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The Ego vs. The Score: this fun compilation presents some (in)famous (dis)improvements, mostly done for effect or to outsing a colleague. There are countless examples, and I picked the ones I found most amusing. I left most of the most obvious and standard ones out (Di quella pira, La donna è mobile etc.). In the beginning, you can see Riccardo Muti arguing against altering scores. And he makes good points (quoting Verdi). On the other hand, aren't we misunderstanding Italian opera if we want it to be as serious as a Beethoven symphony?
In this video:
Michael Bohnen (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Aida) • Helge Rosvaenge (Il Trovatore and Don Carlo) • Lawrence Tibbett (Pagliacci) • Lauritz Melchior (Die Walküre) • Jussi Björling (Pagliacci) • Beniamino Gigli (La Forza del Destino) • Maria Callas (Aida) • Richard Tucker (Onegin) • Leonard Warren (La Forza del Destino) • Gencer & Mac Neil (Rigoletto) • Daniele Barioni (La Rondine) • Jaume Aragall (Rigoletto) • Franco Bonisolli (Aida, Turandot) • Piero Cappuccilli (Attila) • Sherrill Milnes (Rigoletto) • Dimitri Hvorostovsky (Il Trovatore) • Alfredo Kraus (Les Contes d'Hoffmann)
PS: I am aware that Björling and Tibbett sang their pieces for fun and would never have attempted such stunts on stage.
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