Ezio Pinza and the Bell Telephone Hour!

[@michaelzimmermann1958]

Was für eine herrliche natürliche Bassstimme. Völlig unverspannt mit ganz natürlichen musikalischem Fluss. Unvergesslich auch die Aufnahmen mit Rosa Ponselle und Beniamino Gigli, mit denen er zusammen auf Schallplatte zu bewundern ist. Solche Sänger und Sängerinnen findet man Heute leider nicht mehr

[@alexkije]

Alas!

[@iksings]

We humans always compare one artist to another.We are always searching for the very best and when we find our champion,we sing their praises.Please forgive me.I have never heard a more beautiful Basso cantante than Ezio Pinza.His gifts are awesome. Ian Kaye

[@sachseco]

WHAT A SUPERB VOICE. EASY HIGH NOTES, EASY LOWS. PERFECT MEZZA-VOCE, DETAIL TO ALL THE SUBTILTIES OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE, PERFECT!

[@tayuanchang8639]

It has been 70 years since this one was recorded. In my opinion, no one is as good as Pinza in singing these song and arias. [and this one was a live recording]. Thank for for posting!

[@johntlew]

I briefly met Ms. Theabum when she was a guest instructor in the music department at San Francisco State University...she was certainly known as being a fine interpreter of French Opera reprtoire. She can definitely hold her own with Ezio Pinza.

[@kraftpr]

Why can't there be more programming like this on television instead of all the garbage that pollutes the airwaves?

[@telsport]

The dumbing down of America and vulgarization of our culture.

[@ΠολυτροποςΟδυσσέυς]

well America holds two things most dearly：one being varies of cheeseburgers and another being incestious thoughts with their moms

[@philipbuckley759]

seek it out, on utube....and other venues.....

[@richardcameron8759]

Pinza and Thebom shakes the walls! What a performance!!

[@poppamichael2197]

Thanks for posting this absolute gem. I have loved Pinza for more than half a century. Appropriately he achieved world-wide fame before his passing. But I had never heard of Blanche Thebom. Never knew what I had missed. Beautiful!

[@BruceBoschek]

I grew up with Ezio Pinza and the Bell Telephone Hour, later with Ed Sullivan and others. Wonderful culture. Thank you for posting this.

[@alexkije]

Indeed!

[@Artiej0hn0]

This is pure gold. Thank you for posting it.

[@seandonovan4186]

Notice there is no microphone in front of this man. The mic is somewhere in the room. His voice is resonating in the whole room. Pinza was absolutely the man.

[@mrrkdino]

What a wonderful find.

[@Bachfeuer]

This is sublime for various reasons. Pinza was at the peak of his powers. Sound this good had been only for movie studios before 16mm film began to be shot for non-live television. Note the position of the RCA Model 44 mic-inside that acoustic tile studio where so much experience using it had been gained.

[@Arkelk2010]

Can you imagine being in that small audience? Practically a private performance. I must try to find more of Miss Thebom--she sang beautifully here. (And did you notice that the announcer pronounced the Italian and French well too? [limited sample, but sounded good])

[@brucereynolds7009]

The announcer was George Fenneman, who later did You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx.

[@VinylToVideo]

Remember this man had been falsely imprisoned for being Italian during the war despite having sold his assets in Italy; his wife believed the whole ordeal had ended his life early around 10 years or so after this. A terrific voice and talent. Thebom is tremendously underrated also.

[@tenorschofield]

Marvelous Ezio Pinza!!!,BRAVISSIMO!!!

[@hankblaustein4149]

pinza=sublime, place him in the pantheon of singers. this is a treasure!

[@hanslick3375]

I have not heard another recording where Pinza sings a low D. That clip is a treasure for various reasons as already mentioned in other comments.

[@johnblasiak607]

Smetana The Bartered Bride is magnificent I wish it was performed in Australia but alas ! Pinza undoubtedly was and is because of recordings one of the truly great voices I have ever heard because of the sheer beauty of his voice a very athletic man and charming personality

[@ausbrum]

You may find a clip on youtube of a tv performance about 1958 with Elsie Morrison made in the Melbourne ABC tv studio

[@ausbrum]

It was last done I think about 1958 with Elsie Morrson. There's a clip on youtube from the ABC Melbourne studio

[@umaratabilgi161]

Ezio Pinza had such a great voice

[@paullewis2413]

This is the kind of singing from the golden age that makes you realize that era has passed, possibly forever. There are a handful of very good singers around now but nothing to compare to those times and an artist such as Pinza has no equal today.

[@colinbell-NI]

I agree. What has caused this decline would you say? Is it the teachers? And would you say the decline has been worse in tenors?

[@juanaguirre4833]

@@colinbell-NI I think it's bad teachers, the invention of the recording (big voices don't record as well and singers such as Fischer-Diskeau who croon well but can't sing opera, became popular), the video (emphasis on looks and acting), and a lazy culture of students who want quick results and don't take any interest in listening/studying recordings from past greats.

[@alexkije]

Thanks!

[@numetutelare]

Un vero mostro sacro... vedere come anche nelle prove i cantanti dell'epoca recitassero con espressione e gestualità... si è perso un mondo di classe, eleganza e vera arte...

[@antoniboleslawowicz8095]

I agree with Paul Lewis, absolutely! Pinza had a gorgeous voice, unique, clear, expressive and the words always meant something. And MUSICAL -- to boot! Eliot Pinza, while he lived, was more than just a man: he was a living treasure! Through films like this, we can readily see it!

[@steveegallo3384]

Wow....What a Trip....BRAVO from Acapulco !

[@rnhealer6044]

Thank you for this rare treat of this rare clip of a live radio performance of these two opera greats. This was extraordinary.

[@rnhealer6044]

I wish I could understand what they were singing in Italian from these arias. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@jerrysumner4923]

Pinza was magical, basso, yet melodic. Just wonderful!

[@jefolson6989]

One of my heros. This is new to me. There are a couple movies on KZbin that are great. Mr. IMPERIUM in which he sings " solamente una vez"

[@ErfeanFalcorck]

Great singer and a very intelligent actor!

[@bathie2636]

So sooo... Wonderful!...

[@barytonal]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

[@seandonovan4186]

There was a golden age and WE ARE NOT IN IT.

[@AfroPoli]

Nice!

[@BaroneVitellioScarpia1]

Pinza = la perfezione.

[@dejanstevanic5408]

TY

[@MrGer2295]

JUST BEAUTIFUL ! THANK YOU FOR POSTING ❤❤❤❤

[@caninbar]

You sure don't hear mezzavoce like that anymore!!!

[@sebthi7890]

that is true, today everyone want to show how loudly they can instead of the pure beauty

[@numetutelare]

Il basso più completo e perfetto ascoltato in disco....

[@jimgulick9773]

Ezio Pinza -- My mother's absolute favorite!

[@ausbrum]

This is the Toscanini studio at NBC designed to have no reverberation

[@brucereynolds7009]

And nobody, as far as I can see, has indicated who the announcer is who introduces the duet might be: George Fenneman, he who did You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx.

[@AIdem-ig9fq]

Just marvellous

[@flylooper]

I had forgotten about Pinza over the years. He was a sensational bass, for sure. One thing I remember him for was his beautiful falsetto. I used to listen to the Bell Telephone Hour in bed, too! LOL Am I dating myself?

[@esterbruno8604]

Ezio Pinza, basso straordinario e orgoglio italiano 💚🤍❤ Meraviglioso! 💖🎶😍 PS: 17:06 🤩🤩🤩

[@stardust_memories2260]

I have Pinza's "il lacerato spirito / finch han dal vino" on 78 magnifico

[@francoisedestembert8547]

The composer Ange FLÉGIER (1846-1927) has used only verses 1, 2 and 7 out of part I. Below you can follow the text of this "ballade"; the first line comes several times in-between, and the 2 first lines of verse 2 are also repeated after lines 3 and 4, but beginning with "Bien souvent".

[@petergraham8681]

Fortunately I have a copy of this courtesy of VAI. Which also includes sequences with other Bass voices. I love many other Italian bass voices but Pinza (for Italian Rep anyway) is the king of them all. On his last selection he sails on down to a tremendous low D I believe. This is relatively late Pinza but his sound, especially, here, mezza di voce and all, is as sonorous as one could wish. For cantante voices only Siepi comes close to matching him, IMO.

[@michaelmaher-q3h]

you will not hear many basses with that kind of piano/pianissimo voice

[@francoisedestembert8547]

"le Cor" is based on Alfred de Vigny's (romantic French writer) long and famous poem (21 verses in 4. parts of inequal length, inspired by the tragic end of Roland in Roncevaux)there: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Cor) The composer J'aime le son du Cor, le soir, au fond des bois, Soit qu'il chante les pleurs de la biche aux abois, Ou l'adieu du chasseur que l'écho faible accueille, Et que le vent du nord porte de feuille en feuille. Que de fois seul dans l'ombre à minuit demeuré, J'ai souri de l'entendre, et plus souvent pleuré ! Car je croyais ouïr de ces bruits prophétiques Qui précédaient la mort des Paladins antiques. Âmes des Chevaliers, revenez-vous encor? Est-ce vous qui parlez avec la voix du Cor ? Roncevaux ! Roncevaux ! Dans ta sombre vallée L'ombre du grand Roland n'est donc pas consolée !

[@joep8787]

Bad television has driven out good television the way bad money (cheap metal coins) drove out good money (silver coinage) back in 1965.

[@おおやすぐる]

痺れるなあ。ヴェルディ作品のバリトンには、不可欠。メルヒオールやティベットとは仲良きライバル。そんな関係、いいなあ。

[@ihopetowin]

Mozart would have been thrilled.

[@numetutelare]

Gente ciome Pinza non avevano bisogno dei microfoni e degli amplificatori... in teatro la voce correva fino all'ultima fila senza sbavature...ma che fine hanno fatto simili voci!!! Che desolazione oggi...

[@Shamsithaca]

Did the singers sing the bell telephone hour shows live?

[@thephantom1946]

Yes

[@francoisedestembert8547]

The composer

[@alessandrodelmagno9125]

Basso che canta come un tenore.

[@zu0832]

It's all about $

[@jeannecohen451]

No women in the orchestra. Times have changed.

[@jefolson6989]

Pinza may have scared and female members of the orchestra away. He was a famously lecherous. An Italian Pepe le Pew

[@maribone20021]

Is it just a pickup orchestra?

[@detectivefiction3701]

But there is a woman in the recording booth.