Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- A Biographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 Adam
- 2 Alfvén
- 3 Atterberg
- 4 Beethoven
- 5 Bizet
- 6 Borodin
- 7 Brahms
- 8 Donizetti
- 9 Gounod
- 10 Grieg
- 11 Handel
- 12 Leoncavallo
- 13 Mascagni
- 14 Massenet
- 15 Meyerbeer
- 16 Mozart
- 17 Puccini
- 18 Rangström
- 19 Rossini
- 20 Schubert
- 21 Sibelius
- 22 Richard Strauss
- 23 Verdi
- 24 Wagner
- 25 Björling's Remaining Recordings: A Survey of the Best (1920–60)
- 26 Evolution and Influence
- Notes
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
16 - Mozart
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- A Biographical Note
- Introduction
- 1 Adam
- 2 Alfvén
- 3 Atterberg
- 4 Beethoven
- 5 Bizet
- 6 Borodin
- 7 Brahms
- 8 Donizetti
- 9 Gounod
- 10 Grieg
- 11 Handel
- 12 Leoncavallo
- 13 Mascagni
- 14 Massenet
- 15 Meyerbeer
- 16 Mozart
- 17 Puccini
- 18 Rangström
- 19 Rossini
- 20 Schubert
- 21 Sibelius
- 22 Richard Strauss
- 23 Verdi
- 24 Wagner
- 25 Björling's Remaining Recordings: A Survey of the Best (1920–60)
- 26 Evolution and Influence
- Notes
- Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Don Giovanni
“Il mio tesoro”
September 24, 1955: New York, Carnegie Hall
Frederick Schauwecker, pf.
RCA 88697748922
“Of all the styles of opera singing I think Mozart's suits me best” Björling wrote in his autobiography, recalling that “Dalla sua pace” from Don Giovanni was the first aria he was allowed to study formally at the Royal Music Academy, after spending the first semester working on his vowels (“I had to learn to articulate with my mouth and not my throat”) and on vocalizes by Concone and Panofka (“You had to know these by heart—if you didn't, you were in trouble”). His fondness for the aria was reinforced by the fact that Don Ottavio was the first full-scale role he sang on stage (in August 1930, alongside John Forsell as protagonist); it is surprising that he never recorded it.
Although “Il mio tesoro” seems not to have featured in the Stockholm performances (which presumably stuck to the “Viennese” version of the score) we do have a recital recording of this aria, the most challengingly florid in his concert repertoire. While the tenor was not in his best voice for the Carnegie Hall recital (a few notes around the top of the staff slip slightly back into the throat), his rendition is quite unlike any other on record. This unique quality is perhaps best explained by a point made by Björling in an article for the Etude: “The vocal passage from the lowest to the highest tones must be accomplished as evenly as on a piano.”
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- The Bjorling SoundA Recorded Legacy, pp. 118 - 121Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012