Manon Lesacut

There is no doubt about it: Magda Olivero was the very best Manon Lescaut of the second half of the twentieth century. In 1970, when she was 60 (!) years old, she sang the role in Verona with the not yet 30-year-old Domingo at her side. Quite bizarre when you consider that Olivero made her professional debut eight years before Domingo was born. And yet her portrayal of the young heroine was utterly convincing. Most of her colleagues could not (and cannot) match her performance!

The role of Des Grieux was a role that could have been written for Domingo. As Renato, he was able to combine all his charm, his sehnsucht and his boyishness (something he has managed to retain to an advanced age) with a cannon-like voice. My copy was released on Foyer (2-CF 2033), but nowadays there are more releases in better sound quality and the recording can also be found on You Tube.

Two years later, Olivero sang the role in Caracas. The performance of 2 June 1972 was recorded by Legato Classics (LCD-113-2). The sound quality is reasonably good, but what makes the recording really desirable is Des Grieux by the then 60-year-old Richard Tucker. So yearning, so in love, so beautiful…. Sigh. Yes, folks: once upon a time, opera was made by voices, not by beautiful bodies!

Duet from the fourth act:

Fedora

How many opera lovers know Umberto Giordano and his operas? Many know Andrea Chénier (for me one of the best and most beautiful operas ever), but that’s it. Unless you are a fan of verism, in which case there is a good chance that you have heard of Fedora. And if you do go to opera houses in countries other than the Netherlands, you may even have seen the opera. Otherwise, you are left with nothing but the CD and DVD recordings.

Admittedly, Fedora does not reach the level of Andrea Chénier, which is mainly due to the libretto. The first act has a hard time getting started and the third is a bit drab. But the music! It is so incredibly beautiful!

The play on which Arturo Colautti’s libretto is based comes from the pen of Victorien Sardou and, just like Tosca, it was written for the greatest tragédienne of the time, Sarah Bernardt. The opera therefore offers an amazing opportunity for the best singing actresses. Magda Olivero, for instance, is without doubt one of the greatest performers of the role.

Below Magda Olivero, Doro Antonioli and Aldo Protti in the third act of Fedora, recorded in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam 1967:

And with Mario del Monaco