Love

The guy did everything a tenor must do to ruin his voice and yet for some years the voice was great. Of course it could not last.

che bravo Pippo..e che meraviglia di Do sovracuto finale…peccato che la Tebaldi gli canti sopra….

Mi favourite Soprano and my favourite Tenor together…wonderfull!!!! Renata Tebaldi, what a voice….she’s better than Maria Callas!

Meu Deus! Que vozes! Obrigado Onegin65 por essa maravilha.

Thank’s for this video..really!!
I love Di Stefano and especially when he sings Puccini..the best!!!

Early on he was much better. He covered better. That was when it was glorious as you say. Later, as he started singing heavier rep. (which he should not have as he was a lyric tenor) he started uncovering higher and higher. I think he did that to get more power. It really put him off track. Luckily we can still listen to the early recordings.:)

You certainly explained it in a way that I couldn’t have, so thanks for that. Whatever he did, it sounded glorious, but also led to a very short career.

I was just wondering what you meant specifically. I agree that he needed to “cover” and started uncovering too high. Covering is a muscular switch that happens in the passaggio. That allows you to still sing “full voice”, but in a healthy way by adding more of the thyroid muscles and infrahyoids.

By open I mean uncovered tone that damages the vocal cords. Not using head tones- operating the voice with full voice which I think might put too much weight on the voice. I’m not a musician certainly, and my understanding is limited and based on what I’ve heard from friends what are singer. I imagine there are some here would be able to explain far better then me.

What do you mean, exactly, by “open”?

All things aside, he sang with a fully opened voice. I believe that was the thing that led to his early demise. Like you said, who really cares.

He did sound like Pippo. I was told my someone that Di Stefano’s wife said that Carreras was the closest to Pippo’s singing. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s really the truth. Of course no one can really sound as beautiful as Di Stefano. Paired with Tebaldi is pretty much the ultimate.

Marvelous singing.TY

Magnificent! Brava! Bravo!TY.

Is there any one who still has “La Beheme” with Di Stefano and Tebaldi to share with us here in YouTube? Thank you very much.—dancewu(dot)net

Tebaldi vindt ik hier absoluut super,wat een geweldige stem heeft die vrouw,di stefano is ook geweldig maar moet teveel “werken”,misschien een wat mindere dag

I have a recording from the early 70’s of Carreras singing “Che gelida” and it is eerie how much he sounded like Pippo.

I completely agree with you about Di Stefano. He WAS in a class by himself! Yet, tenors like Jose Carreras idolized him. You may agree or disagree but he moved me with some of his great 1970’s recordings as did Di Stefano in the 40’s and 50’s.

genios genios y genios

Personally, I think the best recording of the love duet is Caruso’s, because he made the recording before he lost a lot of his upper register power. Also, in his rendition, they hold the last note very long.

Thank you for your comments, I am in total agreement, this man was an interpretive genius, no one before or since sang with such heartfelt passion and feeling. I have others that I admire, but none compare to Di Stefano - he is a class by himself.

I have heard all the negative thrown at this man - short career, inappropriate roles - ruined voice - I care NOT - this man has moved me like no other by his performances - I would listen to Pippo sing the ingrediants to Cool Whip.

I like your insight of Di Stefano’s performance here. The problem I have with Di Stefano is that I compare all others to him. He stands alone and above.

This is from the CD “Chicago”. It was actually in San Francisco recorded over 3 nights.
Brilliant live performances !!! This CD is well worth it if you are an Opera fan in fact it’s a must.

Pippo was not fond of this role, he considered Pinkerton a shallow self serving person, so he deliberately shaded his voice to fit the character by removing the warmth he normally sang with. That said, this is a wonderful performance early in both their careers. This was both their debuts in San Francisco and the audience loves their performance - this is what Grand Opera is all about, performances like this will never be again. Rest in peace Renata and Pippo, you now sing only for God.

E’ l’esecuzione più emozionante di questo duetto d’amore.