Legendary Baritones

Lucien Fugere (Performer), Victor Maurel (Performer), Antonio Magini-Coletti (Performer), Mattia Battistini (Performer), Mario Ancona (Performer), Maurice Renaud (Performer), Eugenio Giraldoni (Performer), Riccardo Stracciari (Performer), Titta Ruffo (Performer), Pasquale Amato (Performer), Joseph Schwarz (Performer), Heinrich Schlusnus (Performer), Renato Zanelli (Performer), Carlo Galeffi (Performer), John Charles Thomas (Performer), Lawrence Tibbett (Performer), Gerhard Hüsch (Performer), Igor Gorin (Performer), Giuseppe de Luca (Performer), Jules Massenet (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Lucien Fugere, Victor Maurel, Antonio Magini-Coletti, Mattia Battistini, Mario Ancona, et al.
• Composer: Jules Massenet
• Audio CD (April 25, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nimbus Records
• ASIN: B0000037KN
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #430,775 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Le jongleur de Notre-Dame, opera in 3 acts: Act 2. Legende de la sauge

2. Au temps du grand roi

3. Falstaff, opera: Act 2. Quand' ero paggio

4. La Traviata, opera: Act 2. Di Provenza il mar, il suol...

5. Un ballo in maschera, opera: Act 3. Eri tu

6. Le roi de Lahore, opera in 5 acts (3 versions): Act 4. Promesse de mon avenir

7. Otello, opera: Act 2. Credo in un Dio crudel

8. Tosca, opera: Act 2. Già, mi dicon venal

9. Ernani, opera: Act 3. O, de' verd' anni miei

10. Falstaff, opera: Act 1. L'onore! Ladri!

11. I due Foscari, opera: Act 1. O vecchio cor, che batti

12. Tannhäuser, opera, WWV 70: Act 3. O du, mein holder Abendstern

13. Hans Heiling, opera, Op. 80: Act 1. An jenem tag

14. Zazà, opera: Act 4. Zazà, piccola zingara

15. Rigoletto, opera: Act 1. Pari siamo

16. Andrea Chénier, opera: Act 3. Nemico della patria

17. Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), opera: Act 1. Largo al factotum

18. Der Wildschütz, opera: Act 3. Wie freundlich strahlt

19. Attila, opera: Act 2. Dagli immortali vertici

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Survey of Great Baritones Singing 100 Years Ago, December 12, 2008

By 

Doug - Haydn Fan (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Legendary Baritones (Audio CD)

This easy to enjoy CD offers a fine cross section of a large number of baritones (19) singing during the first two decades of the 20th Century. Most of these recordings are accessible to modern ears - the baritone voice did not suffer the cut-offs inflicted on soprano and some tenor high notes, and the acoustic recordings and handful of early electrics are here well transferred by Nimbus. Much of the music is standard stuff, but a listener should be able to appreciate from any of the selctions the qualities that made these singers major stars.

Although a few singers, such as Maurel, are caught at the end of their careers, most of the singers are quite triumphant and impress without reservations. If you have never heard a Battistini, a Ruffo, a de Luca, an Amato; a fabulous French baritone like Renaud; or one of the great German baritones such as Husch, Schwarz or Schlusnus, you owe it to yourself to try this recording. These are really fabulous singers with marvelous skills, many of whom were involved in premieres of operas still in today's repetoire.

This is a sensational example of just what one looks for in a sampler - an opera lover's version of a Whitman's super-sampler of chocolates, only far less filling. (Though possibly just as habit-forming!) The best part is that should you find yourself impressed with a particular singer - or several - in these days of reissues it's possible to follow up and purchase CDs devoted singly or primarily to practically all these singers.

Nimbus provides very thorough notes by Roland Vernon. Each artist is given a full paragraph biography and a follow up note on the musical selection on the selection chosen to represent the baritone.

If you've heard that old singers are all terrible and/or bad musicians this album may offer a correction!

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is not a high quality recording, December 21, 2008

By 

T. Hobby "Retired" (Fort Davis, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Legendary Baritones (Audio CD)

The participants are truly great people; but, this is not an original, high quality recording and is irritating to listen to. In all fairness, the write up on this informs you that it is taken from the original and that should be a clue that its not top quality audio.