Who is the greatest tenor?

1. Franco Corelli
2. Mario Del Monaco
3. Placido Domingo

Enrico Caruso is on a league on his own, but unfortunatelly no one can have a clue of how his voice really sounded in the opera house, listening to these 100 years old recordings.
"Greatest" is may be not the right word for Jose Carreras and Giuseppe Di Stefano, as they had very short prime, but during their prime (1972-1977 for Carreras and 1947-1954 for Di Stefano) they possesed the most beautiful tenor voices and the most expressive and brilliant way of singing.

Bocelli is not in the right place in this poll - he can't be compared with no one of the others mentioned - he is just a pop singer with very pleasant timbre, but not a real opera tenor by any standart.

 

I voted for Caruso, but I haven't heard many of the tenors on the poll.

I'm surprised Richard Tucker isn't on the list.

 

Caruso was not only one of the greatest tenors that ever lived, but played a crucial role in the development of the phonograph during the Acoustic Age. Caruso might also be known as the first superstar recording artist.

 

Bjorling et Melchior

 

Bjorling and Lester Young the greatest. Peter Schreier and Joe Henderson most underrated.

 

I'd have to go with Enrico Pallazzo.

 

Placido Domingo for me but I have heard less than half on the list and I am not a big fan of opera or classical music so my vote is not to trusted.

 

Ah, drh, glad to see you here, as I do not think I know anyone (either in up-close-and-personal or online life) who knows the 78 era so well.

I hope you are not put off by "the greatest." Vote your heart! Do not get wrapped up in such epistemological or metaphysical issues as "Can we determine the greatest in a poll on SHTV?" I understand your reluctance. But I am going to tease you a bit: If you were to sit down in the balcony at La Scala, and ask your neighbor who was the greatest, do you think he would respond, "Well, old boy, we must not be so presumptuous . . . " Hardly! He would grab you by the lapel and implore you to agree it was . . .

I realize I have neglected to vote in my own poll! (Actually I didn't even know I could.) My votes will be up in a minute. Placido Domingo, one of the greatest of all singers and singing-actors, the most versatile tenor, and possessed of the greatest career in opera, IMO; and Jon Vickers, the heroic tenor ideal.

 

Richard Tucker has been mentioned several times as someone who should have been included. Definitely an oversight on my part, probably owing to my not having him on record.

 

Well, all right then: my vote goes to Aksel Schiøtz. He was not endowed with an endlessly bountiful voice like Melchior's or Caruso's, and he didn't even set out to be a singer, but he had the intelligence and musicianship to use his gifts with exquisite artistry and to incomparable effect. When the Nazi invasion of his homeland interrupted his international career just as it was gathering momentum, he abandoned the German lieder that were his strongest point of acclaim lest the occupiers exploit his work for propaganda; instead, he indefatigably researched and performed Danish songs, often forgotten even in Denmark. I'm not sure how actively he participated (accounts vary and never seem to go into detail), but he certainly supported the Danish reistance throughout the war, and his constant advocacy of Danish culture in the face of German occupation won him recognition as the voice of Danish defiance. When liberation finally opened the doors to continue his international career, he had only a few short years before an operation to remove a tumor left him unable to speak or sing and his face partially paralyzed. Against daunting odds, he worked to overcome this condition and retrain to sing as a baritone, in which capacity he did return to concertizing for a little while. He then retired from the concert stage and turned to teaching.

A treasurable artist, then, and a man of principle and courage. Offhand, I can think of no other tenor who set such a high standard under such daunting circumstances.

 

Went with Bocelli.

 

Fritz

Fritz W. was tremendous. One can only imagine what could have been had his life and career not not been cut SO short. My father is an 83 year-old tenor, sang in operas and operettas (still does ocassionally), taught voice for 40 years. He has praised Fritz and also Nicolai Gedda more highly and more often than any others; and I'm sure those are the two he had also most tried to emulate. I don't recall him listening to Caruso much, so can't comment. What little I have heard is pretty awe-inspiring.

 

Pavarotti's voice has a beautiful quality to it which is so stunningly unique. Unfortunately his great voice didn't hide the fact that he could act as well on stage as Domingo or Carreras for that matter.

Gigli too was a great singer as was the nearly incomparable Caruso as well. But there was something special about Luciano though. My mother trained to be an opera singer and she was always in awe of Pavarotti's vocal timbre.

 

Alexander Hamilton

 

Domingo is Lawrence Olivier compared to Pavarotti.

 

Neither can I. Amazing story. Clips? Recordings?

 

Tough decision. Either Rodolfo Lassparri or Ricardo Baroni...Cosi..Cosa...

 

Wunderlich !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TnruLf_haY

 

I can't say more.

 

+1

 

Russell Thompkins Jr.

 

So far, it's Caruso, just edging out Pavarotti, in the poll winners.

Of those two I prefer Caruso, though their voices were very dissimilar, I like Caruso's baritonal richness, even if he didn't possess Pavarotti's top end, and as much ability to convey a free, effortless production, especially in his later years.

It can be striking how much Pavarotti seems to model himself on Caruso, at times.
I once made a cassette of Pavarotti and Caruso, singing the same Italian songs. For instance I'd have Pavarotti's A Vucchella following Caruso's, and so forth. It was striking, the similarities in interpretation, whereas other tenors will make their versions more distinct.

Of the non Italians, I think I'd pick Wunderlich, too. Though it's interesting that Richard Tauber wasn't included, especially among, IMO, lesser company.

For sheer voice, and voice alone, it'd be Jussi Bjorling for me. Even if he was a rather stolid actor, and not always as interesting interpretively, especially in Italian music.

All around, I'd pick Caruso, except (apart from one peice from Goldmark's Die Konigin von Saba, sung in Italian) he didn't record anything from the German operas, so...

 

I didn't mean to dismiss John McCormack. Though I consider his real milieu songs rather than opera. He quit the opera stage about halfway through his career, and spent the rest of his days as a recitalist, almost until the end.

He made a very famous (1916) recording of Il mio tesoro... from Mozart's Don Giovanni, long considered a model of Mozartean excellence in execution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFy1BsDusXM

But by many accounts, he was a rather wooden actor, and even his opera recordings seem oddly stifled a lot of the time, at least to me.

 

Here's another video for a little more McCormack boosting. In this one you actually hear Il Mio Tesoro at the right speed. The one on the above video is too fast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzjqhN_Hwf4&feature=related

 

In what kind of effed up world does the GREAT BJORLING get only one more vote than that hack Bocelli? I'm sorry, I could travel three miles from my house to Peabody and find five tenors better than Bocelli. It's just sad. Most people don't know what good classical technique sounds like. To even mention him in the same breath as Bjorling, Di Stefano, Pavarotti, Domingo, or Caruso is ridiculous. He's just a product of that inane David Foster "machine", the same one that produced Josh Groban, another incredibly mediocre singer. Heck, why don't we include Groban on the list as well?