Je crois entendre encore (Mi par d'udir ancora) : Eleven recordings 1909 to 1978.

The aria is from Georges Bizet's opera Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) with a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was premiered on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris.
I uploaded a video with my own six favourite recordings of the aria some time ago and was surprised by how many listeners said that I had missed out their own favourite recording so eventually I decided to do another video featuring the "missing" tenors. If you want to listen to the first video the link to it is https://youtu.be/kBabD2TqCpc
I've also uploaded separately Richard Tucker's 1947 recording of the aria and the link to that video is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV5SjZPb5oM
I've tried to improve the audio quality as much as possible but, of course, the first two recordings were made by purely mechanical means (no microphones etc) and some of the early electric recordings are not very good.
The short verse of poetry at the beginning is not connected with the aria but I thought it was a nice introduction to the great composer and singers. Just skip over it if you want to go straight to the aria. I've given some brief information about the poem and accompanying music at the end of the description.
The recordings on the video are as follows;
0:00 Poem
0:44 Dmitri Smirnov : rec 1909
4:26 Leonid Sobinov : rec 1910
8:12 Miguel Fleta : rec 1927
11:30 Tomaz Alcaide : rec 1930
15:21 Cesar Vezzani : rec 1931
18:25 Sergei Lemeshev : rec 1938
22:46 Richard Crooks : rec 1938
26:58 Nicolai Gedda : rec 1953
30:26 Alfredo Kraus : rec 1960
35:03 Leopold Simoneau : rec 1960
38:53 Alain Vanzo : rec1978
A translation of the aria is as follows
I still believe I hear
hidden beneath the palm trees
her voice, tender and deep
like the song of a dove
oh enchanting night
divine rapture
delightful memory
mad intoxication, sweet dream.
In the clear starlight
I still believe I see her
half drawing her long veil
to the warm night breeze.
Oh enchanting night
divine rapture
delightful memory
mad intoxication, sweet dream.
Charming memory.
The verse at the beginning is from a poem written in 1874 by Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844 to 1881) and, presumably he had in mind the great composers, singers and musicians of his time. These days the term that he coined "movers and shakers" is used to describe the rich and powerful and, in fact, while I was preparing to upload this video an advert on the TV said that the luxury cruise being advertised would be suitable for movers and shakers.
The portrait behind the poem is of Turlough O'Carolan (1670 to 1738) who lost his sight as a result of smallpox when he was 18 years of age but went on to compose a wealth of beautiful music and could certainly be described as a "mover and shaker" in relation to Irish music. Thanks to collectors at the time about 150 of his compositions were preserved . The music during the poem is the conclusion of O'Carolan's final piece which he wrote on his deathbed and called "Farewell to Music".

Видео Je crois entendre encore (Mi par d'udir ancora) : Eleven recordings 1909 to 1978. канала Michael McGrail