The Legendary Titta Ruffo 1877 - 1953 compilation of the Voce del leone!! my favorite baritone

THE CARUSO OF BARITONES!!! LA VOCE DEL LEONE!!! 0:00 Il balen del suo sorriso from Verdi's Il trovatore 3:11 Hola maletots. Adamastor, roi des vagues profondes from Meyerbeer's L’Africaine sung in Italian 8:34 Largo al factotum from Rossini's Il barbiere di siviglia 12:40 Alla vita che t'arride from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera 15:40 Eri tu che macchiavi from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera 20:06 O Monumento from Ponchielli's La Gioconda 24:06 Pescator affonda l'esca from Ponchielli's La Gioconda 27:02 Son sessant'anni from Giordano's Andrea Chenier 29:52 Nemico della patria from Giordano's Andrea Chenier 33:57 Voilà donc la terrible cite from Massenet's Thais sung in italian 36:50 Ah! mon remords te venge from Meyerbeer's Dinorah sung in italian 40:58 Santa Lucia by Teodoro Cottrau 43:32 Credo in un Dio crudel from Verdi's Otello 48:00 Si può, si può from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci 54:08 O vin dissipe la tristesse from Thomas' Hamlet (sung in Italian) 57:51 Visione Veneziana by Brogi 50:52 Maria mari by Di capua 53:07 Hamlet monologue spoken by William Shakespeare 01:00:53 Maria Mari by Di Capua 01:03:08 Famous Hamlet monologue (To be or not to be) spoken by William Shakespeare THE END :) Titta Ruffo (9 June 1877 – 5 July 1953), born as Ruffo Cafiero (double forename) Titta, was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" ("voice of the lion"), he was greatly admired, even by rival baritones, such as Giuseppe De Luca, who said of Ruffo: "His was not a voice, it was a miracle" (although not often published is the second part of De Luca's conclusion "which he [Ruffo] bawled away..."), and Victor Maurel, the creator of Verdi's Iago and Falstaff. Maurel said that the notes of Ruffo's upper register were the most glorious baritone sounds he had ever heard (see Pleasants, cited below). Indeed Walter Legge, the prominent classical record producer, went so far as to call Ruffo "a genius". Born Ruffo Titta in Pisa (he reversed his forename and surname for the stage), Ruffo was the son of a foreman at an ironworks,[1] who named him after a favourite dog, Ruffo. His mother only ever called him "Cafiero".[2] He studied singing and voice production with several teachers.[3] Ruffo made his operatic debut in 1898 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome as the Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. He retired in 1931, staying for several years in exile Switzerland and Paris. He wrote an autobiography, La mia parabola, which was translated into English in 1995 as My Parabola.[9] In 1937 he returned to Italy, where he was later arrested by the authorities for opposing the Fascist regime and espousing socialist beliefs. His sister was married to Giacomo Matteotti, after whose murder by the Fascists he had vowed never to sing in Italy again. In the later years of his life, he maintained friendships with a variety of singers, notably with baritones Gino Bechi, Carlo Tagliabue and tenors Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Giuseppe di Stefano. Titta Ruffo died in Florence, Italy from heart disease on 5 July 1953, aged 76.[10] Vocal characteristics and recorded legacy Ruffo's repertoire included most of the major baritone roles in French and Italian opera, including among others Rigoletto, Di Luna, Amonasro, Germont, Tonio, Rossini's Figaro, Valentin, Iago, Carlo (in both Ernani and La forza del destino), Nabucco, Vasco, Don Giovanni, Barnaba, Scarpia, Marcello, Renato in Un ballo in maschera And the title role in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet. Like his tenor contemporary Enrico Caruso, Ruffo was said to embody a new style of singing in which power, declamatory force and a rich, chesty tone eclipsed the previous generation's emphasis on vocal grace, flexibility and technical finesse. Consequently, some conservative commentators compared Ruffo unfavorably with his elegant Italian predecessor Mattia Battistini, who was a master of bel canto and the possessor of a leaner, more silvery timbre than Ruffo's. Ruffo displayed exceptional vocal agility and control plus the ability to sustain a long legato line. Both of them also favored a virile interpretive style and even shared a teacher in Venceslao Persichini. in 1928, the critic and producer, Walter Legge, Lauded Ruffo's singing, recalling a recital that he had heard the baritone give six years earlier in London. Legge said that: "From his first phrase the audience was vanquished by the overwhelming beauty of his voice—manly, broad, sympathetic, of unsurpassed richness. Such ease of production, such abundance of ringing high Gs! But more: Ruffo's infinite subtlety, variety of tone-colour, interpretive insight and sincerity, his magnificent control, stupendous breathing powers, and impeccable phrasing stamped him as a genius." Conducter tulio serafin said In my lifetime "there have been three miracles – Caruso, Ponselle and Ruffo. Apart from these there have been several wonderful singers.’