Word: tenoritis
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From Caruso to Corelli, the Italian tenor has always been and remains music's only matinee idol. The tenors have preserved a paradoxical mystique, combining refined and vertiginous high C's on stage with crude pidgin English and fiery Latin lust off. In most respects, Pavarotti lives out this mystique, regularly publicizing his voracious sexual and insatiable culinary appetites. But when it comes to comparisons with forebears where it really counts, Pavarotti's mystique loses potency. On the subject of singing, mere mention of Pavarotti's name in the same breath as that of the illustrious Caruso and Gigli marks...
...similarly no need to be pigheaded in favor of Pavarotti's voice, an attitude which I'm afraid has become far too widespread lately, swooning at the mention of his name and fainting at the sound of his voice is chic nowadays. Quite frankly, he's a second rate tenor in an era when first rate tenors seem to be extinct...
Pavarotti's voice is the "bel canto" voice par excellence: light, thin, with a pleasant floating quality: truly lyric. In contrast to tenors like Jon Vickers or James McCraken, who sing as if they had swallowed cooking knives, Pavarotti's sings effortlessly. Nothing is worse than a singer who strains. But unfortunately, Mr. Pavarotti, like too many other lyric tenors, suffers from the identity crisis of a vocal lightweight. Not satisfied with the lyric repertoire, he wants to conquer the dramatic roles; Manrico, Radames, Canio. He could make no greater mistake. Nothing destroys a lyric tenor more quickly or completely...
...high notes do not a tenor make. At least they shouldn't even though high C's account for Mr. Pavarotti's sudden fame. Caruso was a B-flat tenor, as were, Pertile, and Schipa. High C's were simply out of their performing range. And some past greats, like Martinelli and Pertile not only lacked good high notes but lacked beautiful voices altogether. They made their reputations on vocal excitement and elegance of interpretation. Today most tenors sing with plodding monotony; no variety of color, no subtlety of phrasing, no dramatic imagination. Mr. Pavarotti uses his voice with...
Withal, I do recognize that Pavarotti has done a lot for Opera's popularity, if little for its standards of excellence. And Mr. Pavarotti certainly stands out as the leading lyric tenor on the contemporary scene, a veritable giant among his peers--though still a weak rival to his predecessors."Dogma has no place in art. Politics and religions seem to satisfy man's need for pigheadedness. But there is similarly no need to be pigheaded in favor of Pavarotti's voice...