Lauritz Melchior: one of the greatest tenors

Tenore wrote:

...and watch until the end.

... they paid them tribute

the dog is moving :-) and Melchior is obviously good too. His high notes don't impress me, but that's the German technique...

In my opinion, it is very expressive and the technique should be put at its service. Therefore, if the result is excellent, I don't see a technical limitation. Perhaps a choice. I could be wrong

thallo wrote:

His/her high notes do not impress me

If you had to nominate someone with remarkable high notes... who would you point out? And videos to appreciate such ability.

Thanks in advance

as a well-known singer, I know things that are perhaps entirely non-essential :-) the "Italian" technique tends to seek high notes "with ring" (squillo), meaning in openness, both from an exquisitely volume-based point of view (the high note as the strongest note of the piece) and from a harmonic point of view (the high register as the richest register among all others). Many arias from the Italian "romantic" operatic repertoire reflect this technique. Wagner is written differently, so Wagnerian singers tend to sing everything loudly and not "release" the harmonics in the high notes. Alas, the Italian school has never produced great Wagnerian singers... but when I think of ring (squillo), Corelli comes to mind. A terrible musician, from many points of view, but a vocal monster

Open content (youtube)

thallo wrote:

Alas, the Italian school has never produced great Wagnerian singers...

Well, then

thallo wrote:

that's la tecnica tedesca...

welcome the Germans... no?

the problem of Italian singers facing the Wagnerian repertoire is mainly due to our teaching methods and our "market". Historical singers of the Italian school have "loathed" Wagner, and in Italian theaters, the rare Wagner operas are sung by specialists (foreigners). The "old" exceptions are the operas sung in translation: Callas left us some recordings of Wagnerian operas sung in Italian, and the performance is wonderful, despite the many cuts. I have never heard her famous Valkyrie, but I would be very curious to, also to hear a Siegmund in Italian. The "modern" exceptions consist of singers of the Italian school (even if not Italian) who have also found success in Wagner. First of all, I would put Domingo, whose Siegmund and Parsifal are stupendous, in my opinion. The other noteworthy one is Kaufmann, a star of today and, although German, with a very Italian approach. But he convinces me less.

That being said, I like Melchior very much :-) musically he is wonderful, he has a perfectly uniform timbre and does his very thorough job. What is criticized is more an interpretative habit typical of Wagnerian singers like him.