Perle Nere - Operatic disasters - Part 3

Another collection of black pearls. Caruso sings E lucevan le stelle with wrong cue - Burg and Dahlberg forget their texts in a 1942 Götterdämmerung from Bayreuth - Martinelli makes up text and music in Otello - Gobbi sings with terrible intonation in Tosca - Martinucci loses his voice and sings everything an octave lower - Suarez tries to hit a high F in Puritani - Villazon cracks and does not finish his aria (lamento di Federico) properly, a total disaster - Tebaldi shows her difficulties with high notes - Netrebko and Gavanelli, two equally horrible singers in Rigoletto: Gavanelli who had lost his voice in act 1, is barking his way through the opera and Netrebko sings off key as usual - Joseph Calleja demonstrates his amateurish singing: nasal, caprino, thin, poor high notes - finally: Helmut Lotti sings Nessun dorma, totally unbelievable.

[@williammorris3620]

After that Nessun Dorma, it is entirely possible that no one who heard it would ever sleep again.

[@franceseattle]

OMG, you are so right!!

[@Samuelgrey1]

Ahahahhaha

[@oliverdelica2289]

Ba dum tss

[@sgnmath1234]

Or if they slept would never want to wake up !

[@ciroalb3]

what you have to think about is that someone heard him rehearsing this - and still let him go on! Can't the Puccini estate sue? I don't think it's in the public domain yet

[@HJMDLeia]

I'm a professional pianist, and I say shame on that accompanist for not catching Caruso! Were they that bad, or just trying to prove a point?? I've even dragged pit orchestras with me to save a singer's mistake

[@AfroPoli]

Very true. It's hard to understand.

[@MishelleCipriani]

That’s what I was wondering!

[@andreacosta74]

It’s the very first Caruso Recording, Made with Fred Gaisberg and Salvatore Cottone in the dining room of the Grand’Hotel, Milan. Nothing more than a recording sonorizing prove with the new “toy” called Gramophone...

[@stillstanding6031]

The accompanist was too intimidate to correct Caruso.

[@karlnapf5685]

@@andreacosta74 That#s the point, this was never meant for public. But which gay guy cares about?

[@baritonedimitrov]

The great singers are not machines even with cracks they are great !!!

[@LigeiaNoire]

I love Tebaldi as much as I love Callas. They were never boring and had so much passion and such powerful voices. They were wild and sometimes they messed up and that's part of it all. Not these fake, woofy and plastic opera singers of today... might as well live in the past.

[@Bobrogers99]

That Tebaldi performance was the exception rather than the rule. I believe she retired when her voice was no longer great.

[@BillyBoy442]

They were electric and exciting.

[@geekbaritone]

My ears were bleeding while hearing that last guy sing Nessun Dorma. I'm sure Puccini's descendants are happy that he's dead and did not live long enough to hear this man kill one of his masterpieces.

[@commandert5]

In fairness, he never got to hear anyone do anything with his masterpiece, as he died in the middle of composing it, and it had to be finished.

[@terrietackett8964]

And as if that Nessun Dorma singer was bad enough, who was that woman howling along in the background?? Unbelievable, and unforgettable....

[@2Dawgz]

The Cesar Suarez Puritani disaster was in San Francisco, not at the Met. I was unfortunately backstage when it happened. Beverly Sills nearly dropped her teeth.

[@funnyman1006]

What's exampled here was not the SF performance. That was far loopier. See my comments, above.

[@ef7952]

@@funnyman1006 Wait. Suarez tried the F on more than one occasion besides S.F.?! What performance was this one taken from, do you know?

[@JackRance1910]

Martinelli is hilarious - he must have known the opera backwards so God knows what he had been drinking - I just love the way the baritone valiantly keeps to the score until at one point he seems to give up in astonishment.

[@tg92277]

If in doubt.. just sing Der Ring

[@kkp1066]

I can actually forgive the vocal mishaps, but the Helmut Lotti's Nessun dorma was atrocious! What's worse is that the audience loved it.

[@AfroPoli]

At least his high E is better than Netrebko's...

[@andreamassimocuomo6252]

+AfroPoli Quoting from Wikipedia: Lotti has sold over 13 million albums worldwide and received over 90 platinum and 70 gold albums.

[@AfroPoli]

+Andrea Massimo Cuomo Yes. Like McDonald's. They also sell way more "food" that anybody else on this planet.

[@MadonnaImperia]

+AfroPoli Hahaha, amazing comparison! :D

[@skipadeedoodaa]

Ignorance is bliss

[@carloschant]

I somehow admire Cesar Suarez. Joan Sutherland once said, we need to have faith in the high notes during performance, instead of singing it over and over again in the warmup. Pavarotti also said, before the high note was out, he was never sure whether it is going to be there. Maybe Cesar Suarez should have thought more about whether that was a good occasion to 'test' the note. But he definitely had the note. Otherwise he wouldn't have sung it. If he wanted to sing it he had no choice but to just sing it. The high note is never ready. It just has to be sung or it will only stay in the practice room.

[@funnyman1006]

Having been in the chorus at SF Opera in 1977 when Suarez kept missing his high F's during this number (and causing us to bite our tongues from laughing...it was truly a godawful--and hilarious-- sound, much worse than this Met example; I have a bootleg recording of it, and when I play it for friends, they collapse on the floor in gales of laughter), I can tell you from personal experience that the great Maestro Kurt Herbert Adler, who was general director at SF Opera at the time, and I were chatting outside Suarez's dressing room on opening night, when Suarez's priest walked out of the dressing room and asked him how Suarez was...after having told Suarez not to sing that interpolated note, after us hearing him crash and burn on it during dress rehearsal, and Suarez telling Adler not to worry. The priest looked at Adler and said, "It's in the hands of God," whereupon Adler responded, "Well, I hope God likes high notes." Well...

[@sudriers]

Gracias por tu compilación. Nos recuerda que todos somos humanos. Todos tenemos fallas y al nivel de grandes cantantes un pequeño desliz se convierte en algo grande. Gracias y cada día amo más a la ópera.

[@nursegrace7492]

08:56 he holds this note as if he just doesn't want to go on to the finish...wishing he could disappear.

[@45calebt]

For experts in Italian: what does "WOA WOA WOAAA WOAAA" mean in this special edition libretto of Turandot?

[@esterbruno8604]

I'm italian. I don't know and i don't wanna know it. 😂

[@oliverdelica2289]

I know nothing about Italian but I think that's modern opera embracing mediocrity

[@ferociousgumby]

I wonder why everyone thinks they can sing Nessum Dorma. I don't want to hear it at all any more.

[@AfroPoli]

After Paul Potts, everything was possible. A tragedy.

[@pocholobatata2800]

@Clark Kent that 1,000,000 flies eat shit doesn't mean shit is great.

[@pocholobatata2800]

@Clark Kent wait, isn't that Pott the last guy on this video? I think I meant that pop singer slaughtering nessun dorma at the end. The only Potts I know is Mrs Potts from the beauty and the beast.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Paul Potts is really overrated. Some people compare him to Pavarotti! Please.

[@pocholobatata2800]

@Clark Kent well, I haven't heard about him so far... And like me, way more than 3/4 of human kind, I guess. As for Nessun Dorma, I'm sick and tired of listening the same old bloody song over and over. It's soooo overused!!!!!! Let tenors try something different for a change!

[@Agorante]

Funny things happen live on stage as you well know. I've sung a lot of Bohemes. Almost everyone had a diaster. Musetta fell through the bottom of a cane chair during her waltz. Marcello fell though a platform that was was set upside down. We had a fire on the table during Schunard's little song. Lot's of people forgot the music or the words. In Barber as Basilio my Bartolo just walked off stage during our recit scene leaving me alone on stage to improvise. He'd forgotten the key.

[@kimmillard9445]

I pretty much totally forgave Caruso's Tosca flub decades ago. Gotta remember that he personally knew Puccini and created the role of Mario Cavaradossi. In fact, when he first sang for Puccini, the composer asked if God had sent him. The aria was new back then, not the well-worn warhorse it is today.

[@LocutusBorgOf]

He didn't create Mario, he created Dick Johnson

[@fatovamingus]

I hate hearing Tebaldi sounds so bad when she was so good.

[@tobiasandrews3778]

Fatova Mingus as much as I LOVE Tebaldi, her top is wild. Part of the thrill I guess. Most times she nailed it, but sometimes she came up a little short. But the voice is so luxurious, you forgive a bad note every now and again.

[@pasqualeperrone1560]

Tebaldi is my girl! She had a beautiful voice and left so many wonderful gems for us. I think we can look past an artist’s slip ups, if they also worked their asses off to bring us performances as close to perfection as they possibly could.

[@hrh2842]

Tebaldi, like Domingo, was all too often short on top. But when in good voice were magnificent. I attended two of her "Fanciulla" performances at the Met at the end of her career. Except for above the staff she was marvelous. Her recording with Del Monaco is the best recording they ever made together, imo. I've never hear another soprano equal it. "Chenier" is the most exciting. When they sang together, they seemed to inspire each other. A friend of mine who attended many of their performances at the Met said they would always end late because they sang such long "slancio" phrases and there was so much applause.

[@agogobell28]

Fancy seeing you here in this comments section.

[@BillyBoy442]

Tebaldi was exciting as Minnie and intense.

[@bifwebster9898]

Call me crazy but I actually like Suarez's "high F". It sounds like some kind of strange jazz vocal.

[@robert111k]

You crazy.

[@crazyorganist1609]

It wasn't a pitched note , it was a scream

[@tebaldicallas]

Tebaldi was great in the Poker scene. There is more than high notes in opera.

[@BillyBoy442]

Yes especially with ‘TRE ASSI E UN PAIO’!

[@PedroZamagna]

I just stumbled upon a recording where Olvis sings Cavaradossi and Tosca's love duet, also in baritone key. I remembered this Martinucci excerpt in the exact moment. I had a good chuckle.

[@LavittoriadiLuka]

Oh my goodness, I feel like a horrible person, but Suarez' Puritani F is hilarious ahhh

[@Agorante]

I heard Suarez in Puritani at SF Opera. He had tried the F at the opening performance. He hadn't rehersed it. It was his little surprise. He missed it - let out a strange schriek - that reduced Sills and the chorus and orchestra to shambles. He was not asked back. Martinucci is in good company. I heard McCracken lose his voice twice (Otello), Pavarotti and Domingo once each (Lucia and Pagliacci).

[@danielelombardo5366]

Quello che più non comprendo è come certa gente possa applaudire e, soprattutto, perché vada ad ascoltare una forma d'arte di cui non capisce assolutamente niente. Ma è mai possibile che qualcuno possa trovare godimento assistendo ad uno spettacolo di cui non ha la minima comprensione? Questo è davvero drammatico. Se questo pubblico ascoltasse in sequenza Corelli e Lotti applaudirebbe tutti e due allo stesso modo. Anzi temo che, qualora Corelli cantasse qualcosa di poco conosciuto e Lotti la propria riscrittura del Nessun Dorma, applaudirebbero di più Lotti. Roba da pazzi. Povero mondo.

[@settembre2938]

Daniele Lombardo

[@dagopi6812]

Che commento terribile che hai fatto! Così giusto per tua norma e regola, ti svelo che nessuno è nato colto. Tutti hanno diritto di ascoltare per fare esperienza, comprendere e prendere consapevolezza. Lo musica è fatta per chiunque abbia voglia di aacoltarla

[@soundslikeblue]

Thanks for answering! Its quite sad when a singer doesn't know her/his limits... One thing is to have a bad performance because you are sick or something went out of normal conditions... Another completely different thing is to singing everything that comes to mind without any sense of what you are singing and it was the case... Just because the woman made some great albuns in the 60's and 70's it doesn't mean her vocal technique is good... It happens to perfectly fit Soul music, nothing more!

[@cantanteporsiempre]

Well, Tebaldi, always had problems with the high C. It was a marvellous voice, but the best note was the high Bb, I think

[@tebaldicallas]

Don't forget it was at the end of her career, she did very good in this opera compare to some singers of teday, Tebaldi was exciting on stage, i saw that performance myself at the Met, she was great and also she looked great.

[@carlolosito2850]

No one notices your pain, your hurt and even your tears but everyone notices your mistakes!

[@tebaldicallas]

Yes she was, You should have heard the audience when she said Tre Ace in paio - the audience went wild. Peoples knew that her top notes were not that great, but they did not care. I will never forget it. It was the greatest moment in my life.

[@funnyman1006]

The high F Suarez attempted (your example, at 5:31 in), during the 1977 San Francisco Opera production of this opera opposite Beverly Sills, was 10 times worse, funnier and more embarrassing than this. Being in the chorus then (and having a bootleg recording of it), I can tell you, we in the chorus were biting our tongues trying not to laugh, and I could swear Miss Sills's eyes crossed when he "skewered himself," according to the review in the San Francisco Chronicle.

[@AfroPoli]

funnyman1006 I wish you'd send me a copy of that recording...!

[@brendant19]

I think everyone gets a pass on Puritani. Nobody can really be expected to be able to sing an F5. That said, it was clear from the sound of the preceding D that he should have just stuck with the D substitution.

[@traxelable]

You wanted to say, Lotti is totally unbearable. This is pure hell!

[@jaygardner2338]

He's a pop singer so this is a very bad choice for him. OY!

[@blktenor]

Lotti turned Nessun Dorma into a night club ballad.

[@nthdegree1269]

There are "cracks" Franco Corelli crack: Met’s Roméo et Juliette from Boston in the mid-seventies, where he cracked on his high B-flat. Back in the 70's when his voice declined. Jussi Bjorling has also, read Mario Lanza: Singing To The Gods By Derek Mannering, when Lanza saw Bjorling and he cracked horribly stopped the orchestra and did the piece over. Lanza loved Bjorling. IT was Di Quella Pira. Cracking is not always about technique, it could be the person is tired, they have a cold etc

[@ransomcoates546]

I was at that performance and don’t remember Corelli cracking. He sang a splendid C at the end of the big concertato.

[@Sabininho]

I once sang O sole mio to some friends, in the street and when I attempted the high note is was like: 'ma naaaa ... big crack!!! (everybody laughing at me) ... aaaa tu sole! They were super stoned, but still they realized how fucked up that was So I won't ever sing something out of my reach

[@robert111k]

Jajaja, que ida de pinza más estratosférica la de Caruso. Él, erre que erre y el pianista, más, como si le diera gustito dejar bien clara la metedura de pata del cantante. ¿Cómo lo conservaron?

[@123pailin]

That totally drunk Carmen was beyond repair.....

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Why is Netrebko a star? It must be her looks, because it certainly isn't her singing.

[@franzbi8465]

Go to all theaters she had perform and ask them you might get the answer.

[@karlnapf5685]

Because the level of opera audience is higher than yours and the one of the gay guy posting this!

[@saiserieht]

Thanks so much for posting this compilation, I totally enjoyed it, though I really wish that Villazon recovers. I agree, Lotti is killingly funny!

[@oliverdelica2289]

Umm about that he started singing baritone. I'd give up on him to be honest

[@allenjones3130]

With all due respect to Helmut Lotti's talent. operatic music just isn't suited to him, and vice versa.

[@johnblasiak607]

Don’t care what anyone says Caruso was in error that’s all and the only time ever to be heard by me. Singers are human let’s not put ourselves on pedestals thinking we could do better professionally especially when we’re not. I never saw a record being sold or a concert ticket to hear Afro Poli did you ?

[@bravaLiz]

we may all have a bad night.....but what were some of these thinking. As per Lott and the Nessun Dorma..... I HAD to turn this off.

[@maxadamescu431]

The ending is something er...different, he throws in a D5, and finishes with a succession of "who oh oh" notes. It sounds to my ear as if I am listening to something being played at the wrong speed.

[@marysteinway6509]

The Nessun Dorma was terrible, none can deny it, but I think the problem was that Helmut tried to sing "Classical Music" with a "popular voice" and not a "lyric voice" so he was like puting a cube in the shape of a triangle that's all. Pretty much already eh?

[@lorenzorossi6567]

Mary Steinway I agree. The problem start from the people clapping disgusting operation like this.

[@pupulique]

Thanx 2 the author, the great job has done, a very interesting research, really. The only thing 2 criticize is, in my opinion, that u shouldn't have put there Tebaldi because many singers, even great ones can't walk away in time and go on till such moments despite they can't cheat with a nature. The line loss by Tito Gobbi and Caruso was interesting but wasn't really necessary either among the horror of untuned singing and vocal weaknesses. Special thanx 4 your comments on Netreb and Villa.

[@AfroPoli]

It means that there is no recording of that. And I'm certainly not going to read a book on Lanza - please provide the complete date instead. What was the year?

[@eradesso]

Wow, poor Tebaldi! And what to say about Netrebko, will someone tell her she just doesn't have that High E?! it's always a wreck when she tries it

[@martisco]

I think I need to go listen to Bastianini or Zancanaro in order to wash that Tito Gobbi out of my brain at 3:05

[@CasaErwin]

Another appalling phenomenon about those singers who are not opera singers attempting to sing opera, is that after such atrocious renderings, the audiences go wild with applause.

[@cantanteporsiempre]

Oh, it must have been so exciting listen to her live. Good for you. Greatings.

[@AfroPoli]

There is no recording of that performance. Hence, there is no crack of Björling in "Di quella pira" on record. Harald Henrysson has written an extensive book on Björling's recordings (commercial and private) after a lifetime of research. There is no such recording.

[@SilfredoSerrano]

Actually, Bjoerling cracks the high C in the commercial recording of Butterfly with de los Angeles. The engineers simply brought out the brass to cover it, but you can hear it nonetheless...additionally, Bjoerling rarely sang high Cs in public. He transposed a lot...

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Bjorling never cracked. And he sang high C's in public all the time.

[@ransomcoates546]

@Mor Isil Wëindal The first note is totally an interpolation made famous by Corelli; the second an ossia.

[@Kervineus]

Calleja ist ein sehr guter Tenor. Er hat bei der Lucia-Vorstellung in Berlin keinerlei Schwierigkeiten gehabt, die Rolle - ohne zu schreien und schön singend - kraftvoll durchzustehen. So etwas ist eher selten. Man wird sich wohl damit abfinden müssen, dass bei jedem Sänger die Meinungen geteilt sind. Was ich nicht nachvollziehen kann, ist diese unglaubliche Aggressivität und Arroganz einiger Musikliebhaber, die davon überzeugt sind, die alleinige Wahrheit zu verkünden.. Kervineus

[@draganvidic2039]

No he’s TERRIBLE with his caprino !!!

[@draganvidic2039]

No he’s not

[@BillyBoy442]

To be fair, that Caruso record wasn’t sold during his lifetime.

[@Agorante]

Caruso simply didn't know the music yet. You might want to draw a distinction between those who sang badly on one occasion and those who always sang badly. I consider Martinelli one of the latter. He typically sour, stiff and pinched. people forget how he became famous. The Depression hit and the Met couldn't match the fees that were paid in Italy. Gigli went back but Martinelli stayed. He became the leading tenor at the Met or the most cost-effective. Gobbi is simply running out of support. That's a high phrase that goes higher. If it weren't for that phrase I could have sung Scarpia (I'm a bass). Gobbi never had good high notes. Martinucci was a great singer in an old fashion kind of way. He was a great Calaf. He was probably the best dramatic Italian tenor after Corelli and Del Monaco retired. He had froggies that day. BTW I heard Domingo and Pavarotti do worse live. See enough performance and even the most reliable singers will have a bad day. Tebaldi lost her voice, as I remember, about 1965. She came back to the Met doing Lecouveur but it was never the same. I heard her is a solo recital about this time with Corelli. When the line got high Corelli step in front of her and cover her voice. Everyone in the hall heard what was going on but everyone loved her. I don't know why you say Saurez made a famous bad high F in New York. He made a really really bad High F in San Francisco. I saw him at a subsequent performance. He was undoubtedly the worst singer on stage I have ever seen. It was Puritani so there were lots of high notes. Saurez would flounce about until there was a high note. He would then stop and point up with his finger. He had interpolated the High F in the opening night performance as a surprise to the conductor and Beverly Sills. He missed it badly and let out a kind of shriek yodel. Sills got rattled and the performance fell apart.

[@Agorante]

+Patrick Boyle Well we know more now. Villazon got into vocal trouble alright but not because of his technique. He had been born with a cyst on his vocals cords. If he had just spoken normally and never sung he probably would never have known about it. But he put his cords under stress by singing. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a similar occurrence. He had a heart problem which only manifested itself late in life. He could probably never have been an Olympic athlete or any kind of runner, but body builders just stand still so it never limited him.

[@Michael-mh4vr]

+Arthur Diggs Martinelli had more squillo in his voice than 2 top tenors today combined. I do not know why the haters. because his timbre wasn't as appealing as Di Stefano?

[@Agorante]

There have been two famous operatic tenors from Malta: Calleja and Oreste (the new Mario Lanza). Both are quite terrible. Maybe all that Nazi bombing left something bad in the soil?

[@ciroalb3]

what did Italian houses pay? I doubt if they could equal the $1,000 the met offered. Always assumed he just preferred to live well and be idolized in Italy

[@Agorante]

Do your own research. If you come across evidence that I was wrong post it. But don't order me to disprove something I wrote. I try never to post info that is unreliable.

[@ciroalb3]

I have a Rigoletto from St. Louis in the 40s? with a local talent as Gilda, who loses her place in the Quartet, making all the wheels fall off. The conductor had to stop them and get them started again midway through

Villazon is such a sad case...:/

[@michsturge671]

Martinelli was 63 when he performed this....clearly past his best years....give the guy a break....did you know that he sang a Tristan in German with Flagstad in Chicago ...1931 I think...Flagstad was SUPER impressed and urged him to keep singing the role. He really looked the part. Probably the best looking Tristan she ever worked with.

[@AfroPoli]

+mich sturge Yep. His Tristan was no good according to the reviews. Apparently he could not get over the orchestra. Maybe Mme Flagstad was blinded by his looks.

[@danilomarvel5657]

WHILE Y0U TALK BADLY ABOUT TENORS.... THE RAPPERS MAKE MILLIONS SINGING BULSHIT WITHOUT ANY SINGING SKILLS ... GIVE ME A BREAK TOO.... WHAT A FUNNY WORLD ISNT IT?

[@alexavasile3128]

Afro, I think it's normal to have cracks in the voice, sometimes. This kind of singing it's very heavy...and if you have a bad day and ur muscles are not responding to ur commends...u're screwed. Can't do nothing about it. And I agree with what Danilo Marvel said...the rappers are earning millions just for speaking bullshit. :-) If anyone can do it better, let's hear that. Can't wait! BUT, on a STAGE, not home or in a studio. Stop judging! Stop criticizing! All the best!

[@ciroalb3]

the Tristan was 1950, and he probably sang his role in Italian. I've heard the '48 Philly Otello, he really had no voice after Act II

[@Agorante]

63 isn't particularly old for a good voice. Pavarotti and Domingo both performed creditably after that age.

[@tarzanpony]

Many people says Di Stefano had not technique, but i never heard him cracking like this nor anything similar (And i listened ALL his available recordings of live opera and concerts...)

[@Agorante]

The issue with Di Stefano was covering. Many people day he didn't know how to cover but that doesn't seem to be true. He simply decided to not cover because he thought not covering sounded better in his voice. He could cover if he had wanted to. Teachers of course will tell you that you must cover or you will ruin your voice - and that seems also to be true.

[@Michael-mh4vr]

@@Agorante had a now deceased voice teacher who told me the problem with distefano was that he was a very emotional person and one day he'd be on and sing like an angel and then his voice would sound trashed on another day. she attributed that to how the emotions affect the voice

[@Agorante]

@@Michael-mh4vr II suppose that's possible but it seems unlikely to me.

[@ransomcoates546]

@@Agorante His carousing didn’t help. He’d be up until two in the morning the day of a performance - and either cancel or sing badly. His own excuse is amusing, that he discovered an allergy to synthetic carpets in hotel rooms.

[@andrewlauandrade9109]

Don't forget that he smoked

[@operalover1010]

5:45 can’t stop laughing!

[@missasinenomine]

You've taken the words out of my mouth. Just about to comment ha!ha!ha!

[@1969Chronos]

Afropoli, I admire your keen ear for operatic catastrophes. In all fairness, you should also present the atrocities committed by today's pop stars. Average audiences are either deaf or their hearing has been genetically modified to consider out-of-tune singing, nasal timbers, poor diction, raspy voices, feeble voice projections, and pathetic embellishment (or note smears) as characteristics of phenomenal artistry.

[@ey8767]

As I was pratising, my teacher sometimes would say I was as flat as a pizza. I guess the same applies to Helmut Lotti. And I might be bashed for saying this: Don't call yourself a cross-over singer unless you have sung at least one opera live.

[@peteraschaffenburg1]

Saw and heard Lotti in a concert and was amazed that even when he sang bad, he still sang better then a lot of other singers I know. Since then, i´m a big fan but you are absolutely right! he should stick to the stuff he is good at. Nessun Dorma isn´t one of them ...

[@radames5855]

A parte tutti i crack...il nessun dorma è improponibile per una voce di musica leggera!

[@g_vezz]

Every voice has its ups and downs....

[@G.Andrea_Piras]

Per rispetto di sé, dell'Autore, del pubblico, quand'è indisposto il cantante non dovrebbe cantare.

[@paolograndinetti7609]

Molti lo fanno. Pavarotti era un esempio.

[@romearomeo]

Solo pienamente d'accordo, d'altronde cantare indisposti non fa assolutamente bene alla voce.

[@peacefullife5907]

Yikes, I can' t stop the bleeding from my ears !

[@Oetti]

holy crap that was terrible... helmut jumped to like a E at the end... and it was flat. thanks for the video!

[@johncoffin9354]

Netrebko showed huge promise. She sang Ludmilla in San Francisco when she was just 18. In rehearsal she sang her 'awakening from trance' line while sitting up from fully supine. She pulled it off in rehearsal and the blocking was left in place...but every performance there was a glitch.

[@aleksandrsantonenko4402]

18 years old Netrebko in San Francisco??? 😂😂😂😂😂 18 years old girl starts to learn how to sing in musical college in USSR at this time! Please do not lye 😂😂😂😂

[@troygregory2874]

That “Nessun Dorma” though… 😳 I have to assume that this was some guy after a few drunken hours at a karaoke bar who, instead of attempting to sing “The Rose”, chose to put THAT out into the world. I also must assume the mournful wailing “obligato” was his drunken mistress. The whole stinking pile of steaming hot mess was uncalled for.

[@mbrackeva]

Well, thousands of people sang Nessun Dorma when they shouldn't have. Pavarotti for one...

[@soundslikeblue]

@AfroPoli You are missing the Greatest operatic distaster Ever by a non-operatic singer: Aretha Franklin singing Nessun Dorma at the 1998 Grammy Awards! I only knew she sung it because she was apparently very proud of it in an interview... My question is that HOW did the Grammys allowed her to attempt that?? I have a Lot of respect for Aretha singing Soul at her prime, But she is one of those Huge Ego singers that thinks she can sing Everything! Plus her prime ended more than 30 years ago! :/

[@theredbari]

@rockmanx23 hey Got on stage and sang their all. Mistakes happen, and as much as everyone hates Netrebko on here, I've seen her live, she sings beautifully. She makes mistakes. I've heard plenty of people crash on stage that nail it %100 of the time in the rehearsal room. It happens.

[@alejo25081973]

Hasta los grandes caen.

[@Laroling]

No effin with Calleja! I guess the man might not be perfect but God I saw him in the ROH twice; in 2009 as Alfredo in La Traviata, last summer in Simon Boccanegra. He has such a beautiful voice, a very warm timbre and a quality I hardly hear but with for example older Di Stefano recordings (being able to sound introvert and soft like heaven), and such emotion! He got more ovation than Placido! And he deserved it. Some stuff might not be his repertoire though, he can't handle too high.

[@draganvidic2039]

No he’s always horrible with his caprino

[@maestroclassico5801]

Tebaldi might have lost some notes by 1970 but her c. 1960 recording of Minnie in TGotGW was straight up stellar! I'm not sure if extra takes were required to get it there but it sure sounded pretty decent!

[@Stereo4102]

From 5:05 to 5:11 - I thought I was listening to Florence Foster Jenkins..LOL!

[@oldoperafan_in_London]

Nothing, which was precisely my point, unless there lurks some secret recorded disaster the public is unaware of. Corelli's studio 'out-takes', which he did not want released, proved to be perfect in every sense when finally out. It is also said of Ponselle (perhaps this is even a Callas quote) that she never gave a less than perfect performance.

[@AfroPoli]

I'm curious to hear what you would enclose of those two.

[@AfroPoli]

@XP11XP Calleja is what we call a plastic tenor.

[@g_vezz]

Tebaldi's Girl of the Golden West was one of the most exciting nights at the Met.. Even at the end of her career she gave it everything. But some of these singers should have just said 'Not tonight'.

[@JavierBorja-bs1dd]

Suarez falla en un fa sobreagudo. Algunos fallan en si bemoles y/o "cridan al trapaire", que diriamos en cstalan.

[@MrSwifts31]

I think the only one we can forgive is Helmut Lotti,he is not an opera singer and so one cannot expect him to sound like one. The others (being proper opera singers) should know better,and I hope they learn by their mistakes,but somehow I doubt it. Thank You AfroPoli for posting this funny(at times) horrifying(more) but always entertaining video. I am off now to look at your other posts.

[@xEricTheGothx]

@AfroPoli just curious wht to u mean by a plastic tenor? =)

[@Indygirl9229]

Some of them sound like Danny Kaye singing "mock" opera. lol

[@TheVerdiBaritone]

Your voice gives out & you have to keep singing, just to keep the performance going forward.

[@francoisbessing]

I second this.

[@undead.rising]

Non opera singers trying to sing opera and murdering it? Try Michael Bolton.

[@gayoperadude63]

yes in rubini's time notes above the staff were sing in unsupported falsetto or voix mix

[@jackal59]

One sidelight of this collection is that it introduced me to Friedrich Dahlberg, whom I had not heard before.

[@operassassinOperaAssassin]

Helmut Lotti : Opera :: Mona Lisa keychain : The Mona Lisa

[@gabriellabellochio7518]

Sbagliano anche i grandi e i grandissimi!!😉

[@matiasmunozgarviso6094]

i don't understand the mistake of Caruso?!?!? someone can help me??? please

[@alexgomez2]

If you se the score, Caruso was supposed to wait for a lengthy intro by the piano. He was ahead of his cue by about 5 to 6 measures. Fortunately the accompanist realized it and cut to the point "E un paso sfiorabba l'arena."

[@sodiariandrew9089]

Pitch were poor too

[@jasonhurd4379]

He also is not singing anywhere NEAR the correct notes.

[@dnor16]

8:35 WTF!?? SERIOUSLY!!!??

[@terrietackett8964]

Oh My God!! The Othello!! I may never recover!!

[@aguacun]

Joge Lagunes is a mexican tenor (son of an opera tenor with a beautiful voice, the firts Snow White prince for the Dinsey Movie in spanish) who had to change to baritone roles because technique problems. May be Mr. Villazon could consider this like an option for himself too!

[@ettoredipugnar6990]

Martinelli in all fairness was shot by then. I saw Bardelli in Philly in 1977 as Il Conte in Il Trovatore

[@Kervineus]

I can aonly say, that I have seen Calleja in "Lucua du Kallerloore" and he was a perfekt edgardo. kervineus

[@ElisabettaVS]

Why does Netrebko sing roles she cannot sing? (see also part 2 of this Perle Nere compilation). Ridiculous. And for Villazon: his voice is so beautiful, he has a very nice timbre but seriously, although I am not an expert, I can agree on the "technique is killing his voice"-statement.

[@TurandotFanatic]

Someone that doesn't like Calleja's voice is something completely different from an opera disaster. He didn't crack his voice, didn't sing out of tone... come one!

[@arnoldamaral7406]

Listening to this I think I'm at the Arizona Opera House LOL everything is transposed or disposable old fat Sopranos Tenors I'm having flashbacks really baritones. The people that attend do not have a clue went to applaud a laugh at certain subtitles most of them are drunk too much wine before the Opera it's quite entertaining sometimes but very sad for the fifth largest city in the United States to make a mockery of these great operas bringing these Regional opera singers from St Louis Tulsa Oklahoma. Be afraid there is no light at the end of the tunnel for Opera these disasters occur all the time and Regional Opera Houses have a good day bye

[@MrPren]

Da quando esiste internet i poveri cantanti non possono avere una serata "no" che subito vengono sputtanati. È una cosa vergognosa.

[@AfroPoli]

Certo. I loggionisti sono sempre stati *molto* indulgenti…

[@MrPren]

@@AfroPoli non ho detto questo. Il loggionista manifestava il suo dissenso, se era il caso, ma questi video rimangono e li trovo veramente di basso livello.

[@MrPren]

@@AfroPoli comunque i loggionisti hanno sempre avuto atteggiamenti abbastanza distruttivi con la loro presunzione e la loro saccenza. Non sono atteggiamenti che vanno presi a modello per proporre l'enorme pettegolezzo maldicente che è diventata la rete...

[@MrAngeltoledano]

Lo que es tener un buen agente!!!!!!! Calleja hace 40 años no hubiese cantado ni "la cena è pronta".