GOLDEN AGE OF OPERA
Sir-Having heard all the prfogrammes I could of the above series, and also’ of Bill Austin’s, I feel constrained to draw attention to how much better-voiced was the typical opera star of that age than is that of our day-the age of Gigli and all that is unashamedly bad in singing. The poorness of the recording of the orchestral accompaniments in those early days of the gramophone mattered but little to me; I could just revel in a glorious-voiced male or female that scorned to wobble or gargle while purporting to sing. No wonder Sir Henry Wood in his The Gentle Art of Singing spoke of "the great Battistini." I would find it hard to believe that he ever spoke of "the great Gigli," unless perhaps in jest. I never heard Caruso in the flesh. These programmes have revealed to me that I didn’t miss very much. The once famous "Caruso sob" was far too much in evidence. He seems only a Gigli or Lanza in the making. I hope we shall some day be favoured with other programmes featuring these old-time .unforcing, unthroaty, | unwobblesome singers.
F. K.
TUCKER
(Gisborne).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 953, 15 November 1957, Page 11
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194GOLDEN AGE OF OPERA New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 953, 15 November 1957, Page 11
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