Robert Merrill & Franco Corelli - La Forza del Destino - "Invano, Alvaro..." (LIVE 1968)

[@elsaasta5164]

Che immensa nostalgia di questi perduti talenti !!! Per nostra fortuna abbiamo ancora le loro meravigliose voci registrate...per goderci la vera arte operistica e il vero mondo della Lirica !! Grande Robert Merrill...io adoro il mio Corelli !!!

[@janosvas8597]

yes old operatic singing forever!

[@larmun]

Corelli is no way past his best ! his voice is thrilling magnificent him and merrill render the most thrilling interpretation of La Forza I ve ever heard

[@道-p2e]

This is the masterclass, I can turn in all the time, Just so glorious singing... love it so much,

[@stevevandien310]

Verdi requires large, rich and well-used voices. Here are two of the best --

[@stevevandien310]

How Verdi SHOULD sound.

[@andymanland]

Wow, Merrill had such a big voice!! Amazing!!!!

[@moirbasso7051]

As comparison, I heard both Merrill and Milnes in the same auditorium (Ambassador Aud, Pasadena) within one month of each other. Milnes' voice sounded 'canned,' small, and 'woofy.' (I later sang in chorus with him on more than one occasion- the voice was anything but!). One month later, we heard Merrill- it was a HURRICANE of sound. Sadly, I never heard/worked live with him as I did with Milnes. So, yes. Of the two voices, Merrill's was the bigger. My two cents.

[@ZENOBlAmusic]

Giangiacomo Guelfi's voice sounds much, much larger then Merrill's voice, Corelli actually sounds like light lyric tenor next to him.

[@BazzasBest]

The very highest quality testosterone pouring all over this stage!

[@oliverdelica2289]

Ohh heck yeah. This is one of my favorite duets aside from Si Pel Ciel Marmoreo Giuro from Verdi's Otello

[@laylaibrahim1552]

Thank you for uploading this extraordinary performance.

[@bodiloto]

meravigliosi entrambi !

[@ronaldgoff7499]

merrill had much louder voice than most people think i hard him live in 80 corelli in his prme rare live met great

[@Ettoredipugnar]

Those days are gone . The height of singing !

[@janosvas8597]

yes gone, but we have KZbin

[@Ettoredipugnar]

@@janosvas8597 thank God

[@kentadarley]

Absolutely incredible 🙏

[@grahammorgan3858]

wow, what a star cast here in the full opera, simpley another tube gem

[@camenbel]

Dear Franco! In Ancona,on 27th of October,your friends will remember you in Teatro delle Muse. I wish I could be there!!!

[@quiquerossetti867]

Corelli y Merrill Supremos e inigualables

[@thomassicard3733]

Geebus. That was EXTREMELY magnificent. Yeah,... I have listened to many performances of this. Wow!

[@hashatz]

At his absolute best, Robert Merrill possessed one of the most beautiful baritone voices of the twentieth century. In this duet, he had been singing at the Met for twenty-three years. The voice was still beautiful but he tended to bark rather than sing certain notes, for emphasis. And yet, it is always a pleasure to hear this wonderful artist.

[@shadboltbill]

I must have heard every great baritone voice on record, but none had the sheer beauty of Merrill's. You tube allows me to go back to a note over and over to simply bathe in the sound.

[@judithbereczky4114]

@@shadboltbill Merrill's voice reminds me of Bastianini's voice.

[@thomassicard3733]

@@judithbereczky4114 Hmmm,... I hear Bastianini as having pure steel in the center, not as rich as Merrill, however... I can see how you are reminded of Bastianini - Merrill has got a lot of focus and an impeccable interpretive sense - and yeah,... Bastianini is extraordinary in so many ways - just like Merrill. So happy to have experienced both voices in my lifetime. Life IS good! :-)

[@judithbereczky4114]

@@thomassicard3733 My favorite baritone is Bastianini, an my favorite (my love) tenor is Corelli. I heard both artists in 1959 at la Scala in Hercules (Handel), when I was 15 years old. Corelli looked like Adonis.

[@uppityglivestockian]

**appreciative applause for outstanding still shot synchronized to music under excellent English text so same synched.** Brava! Mil gracias por publicar y compartir con nosotros.

[@pryan5183]

Corelli “past his prime” still places him as one of the most extraordinary and exciting tenors of all time. And BTW, he is NOT past his prime here.

[@germanquintero10121946]

MAGNIFICO DUO

[@petergraham8681]

4 of the best voices for this music at the time (Warren died 8 years before) Corelli, Tucker, Merrill & MacNeil. I have heard no voices since that match these 4 in this opera anyway for power & sonority. In the last quarter of the 20th Century there are other baritones that I prefer for other reasons, primarily for smooth legato bel canto singing, stylistic mastery, & perhaps a more beautiful lyricism but for straight forward thrusting tone Merrill & MacNeil take the prize in operas like LA FORZA, anyway. Examples of the other breed include, IMO, baritones whose stellar reputations came a bit later like Bruson, especially, & Manuguerra as well. However it is hard to beat Merrill’s phenomenal FINALMENTE in the FORZA duet here & with Tucker. A guilty pleasure I must admit!

[@vladtepes71]

Gorgeous. Came here again, this time to remind myself what a good baritone sounds like.

[@oldandlumpy]

Just glorious. A thousand years earlier Merrill had created perfect recordings with Bjoerling. Here is again with Corelli. Same with Tucker. Over and over.

[@klaudiusmarcelus]

Corelli is as allways bombastic . But this Robert Merill really was monster ...

[@stevevandien310]

Given his myriad virtues -- which no contemporary tenor begins to have -- Corelli more than earned the right to be bombastic from time to time. And truth to tell, I don't hear much of that in this performance. I hear more bombasticism (assuming that's a word) from Merrill. And given that voice, still in its prime here, I accept it.

[@xxsaruman82xx87]

Who bloody hell cares if he is? There have been no spinto voices to match his before or since.

[@somerandomguy84]

Look how fully Corelli sings the low Bb

[@mohsenarambon]

Thanks ..

[@miguelraulgonzalezgarrido5721]

Sin duda un duo impresionante, fuera de serie, no hay palabras que puedan ejemplificar lo que se produce al escucharlo, fenomenos los dos, siempre me ha surgido una duda he oido a richard tucker y franco, pero cual de ellos tendra mas decibelios en la vo y potencia acustica, de hecho si alguien me lo aclararia estaria muy agradecido.

[@miguelraulgonzalezgarrido5721]

Siempre pense que corelli tenia mas volumen que la voz de tucker noo por mucho, pero si mas volumen, pero con lo que me comenta, cambie mi postura.

[@miguelraulgonzalezgarrido5721]

Que interesantes son sus comentarios. Me podria decir las diferencias entre tucker y corelli.

[@giulioamitrano3503]

Per me Corelli ha più volume ed è più duttile, il fraseggio più accorato e gli acuti sono sfolgoranti. Tucker ha dalla sua una voce tagliente , maschia , virile ed è stentoreo, un vero tenore verdiano. Due giganti del vero canto verdiano, io preferisco Corelli per l accoratezza e l intensità interpretativa Tucker nelle invettiva e l ardimento del capitan de' granatieri.

[@ZENOBlAmusic]

Corelli was far more nuanced artist then Tucker, he uses diminuendo in this duet for example. Even Del Monaco performed this duet with much nuance then Tucker. Tucker had a great voice, in dramatic and spinto repertoire you don't have to think that much about nuance. Tucker's approach works fantastically for roles such as Pagliacci for example. But overall Corelli performed with far variance and colours.

[@dxhtz]

Merrill just loved to wind this up like a mechanical toy or alarm :D starting around the 5:50 mark..and then the result is THE NOTE...at 7:30 ..(wow does the microphone ever love that)..and a tenor just can't win..not a Tucker, and not even a Corelli!

[@racheleleeba]

What I would give to have heard them live!

[@nybuffymeister8328]

Nils Brown I love the way you put it about Merrill and 'the Note!' It was beyond words, the effect of it. There are other fine versions of this duet, but no one give the note at this place like him....!

[@sergiotmujica]

me too!!!

[@Sabi1970]

Ich mag diese Leistung wirklich sehr, wäre heute ohne Zweifel mit weitem Abstand das Beste, aber trotzdem meine ganz persönliche Meinung: La Forza del Destino aus 1953 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino unter dem genialen Dimitri Mitropoulos als Dirigent! Besser geht nicht! Das ist wie der Unterschied zwischen Cristiano Ronaldo und Lionel Messi, also marginal, aber immerhin Geschmackssache! Donna Leonora: Renata Tebaldi Don Alvaro: Mario Del Monaco Padre Guardiano: Cesare Siepi Don Carlo: Aldo Protti Preziosilla: Fedora Barbieri Fra Melitone: Renato Capecchi Unerreicht für immer! Und weil ich gerade dabei bin, das Beste "Pace, Pace Mio Dio" des 20. Jahrhunderts, natürlich Rosa Ponselle!

[@Arishenka_A]

Интересная запись Честно говоря, Merrill слишком громок и слишком однообразен, хотя он хороший певец, конечно. Однако здесь.. Впечатление, как-будто он взял в руки дубину и методично машет этой дубиной по всему периметру сцены ) Нет тонкости пения, нет оттенков, есть бесконечное глухое нагнетание.. Грандиозное, но при все при том - навязчивое, однообразное звучание. Как гвозди забивает, на самом деле. В общем, не лучшее выступление Merrill, как по мне. Corelli великолепен ❤️, однако впечатление, что даже он слегка озадачен непонятной механизированной тягучей упертостью пения Merrill ) И вот даже как-то заскучала - по Bastianini 😊

[@liedersanger1]

Not as exciting as Merrill and Tucker at the Met Bing 1972 gala, except in the final note.

[@xxsaruman82xx87]

I think Corelli is more exciting than Tucker.

[@shicoff1398]

everyone has an opinion, no right or wrong.

[@larmun]

More exciting !!!

[@thomasheyes7991]

Franco Corelli is already past his best here. By the 1970s the tenor was but a shadow of his former self. Robert Merrill, on the other hand, gives us a singing lesson.

[@kyleaustin7045]

No. Franco here is as good as he could be. From the 70s his voice started to decline. But in the 80s, and even the 90s it returned. Yet he never returned

[@elaineetingoff6294]

I pity your tone deafness.

[@labienus9968]

This was 1968-dudh-72-73 issues began

[@WilliamXucla]

NONSENSE!...This was in 1968...[possibly at the old Met]...I saw them both [they never sang together, since Tucker was always Merrill's partner in song in Don Carlo at the new Met in the early 70's and they were fantastic...Yes, his vibrato, by the mid 70's got less vibrant and slower, but his tone, his pitch accuracy and his unforgettable stage presence and interpretations were legendary...The last time I heard him there [I did see and hear him at a master class in the 80's after he had retired, in Merkin Hall in NYC] was in Romeo and Juliet by Gunoud and he was still extraordinary...Pity he was largely self-taught and would have had a much longer career with a great teacher at his side, guiding him in terms of what role to play next [ a crucial decision in the preservation of one's voice] ...He was 50 years old then …[contrast Carlo Bergonzi, who actually still sang quite well at age 90...]

[@elaineetingoff6294]

I agree, Mr. Xucla, but I heard him sing in his sixties and he sounded fantastic. Singers are human, too. Every singer has a bad of mediocre performance. He remains and will remain in the Pantheon of Outstanding Tenors of All Time .