Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Heads roll together

Lovers Andrea and Maddalena decide to get their heads cut off as one.

After revisiting La mamma morta I went ahead and did a YouTube survey of about a dozen different performances of the finale duet from Andrea Chenier, Vicino a te.

The real Andrea Chenier was a poet from the French Revolution who was a victim of Robespierre’s Reign of Terror. Robespierre got his head removed as well a few months later.

Politics.

The composer of the opera Andrea Chenier, Umberto Giordano, used Chenier’s actual poems as text for the tenor’s arias in the opera.

This concluding duet comes after Chenier’s lover and soulmate, Maddalena, has bribed the guard to let her take the place of condemned noble woman. Maddalena is intent on embracing death with Chenier.

The two lovers sing of their union through love and death. One can only wonder if Giordano was influenced by Wagner’s Liebestod, the “love death” from the conclusion of Tristan und Isolde.

The performances on YouTube were more than interesting.

There was a complete but poor-quality video of Tebaldi and del Monaco performing Chenier in Tokyo in 1961. Tebaldi’s voice effortlessly covered del Monaco up on the high notes. She looks as though she’s hardly singing while he looks like he’s trying to pass a square turd.

Five years later, on The Ed Sullivan Show, Corelli and Tebaldi sang Vicino a te and Corelli held every high note just a smidge longer than Tebaldi. Perhaps they had agreed that she would decide when to move or perhaps Corelli was being a dick and making sure he held everything longer.

There was a video from a 1983 Metropolitan Opera Gala with Giuseppe Giacomini and Eva Marton. Giacomini’s voice always blows me away. Eva Marton looks great but her voice sounds harsh next to Giacomini's honey-gold tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtBaCogE07E

There is a complete video of the opera with Jose Cura. I was shocked when he sang the finale high note and octave down. He sounded like he was laboring through the duet but singing the note an octave low? I didn’t see that one coming.

The most satisfying of the lot was a performance with Placido Domingo from Vienna in 1981. Domingo isn’t afraid to sing quietly in this recording and the effect is mesmerizing.

The duet starts at the 2:03:00 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBpXPU6YvGc

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

For nutty pies at Pizza by Aromi in La Mesa

Sicilian cousins add to the Italian goodness they dish out around Lake Murray
Next Article

Chunky yellowtail from Alijos Rocks

Imperial Beach Pier thresher shark

After revisiting La mamma morta I went ahead and did a YouTube survey of about a dozen different performances of the finale duet from Andrea Chenier, Vicino a te.

The real Andrea Chenier was a poet from the French Revolution who was a victim of Robespierre’s Reign of Terror. Robespierre got his head removed as well a few months later.

Politics.

The composer of the opera Andrea Chenier, Umberto Giordano, used Chenier’s actual poems as text for the tenor’s arias in the opera.

This concluding duet comes after Chenier’s lover and soulmate, Maddalena, has bribed the guard to let her take the place of condemned noble woman. Maddalena is intent on embracing death with Chenier.

The two lovers sing of their union through love and death. One can only wonder if Giordano was influenced by Wagner’s Liebestod, the “love death” from the conclusion of Tristan und Isolde.

The performances on YouTube were more than interesting.

There was a complete but poor-quality video of Tebaldi and del Monaco performing Chenier in Tokyo in 1961. Tebaldi’s voice effortlessly covered del Monaco up on the high notes. She looks as though she’s hardly singing while he looks like he’s trying to pass a square turd.

Five years later, on The Ed Sullivan Show, Corelli and Tebaldi sang Vicino a te and Corelli held every high note just a smidge longer than Tebaldi. Perhaps they had agreed that she would decide when to move or perhaps Corelli was being a dick and making sure he held everything longer.

There was a video from a 1983 Metropolitan Opera Gala with Giuseppe Giacomini and Eva Marton. Giacomini’s voice always blows me away. Eva Marton looks great but her voice sounds harsh next to Giacomini's honey-gold tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtBaCogE07E

There is a complete video of the opera with Jose Cura. I was shocked when he sang the finale high note and octave down. He sounded like he was laboring through the duet but singing the note an octave low? I didn’t see that one coming.

The most satisfying of the lot was a performance with Placido Domingo from Vienna in 1981. Domingo isn’t afraid to sing quietly in this recording and the effect is mesmerizing.

The duet starts at the 2:03:00 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBpXPU6YvGc

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mic’d singing not for me

No fault with the San Diego Opera whatsoever
Next Article

Romeo et Juliet – grand opera at its grandest

Ballet, flashing sword fights, tragic ending
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader