IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA - The Fernando de Lucia Edition (1918)
Conte Almaviva - Fernando De Lucia
Figaro - Francesco Novelli
Rosina - Maria Resemba
Dottor Bartolo - Giorgio Schottler
Fiorello - Angelo di Tommaso
Basilio - Stefano Valentino
Berta - Nina Sabatano
Salvatore Sassano conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro di San Carlo, Napoli
Phonotype Records (Napoli, 1918)
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ATTO I
Introduzione - Piano, pianissimo (0:00)
Cavatina - Ecco ridente in cielo (3:03)
Cavatina - Largo al factotum (11:18)
Canzone - Se il mio nome saper voi bramate (20:14)
Duetto - All'idea di quel metallo (25:37)
Numero quindici a mano manca (31:37)
Finale I - Ehi di casa... buona gente... (34:54)
ATTO II (52:40)
Duettino - Pace e gioia sia con voi (53:37)
Quintetto - Don Basilio! / Cosa veggo! (1:05:47)
Terzetto - Ah! quel colpo inaspettato (1:09:15)
Zitti zitti piano piano (1:14:23)
Finale II - Di sì felice innesto (1:18:51)
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19th century opera divo Fernando de Lucia (Naples 1860-1925) made more than three hundred records for "Phonotype Record", especially the (more or less) complete recordings of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Rigoletto. The technical standard of the Phonotype recordings is, fortunately, very high, with the voice well to the fore. Downward transposition in no way diminishes the sensational effect of such masterpieces of finished bel canto phrasing as De Lucia's "Ecco ridente in cielo" (3:03).
These are the records for which De Lucia is best known. Even today our Rossini tenors of the younger generation, for whom high C-sharps and Ds present no problem and who sing the most complicated coloratura passages with aplomb, can never get into their efficient singing the variety and charm that make these records unique. De Lucia sings “Ecco ridente in cielo” almost all the way through in a dreamily meandering mezza voce...
The 1908 recording of “Ecco ridente” ( • Fernando de Lucia - Ecco ridente in cielo ... ) is one of the most famous discs of its period, but in many ways this very rare version of 1918 is even better. Here De Lucia is in smoother voice, the tone is warmer and more secure in both the loud and the haunting soft passages, the execution of the florid music even neater and more brilliant. The variations are slightly different. So these wonderful records bring us vivid flashes of a vanished kind of virtuosity: even, at times, of agilità di forza—full-voiced florid singing. Either soft or loud, De Lucia’s Rossini singing is always eloquent as well as reasonably accurate, and in these recordings he touches the sublime in his ravishing, softly sparkling execution. It will be noticed that in the concluding passage of bravura on the words “Son vicino a delirar” (1:11:12), which De Lucia is obliged to deliver forte, the sound is almost "deliriant"...
During the early years De Lucia's repertoire consisted mainly of lyrical operas such as La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Lucrezia Borgia, L'Elisir d'amore, La Favorita. He kept the first four of these works in his repertoire until the early 1900s. In the Phonotype records made between the ages of fifty-six and sixty-one the voice sounds more mature, a little darker throughout, but there are no signs of age other than the little bit more effort needed to reach the highest notes, and a little bit more shortness of breath. One might even say that, after his retirement from opera, daily practice and longer periods of rest made the voice more homogeneous in scale while he retained almost unimpaired the flexibility of the head voice and all his beloved "lacreme" (tears - his own name for his beautifully expressive diminuendo). The vibrato is less aggressive in these late records. The tone frequently strikes us as more beautiful than in the earlier records.
Like Tamagno, Celestina Boninsegna, and the young Callas, De Lucia chooses to sing slowly. He recorded very few pieces of quick music, and when he did, he usually employed his mezza voce, in which he could sing either quick patter or agility passages with such stimulating accuracy and brio that one does not miss the full voice. His loving lingering over individual phrases can be exasperating... Maestro Sassano has no choice but to accompany the tenor in his languishing statements, but then he whips up the tempo impatiently when the other singers come in: they are made to sing in time, but when the divo re-enters the orchestra is pulled back suddenly to the linger-longer...
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Fernando de Lucia - Ecco ridente in cielo (1908):
• Fernando de Lucia - Ecco ridente in cielo ...
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA - La Scala 1929 (Complete Opera Rossini):
• IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA - La Scala 1929 (C...
RIGOLETTO - The Fernando de Lucia Edition (Complete Opera Phonotype) 1915-18
• RIGOLETTO - The Fernando de Lucia Edition ...
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