Francesco
Paolo TOSTI (1846-1916)
‘A vucchela’ (Tito Schipa)
‘L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra’ (Jussi
Björling)
‘Ideale’ (Jussi Björling)
‘Serenata’ (Beniamino Gigli)
‘L’ultima canzone’ (Beniamino Gigli)
‘Marechiare’ (Giuseppe Di Stefano)
Michele ESPOSITO
(1855-1929) ‘Anema e core’ (Ferruccio
Tagliavini)
Alois MELICHAR
(1896-1975) ‘Anima mia’ (Beniamino
Gigli)
Ernesto DE CURTIS
(1875-1937)
‘Carmela’. ‘Canta pe’ me!’ (Beniamino
Gigli).
‘Torna a Surriento’ (Tito Schipa)
Richard BARTHELEMY
(19th/20th century)
‘Chi si nne scorda cchiù’
(Tito Schipa)
Salvatore CARDILLO
(1874-1947) 'Core 'ngrato’ (Giuseppe
Di Stefano)
Gioachino ROSSINI
(1792-1868) ‘La Danza (Jan Kiepura)
Luigi DENZA
(1846-1922) ‘Funiculi, funicula’
(Alessandro Ziliani)
Emanuele NUTILE
(1862-1932) ‘Mamma mia, che vo’
sape’’ (Beniamino Gigli)
Ernesto TAGLIAFERRI
(1889-1937) ‘Mandulinata a Napoli’
(Joseph Schmidt)
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO
(1857-1919) ‘Mattinata’ (Aureliano
Pertile)
GASTALDON
‘Musica probita’ (Mario del Monaco)
Eduardo Di
CAPUA (1865-1917) ‘O sole
mio’ (Jussi Björling)
Luigi DENZA
(1846-1922) ‘Occhi di fata’ (Beniamino
Gigli)
Teodoro COTTRAU
(1827-1879) ‘Santa Lucia’ (Joseph
Schmidt)
Nicola VALENTE
(1853-1939) ‘Torna’ (Tito Schipa)
TRADITIONAL
Arr. Vergine.
‘Vieni sul mar’ (Tito Schipa)
Every tenor since Caruso,
and particularly every Italian tenor,
has included what are popularly known
as ‘Neapolitan Songs’ in his repertoire.
Many set down their interpretations
onto shellac, vinyl, or more recently,
the silver disc. These ‘canzone populare’
replaced the ‘aria antiche’ of the 17th
and 18th centuries. For a
period ran these alongside songs by
the great Italian opera composers, Rossini,
Donizetti, Bellini and, later, Verdi;
all composed popular songs. Something
of this evolution is covered in Peter
Dempsey’s brief but informed accompanying
essay.
Tenors and ‘Italian
Popular Songs’ go hand in hand. As the
recordings here date from early electric
days to the dawn of the LP, this precludes
inclusion of any of Caruso’s many recordings
from this genre. These however appear
in Ward Marston’s Caruso series for
Naxos reviewed elsewhere on this site.
This issue mainly focuses on tenors
active during the inter-World War years.
The honeyed tones of Gigli and breath
control of Schipa move us naturally
to the non-Italian Björling. Björling
was their equal and natural successor
in terms of vocal beauty and capacity
for expressing emotions by nuance, colour,
legato and weight.
Not all the Italians
were in the Gigli class. Di Stefano
in 1953 (tr. 8) is crude by comparison
whilst Del Monaco is far too baritonal
and throaty in a similarly dated song
(tr. 16). Of the non-Italians featured
Jan Kiepura, with the voice produced
forward in the mouth, is not appealing
in timbre (tr.9) whereas the Romanian
Joseph Schmidt has a pleasing tone,
elegance of phrase and a good ‘mezza’
voce in the best Gigli tradition (trs.
13 and 19).
For the best of this
varied disc I suggest listeners enjoy
Schipa’s warm tone, fine legato, clear
diction and elegant phrasing, which
are matched by Gigli in particular.
Of the post-Second World War singers
included, Tagliavini (tr. 3) has many
of those virtues, although we missed
the best of him because of the war.
The recording acoustics
vary quite a lot and there are some
technical limitations (tr. 8). However,
as you listen to these voices, put aside
sound limitations and compare them with
those who have recorded this repertoire
in the last 20 or 30 years with the
benefit of modern technology. Do you
find their equal? I do not, so enjoy
the excellent singing skills that characterise
and illuminate so much of this disc.
Robert J Farr
Sung by: Jussi Björling, Tito Schipa,
Beniamino Gigli, Joseph Schmidt and others 
