Beniamino Gigli - E lucevan le stelle (NY, 1955)

This week marks the 60th anniversary of the New York farewell concerts of Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957). The great Italian tenor made one of his final public appearances at Carnegie Hall on April 17th, 1955. The program, consisting of arias and songs in Italian, French and English, was done mostly by request, as was Gigli's custom. Despite the ravages of diabetes and heart disease, the sixty-five year old tenor gives a fine account of himself and delivers a program which would be daunting for a man half his age. Here, Gigli sings Cavaradossi's third act aria, "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's opera Tosca with Dino Fedri at the piano. Interestingly, the audience explodes into thunderous applause before Gigli is able to finish the aria!

Видео Beniamino Gigli - E lucevan le stelle (NY, 1955) канала Dead Tenors' Society