetto per Filippeschi!
It is quite possible, while listening to G L-V, to think he was one of the greatest singers.
Ho letto tutte tutte le vostre opinioni!!!ma debbo dire ,: in questa romanza non è il massimo !!!prende l'acuto in modo improponibile !!!!!,cerchiamo di essere realistici!!! Con questo non sto criticando LAURI VOLPI !!anzi io lo annoverò tra i mie tenori preferiti !!!ma come canta QUESTA QUESTA QUESTA romanzaFLETA. Ahhhhhhhh ,ahhhhhhhhhh non c'e nessuno per quello che ho sentito io che lo superi
So this recording is public domain now
Non è un problema. Stiamo parlando di due giganti. A proposito, potreste essere interessati a sapere che in una conversazione, mi si dice che Lauri Volpi una volta si rivolse a Mario Filippeschi come "il re dei tenori" !
l'aria è abbassata
It's possibly picked up by osmosis. I remember feeling the same way for no particular reason I could remember. Then I read a lot of things about him which turned out to be lies....deliberate misinformation concocted by Italian Fascists after the war. The idea subsists that he was a Fascist...he was not. He hated them. But no politics here:-) Thanks again for the comment, always appreciated!
Muy "acabritado" el vibrato en esta interpretación
Tecnica prodigiosa e irripetuta
A discordant note: IMHO Lauri-Volpi always sounds like a self-absorbed narcissist. The vibrato here is not so evident in the later very famous electrical recording.
He had a lot of enemies and as a man conscious of his skills he always rebuffed unjust critics
It is quite absurd to describe Lauri Volpi as a self absorbed narcissist. That is to denigrate a very great artist, one of the greatest of all tenors.
Vibratino fastidioso, portamenti fuori stile......gusto insopportabile. Basta con questa santificazione del passato.
Stefano non è santificazione ma è prendere coscienza di cos è Bellini, l opera italiana, e la VOCE vera.
Il suo A te o cara del 1928 è insuperato. Non basta fare il compitino giusto del solfeggio, come vogliono oggi gli intenditori....
A leggere qualche nota siamo capaci tutti.
A cantare così... beh... Oggi nessuno
Quello del 1928 è spettacolare
@Stefano
Rubato and portamento are INDISPENSABLE in bel canto ,who expects metronomic tempo has no idea about belcanto . Might not be allowed today but only because today's conductors and singers have lost the connection with the true style long ago . I doubt you have any idea what you are talking about .Adelina Patti who was greatly admired by Verdi uses a lot of both in her recordings . Acoustic recordings vibrato depends greatly on transfer .
He has a shaky start but then gets better. Not as good as his later recording, it's still better than most.