Word: tenore
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...years since Composer Berlioz made his observations there has been little change in the perilous artistic life of the operatic tenor. His concern about whether the next high C will crack and degenerate into an ignominious squeal-or whether his voice will simply refuse to make any sound at all-keeps him in a constant state of apprehension. Moreover, the whole business of singing at the top of his voice and range presents an additional physical hazard. The fact that good tenors are always in short supply aggravates the other problems by encouraging the poor fellow to sing more than...
...Elephantiasis of the ego. The star tenor tends to swagger in company as well as on stage; he is quite sure that women have a yen for him-and so, usually, is his wife. He lords it over his colleagues and is inclined to feel that he need not rehearse with the rest of the cast. Like most singers, he thinks he is better than the impresario does, and demands starring roles too early in his career...
...Volatile temperament. Germany's Wagnerian Tenor Hans Beirer is not ordinarily temperamental, but at one rehearsal he went into a pet and refused to sing until somebody brought a couch on stage for him to lie on. Hungarian Sandor Konya, rehearsing for the German premiere of Menotti's Saint of Bleecker Street, was scheduled to pick up a knife to stab. When it turned up missing, he flew into a rage and took a walk. It was replaced, but another singer, all unawares, took the replacement knife to peel an orange. This time Kenya's curse-punctuated...
...Hypochondria. Because of the delicacy of his vocal organ, the tenor is forced to baby his voice. Many carry this to extremes, even denying themselves sex for 48 hours before a performance because it may coarsen their tone. (One contemporary tenor has refined this after learning by a process of trial and error that his voice is at its peak exactly three days after sexual intercourse.) Despite all his precautions, the tenor tends to feel himself hoarse as a wolf at curtain time, and often decides he has a cold. If he can be forced onto the stage, his natural...
...Gambler at the Met. Common as it is, tenoritis has rarely infected U.S. tenor Richard Tucker, who pined and paraded about the stage of Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera House one night last week as Don José in Carmen near the end of his finest season yet. A onetime cantor in a New York synagogue, he is one of the top tenors, and some think the best, in the world today. "Caruso, Caruso, that's all you hear!" Met General Manager Rudolf Bing once said. "I have an idea we're going to be proud some...