Parigi o cara : Nine recordings 1906 to 2008 : Some new restorations : Colourized photos

Parigi o cara is an aria from Verdi's opera La Traviata and the recordings on this video are as follows;
0:00 Fernando De Lucia/Josefina Huguet : Rec 1906
3:55 John McCormack/Lucrezia Bori : Rec 1914
7:12 Tito Schipa/Amelita Galli-Curci : Rec 1924
10:43 Beniamino Gigli/Maria Caniglia : Rec 1939
14:14 Jussi Bjorling/Hjordis Schymberg : Rec 1939 (Live, Royal Opera House, Stockholm, Sung in Swedish)
17:59 Mario Lanza/Frances Yeend : Rec 1947 (Live Hollywood Bowl)
22:10 Giuseppe Di Stefano/Maria Callas Rec 1952 ( Live Mexico City)
25:50 Luciano Pavarotti/Mirella Freni Rec 1980 (Live)
30:11 Jonas Kaufmann/Anna Netrebko Rec 2008 (Live)
A translation of the aria to English is as follows;
ALFREDO
We'll leave Paris, my dearest,
Together we'll go through life.
In reward for your past sorrows,
You'll bloom into health again.
Breath of life, sunshine you'll be to me,
All the years to come will smile on us.
VIOLETTA
We'll leave Paris, my dearest,
Together we'll go through life.
ALFREDO
Yes.
VIOLETTA
In reward for past sorrows,
I shall bloom into health again.
Breath of life, sunshine you'll be to me,
All the years to come will smile on us.
Ah, no more!
Let's go to church, Alfredo,
And give thanks for your return.

[@Rosangela161]

Welcome! Another wonderful gift. It's really adorable. I have a special preference for John MacCormack voice. Love it. I wish you health, good spirits and success in your endeavors. Warm regards and thank you.

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

Hello Rosa, thanks for listening and for your kind words, I'm glad that you like the video particularly the John McCormack, I've always thought of it as being one of his very best. Best wishes for a continuing improvement to your health and warm regards to you.

[@Rosangela161]

@@michaelmcgrailengland ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@johnthomas5129]

Thank you again Michael for this wonderful collection. my favorite version is the Gallicurci/Schipa recording

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

It's my pleasure as always John, I'm glad that you like the selection, I try to do mixtures that might please people with varied tastes. Yes, Schipa and Galli-Curci sang beautifully together.

[@MountainwalkwithMusic]

Welcome to comparison video Michael's trademark. Thank you for inviting us duet festival. Fernando de Lucia is first to me. Now you must take rest time for your eyes and ears. Good night Michael!!

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

Thanks for listening Chang, I haven't had time to watch your latest video, I'll be doing that tomorrow. Did you mean that you put Fernando de Lucia in first place or that it is the first time you have heard him? Enjoy the rest of the day.

[@MountainwalkwithMusic]

@@michaelmcgrailengland Fernando is first time I have heard. My English is........ Good night Michael!

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

I enjoyed watching your latest video Chang, the cherry blossoms look beautiful and you had a nice sunny day for your walk. Enjoy what's left of the day and your next walk.

[@MountainwalkwithMusic]

@@michaelmcgrailengland Thank you Sir! This cherry is different kind of general cherry. This cherry blossoms garden is 20 minutes by walk distance. Very close for my house. Good night Michael!!

[@elenajha4357]

Dear Michael, what an amazing garland of records! My favourites are Gigli/Caniglia, and di Stefano/Callas. But John McCormack sounds wonderful too, I must admit.

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

Hello Elena, thanks for listening, I'm very pleased that you enjoyed the video.

[@elenajha4357]

@@michaelmcgrailengland I do like this duet, you have given me so much pleasure. They are all different, yet great singers all of them.

[@helenakeane2449]

I'm disappointed with the Bjorling and Schymberg, very poor recording quality. Overall the best balanced duet for me was McCormack and Bori. Neither trying to outdo the other and sounding as they should, a couple totally loving and sad at the same time. Some of the other pairs sounded like a battle to see who could be the best! Thanks Michael.

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

Thank you for listening listening Helena and I agree with everything that you say. I couldn't do much to improve Jussi Bjorling's recording but the original John McCormack is surprisingly good and came out well considering that it was made in 1914. As you know I often include singers that may not be my own favourites but who I know will attract people to watch and, hopefully come across, John McCormack for example.

[@helenakeane2449]

@@michaelmcgrailengland There's not much you can do to improve the recording with Jussi, the technicians must have be having problems that day! Totally agree with you with regard to John's operatic recordings. Here in Ireland most people are more familiar with his later Ballads and Irish themed records. We have just celebrated Holy Week and Easter so I shared the recording he made with Reinald Werrenrath of Fauré's Crucifixus, on my facebook page, for Good Friday. It was a favourite of my husband, mine too, and IMO it's the finest english version. We bought the CD of Domingo with the Vienna Choirboys some years ago, sung in the original French which is also a really nice version.

[@Situnadei]

Yes its a poor recording of Björling and Schymberg, FROM 1939, BUT IN THIS LP- La Traviata complete, Stockholm august 29, 1939. Björling AND Schymberg BRINDISI 8,00 IT SOUNDS SOMEWHAT BETTER

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

@@Situnadei Thanks for listening and for your comment.

[@shicoff1398]

8/29/ 1939 Jussi sang a live Traviata with Schymberg, in Stockholm but none live in 1940. So if yours is actually 1940, then it's a studio recording.

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

Yes, the only entry I could find in the discography was the Aug 1939 Stockholm performance that you mention bur, as I wasn't sure where I got the date from and it was close I left it at 1940. If you don't know of another recording I'll change it to 1939.

[@shicoff1398]

@@michaelmcgrailengland None I know of, so probably 1939

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

@@shicoff1398 Ok, thanks.

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

@@shicoff1398 OK, thanks.

[@caroline.m.barbosa]

30:11 The more I listen to these two, the more I realize how bad they are, please, if you want to listen a good modern version, put on Frank Lopardo's version

[@dubbelhenke854]

Yes that was a bad version.....😪

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

Thanks for listening and for your comment Caroline. One of the main reasons that I have my KZbin channel is to preserve the names of the great singers of the past and in order to do this I need to attract people to watch my videos. For this reason I often include relatively recent singers who are popular with younger people and this includes Kaufmann and Pavarotti. Everybody has their own favourites but, of course, it's not possible to include them all. Thanks again for listening.

[@caroline.m.barbosa]

@@michaelmcgrailenglandI am 18 old and some people in my age, (who i know like opera) don't like Kaufmann. The question is not the favorite singer, because Lopardo is not my favorite modern singer, and never will be, I rarely listen to him, but his voice and technique are better than Kaufmann's, and i have doubts if Jonas is a real tenor. And there's a problem, do you want to have more views than to have good content? This is not a criticism, but a rant, I appreciate your content, thanks for answering me

[@michaelmcgrailengland]

@@caroline.m.barbosa Thanks for your reply and for taking a real interest Caroline, let's agree to disagree. By the way, our ages are very similar, you are 18 and I'm 81!!

[@frankodesandy4688]

@@michaelmcgrailengland just 81, young fellow? You do us a great service. I am 83 and I'm grateful. Kudos!