Bruce Ford unfolds his Assoluto Range (Ab2-D5) in Rossini's Heroic Baritenor Coloratura (Agorante)

[@grig035]

This is certainly one of the toughest such roles, yes. But the very toughest of all these Agostino Nozzari roles written by Rossini may be Antenore in Zelmira. Also, a couple of years later, Rossini gave one or two of these Nozzari roles to Adolphe Nourrit in Paris, who was also a formidable vocal presence with a rich middle register. In fact, the first and only part Rossini expressly wrote for Nourrit was Arnold in Guillaume Tell, where the orchestra is even heavier than in these Nozzari Naples operas. The virtuosity may not be quite as intense, but the vocal weight is even greater, making the combination of _some_ virtuosity and heroic weight just as tricky in its way. The next step up in vocal weight for the tenor is the yet heavier scenes in Act 2 of Poliuto also written for Nourrit at his most powerful, although the rest of the opera is more lyrical. After that, the next step up are the strenuous ensembles in Act 2 of Tannhäuser, but by then the world of virtuosity is left behind. Finally, the heaviest of all may be the Forging Scene in Act 1 of Siegfried. The two worlds of virtuosity and weight probably combine at their trickiest in Agorante, Antenore, Arnold, Robert le Diable, Cellini, Martyrs (French revision of Poliuto for Duprez), Prophete (Jean) and Vepres/Vespri (Henri/Arrigo).

[@LohengrinO]

who is the greatest Agorante and Antenore in recorded history up to now?

[@geoffreyriggs2397]

@@LohengrinO To that, I can only say that all the seria Rossini operas, other than Otello and Semiramide, were no longer being performed, once Tamberlik arrived in the mid-19th-century generation. Tamberlik was certainly the best equipped tenor of the post-Rossini generation to take up the Nozzari/Nourrit/Duprez mantle. But the inheritors of the Naples baritenors, the roles for Nourrit/Duprez/Guymard had essentially supplanted the Rossini tenor vehicles, other than his Otello and Guillaume Tell. The upshot is that the last forty years have seen as robust a performing tradition for Rossini's seria tradition as anything in the latter half of the 19th century. Tamberlik was likely as assured an Arnold, a Robert, a Cellini, a Polyeucte, as anyone. But those are different, though inheritors, from Rossini's baritenors.

[@LohengrinO]

@@geoffreyriggs2397 from recorded history in 20th century?

[@geoffreyriggs2397]

@@LohengrinO Maybe Merritt and Ford are about the pick of the litter -- of those who actually did them. The most authentic sounds, though, may come from artists like Escalais, who didn't actually do them but are likely closer to the vocal traditions of a Tamberlik or a Guymard.

[@ESilva-gw9ig]

One of my favorite tenors ever in belcanto repertoire and a wonderful mozartian tenor. Great singing in every way. Pity he was so underrated.

[@lukacs37]

Rossini was incredible! He never stopped demanding huge capabilities from his singers! So, every good rossinianan voice is almost a miracle! Ford makes an extraordinary accomplishment! Bravo!

[@LohengrinO]

Berganza had said he who can sing Rossini well can sing everything

[@yukefort8402]

You should hear him live in a living room.

[@esteban_iribarne]

With JDF, one of my favorite tenors in Rossini repertoire!! His voice is unique and very stirring.

[@niklasdefries]

I enjoy JDF as well - and I love how Rossini suits both voices even though Bruce Ford is a pure beast of a powerhouse compared to the delicate and light qualities of JDF. Bruce Ford is truly divine at what he does. Imagine the work he must have put in to sound like that. Hours and hours.

[@fabriziodiberardino3448]

Ancora una volta sono ripetitivo,cantare Rossini non è facile,in più avere questa dote di voce in più passaggi..i miei complimenti🍷✋🐶👏👏👏👏

[@hadikheradmandpour7394]

Billion thanks Lohengrin! Genius composers need genius singers; Mr. Ford gives the proof. I am sure Rossini himself is mesmerising in the seventh heaven listening to this genius. Totally unrelated: this man made me BELIEVE that Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni are "overrated" while Mitridate is the best opera of Mozart!!! He is unbelievable; beauty at its height.

[@ntobekongcala2745]

This man's voice is just amazing.

[@陳科祕書長]

I like his head voice and coloratura notes, the former is so well developed and the latter is so secure. One of my favorite tenors, unfortunately underrated.

[@ramonmontedeoca2879]

He quedado ASOMBRADO. Una voz en extremo varonil que se mantiene en todos los registros y con un decir extraordinario. MÁS DE ESE BARITENOR !POR FAVOR!

[@xavierluceno7006]

La musica es sublime y el maestro Ford es formidable y muy valliente. No todos se atreven a cantar eso.

[@MrQbenDanny]

BRAVO!!! BRAVISSIMO!!! VIVA BRUCE FORD!!!!! Dear Bruce, "Listening to the effortless tour de force by you here in this ROSSINI daredevil high wire without a net Aria, I not only got goose bumps (I swear my hand to God I DID!!!), it brought back to me the few highlights of the greats I saw at the Metropolitan in 40yrs of subscription membership". YOU BRUCE FORD, Stand along side the greatest tenors in HISTORY, beginning with the first: ENRICO CARUSO. The magnitude of the singing here is so brilliant and mesmerizing that I could fill pages of compliments. For ME BRUCE FORD, you are "EL MAGNIFICO", a title understood in any language. You remind me of the great Philippe Petit walking on a high wire 1500 feet in the air suspended between the tops of the twin towers of the old World Trade Center which I witnessed from below. It is THIS designer brand of singing you bring to Arogante. BRUCE FORD, I BOW TO YOUR ART.

[@vale86301]

Great,really a beautiful and power voice,so cleary!!!

[@johnwallman6647]

BRAVO! Excellent control. Appreciate the pianissimo. Glad I found you. Continued success.

[@Agorante]

I posted another version of this entrance aria. It is however a live video from a performance. The character of Agorante is black as are all the chorus. They roll around in the desert. It's a hoot.

[@thricegreatart]

I found it hard to identify this piece easily. It turns out this is from Ricciardo e Zoraide. Ford sounds absolutely incredible here.

[@aetion]

Καταπληκτική φωνή! Ευχαριστώ, φίλε Τεό.

[@ZauberinNini]

Wonderful Greek language💖

[@jameskillmiller]

Formidable tenor

[@biancacastafiore8760]

he was a wonderful artist, wasn’t he? unfortunately a career cut short by illness, but i hear he is now teaching?

[@jordipanadesribera6890]

Wonderful !

[@ronbusch3359]

This would be the ideal Aria for Michael Spyres!

[@LohengrinO]

I think he has sung it

[@ronbusch3359]

@@LohengrinO Really??? I can't find it anywhere on KZbin. Do you have it?

[@LohengrinO]

@@ronbusch3359 have to look and that is not an easy thing to do but I will look

[@ronbusch3359]

@@LohengrinO Thanks so much!!!

[@Winnepausakee]

Bruce Ford is one of my faves. I wonder why he is little known...certainly in the US. I've studied voice and singers for 40 plus years and only stumbled on him about 4 years ago. Obviously Pavarotti and Corelli are faves too, and Wunderlich, but it seems that Ford had everything and perhaps more than they did in terms of sheer vocal power.

[@yukefort8402]

Him AND his brother.

[@biancacastafiore8760]

@@yukefort8402 who’s the brother?

[@biancacastafiore8760]

He had a respectable career in Europe and also made a lot of recordings for the Opera Rara label. His career was unfortunately cut short due to illness.

[@yukefort8402]

@@biancacastafiore8760 His older brother Larry is a Grammy award winning gospel tenor. Voice is just as powerful. They sound similar.

[@tenorschofield]

BRAVISSIMO!!!

[@eternalsilverlight]

Baritenor voice is such an intresting voice.

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

You’re on a real Rossini baritenor kick at the moment! Ford was amazing - Have you seen his Mozart mitridate? He does impossible things in that aria. Also unrelated but have you seen the KZbin mister opera? Putting out videos about chest voice (good) but to a weird level of obsession where he only likes people who go up to A in chest, and hates subtlety of any kind. Interesting channel - KZbin allows so many weirdos to have a say and sometimes they do serve a partial truth and provide an interesting alternative view. He goes way too far in one direction, but it’s interesting to consider.

[@aetion]

Yes, you are right. In Mitridate he does impossible things indeed.

[@LohengrinO]

...yes Ive gone crazy with these MOST underrated phenomenal 3 octave singers who simply bring out Rossini's greatest moments...

[@lamb4mc]

An A in chest voice can be the most thrilling thing ever, just not when it’s written as a ppp but Mister Opera doesn’t seem to find that exceptional lol i’m still a huge fan of his videos, watch them every day!

[@LohengrinO]

I love some of the voices he likes but I also love some of the voices he despises (Podles, Fleming etc)

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

Lohengrin O yes agreed! There are always overlaps. He is interesting at least. And then he says Melba was a great singer! Some of his choices are laughable!

[@sea1song]

Ford is not a baritenor, but an excellent Rossini Tenor.

[@LohengrinO]

Agorante though is classic Baritenor

[@benjaminjacobs5553]

There are two main types of Rossini tenor roles though. The baritenor role you hear here, or the tenor contraltino which would be more like Linodro in L'Italiana in Algeri. Other roles fit into a more generic light lyric tessitura (ie Almaviva in Barber of Seville) and not definitely one or the other. Basically, Rossini wrote for specific tenors available to him at the time. So, to say a Rossini tenor does carry some information but isn't entirely specific.

[@BalbirSingh-gr2qk]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@alioffe4321]

LEGATO!

[@trottgizz1946]

Brilliance itself! BUT where did you hear High D in this? Plenty of Cs. Not a single D.

[@tenorebotto]

He interpolates a high D at 7:13

[@erick-gd7wo]

Good Lord, though that C6 is the pinnacle of tenor and Pavarotti was the few to be able to sing it.

[@LohengrinO]

well the most amazing thing is to think that none of the Ultra Star tenors: Corelli, Pavaroti, Di Stefano, Gedda etc ever even attempted the roles for Tenor Assoluto... to understand this I ll use the soprano assoluta equivalent example: If Callas and Sutherland hadnt existed, we wouldnt know roles like Norma, Lucia, Medea, Lady M, Abigaile etc We would have been stuck with the "easy" roles: Mimi, Forza Leonora, Manon, Tosca, Desdemona etc Lets hope that the No1 tenor of the 21st century actually is a Tenor Assoluto

[@erick-gd7wo]

@@LohengrinO so much agree with you. This type of male voice is very rare. We both know only few most memorable opera voices like Maestra Nilsson for her super turbo charge loudness, Maestra Callas for her vast role she devoured in her career, Dame Sutherland for her rare combination of coloratura and loudness. They come only once in certain lifetime, blessed those who witness one of them live. For these voices there will only one exist. Lucky that Maestro Ford live in our lifetime so good quality recordings are widely available.

[@LohengrinO]

@@erick-gd7wo even La Nilsson sang only two Assoluta roles (Reiza from Oberon and Lady Macbeth) while Dame Joan also only two (Norma and Bolena when she was in deep vocal decline) while La Callas sang 6 of the 9 proto-Assoluta roles (Norma, Medea, Armida, Lady M, Abigaile, Bolena).. As one commenter recently commented, the Soprano Assoluta, is the rarest Vocal Type and she can, as all vocal types, be phenomenal, very good, or even bad in singing an Assoluta role which is a virtuoso feat of excruciating difficult

[@grig035]

To Lohengrin -- You don't find that these Nozzari roles of Rossini's are on a par with or complement the template coming from the Paris Opera? In other words, that they are on a par with the most difficult but the Paris Opera template is just as difficult in its way and bears certain similarities to the Nozzari type? The Paris pioneer, Nourrit, initially took over some Nozzari roles when Rossini first arrived in Paris. So in some ways Arnold, Robert, Raoul, Poliuto etc. -- Nourrit roles -- extend a Nozzari level of difficulty, one could argue. The eight most demanding of this Paris type, though inaugurated in France are not all French. There is, yes, Arnold, Robert, Raoul, Jean and Henri. But there is also the Italian Poliuto (which later becomes Polyeucte in Martyrs) and Henri becomes Arrigo in Vepres/Vespri and there is the original Alvaro in the original Forza for Tamberlik. Indeed, Tamberlik appears to be the only one to have sung all eight of these, so I sometimes reference them as the Tamberlik parts instead. Thoughts?

[@justelipse1]

Does anyone know of a recording of this magnificient scene by someone else than Bruce Ford (whom I adore!)? Thank you.

[@LohengrinO]

Michael Spyres has but for the time being I have not the recording

[@biancacastafiore8760]

there's a more recent perf. on YT with romanovsky, yende and florez.

[@mirjamdevries9376]

There is the whole opera of Pesaro 1990 on YB with Bruce Ford, June Anderson, William Matteuzzi.

[@emtnz1569]

Diosssssssssss

[@IlyaLapich]

Someone missclicked on dislike. :)

[@mgbsecteacher]

It seems as though the composer hated males!

[@LohengrinO]

same can be said about Violetta's Sempre libera and Zerbineta and Cherubini's Medea and Abigaile... I think the composers wrote music for extremely few singers, sometimes...

[@elsaasta5164]

Veramente mi sento un po' in confusione!! Che vuol dire coloratura di una voce?? Questo artista Bruce Ford che canta Rossini da baritono può cantare anche da Tenore? Bah... Senz'altro capisco fischi per fiaschi. Grazie Lohengrin 0...per questo problemino da risolvere. Un saluto cordiale da Elsa.

[@fabriziodiberardino3448]

Elsa si, riesce nei due passaggi,baritono e tenore

[@fabriziodiberardino3448]

Ab 2d e D 5

[@elsaasta5164]

Fabrizio Diberardino... Ti ringrazio, sei stato gentile a darmi questa spiegazione.... come avrai capito io non parlo inglese né tanto meno mi intendo di musica e ciò che riguarda tutto di essa... Io vado ad intuito e sensibilità. Tutto sommato ci sono arrivata da sola abbastanza vicino. Ti posso dire una cosa che io penso? Se hai letto il mio commento, avrai constato che io scherzo.... " un po' per Celia e un po' per non morir" sulla mia ignoranza in materia, però sono molto curiosa e mi piace apprendere e chiedo spesso fra le righe, qualche misera spiegazione a Lohengrin... Che se anche molto gentile.. mette sempre in evidenza e si congratula con il cuoricino sui miei commenti, forse pensa , perché non sono del campo... né appartengo allo studio della musica.. diciamo così che non valga la pena perdere tempo con chi è fuori dai giuochi. Io però non pretendo lezioni musicali né di tecnica e metodologia.. Le mie piccole domande sono piccole curiosità.. Che non chiedono altisonanti spiegazioni, scusami per questo piccolo ed inutile sfogo da ignorante. Ti ringrazio ancora e ti invio un cordiale saluto. Elsa Asta

[@EliominDZ]

sus agudos son falseteados!

[@mirjamdevries9376]

Si chiama falsettone, tipico dei tenori nell'800: note alte cantate da contralto mi pare.