Enrico Caruso - Agnus Dei (Bizet) 1913 -- Beniamino Gigli 1938

Enrico Caruso sings Agnus Dei by Georges Bizet. Date of recording: Sunday, 23-02-1913

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(3:50) Beniamino Gigli in "Solo per Te" ("Only for you"), 1938

Caruso too was a tenore di grazia at the start of his career. But Gigli was always basically a lyric tenor rather than a spinto. Regardless of categories, this recording of the Agnus Dei and Caruso's are I think the finest. Gigli's compact headiness and feather-light floating on the breath are unique. Breath support and tone are one! Incredibly, though, his highest notes got even freer later on.

"Nobody hits the 1/16 notes in mi _ _ serere as Gigli does (Caruso 1:58, Gigli 4:49). Singers do not honor 1/16th notes for the most part... My only thoughts about it were Gigli's take on the double-dotted 1/4 notes followed by a 1/16 note (m 29). I have to assume what Gigli demonstrates is what Bizet intended, and no one but Gigli seems to get it. Gigli sheds a different light on the symbol that represents 1/4 of a beat--a 16th note. For Gigli, it's analogous to a hurdle in Olympic competition: now you see it, now you don't. Wagner is the only composer for the human voice that I have seen use a 32nd note to represent the intentions of the Bizet 16th note, which is the common practice among vocal composers. Singers, as a rule, do not honor 16th notes. They don't know what 16th notes mean. Sometimes it does mean 1/4 of a beat; other times it's to create lightning & thunder.
That's basically it. I could flesh it out a little. Nobody does this Agnus as well as does Gigli; not even the Great Caruso, and much of it has to do with his treatment of the 16th notes. "
(Robert Burgess)

Видео Enrico Caruso - Agnus Dei (Bizet) 1913 -- Beniamino Gigli 1938 канала belcantopera