@dandylover1@someplace.social
(Updated to include new women to whom a friend introduced me recently.)
This is a bit different from most of my posts. If you'd rather skip my personal list, feel free to do so, as there is a question at the bottom regarding your own preferences. My primary interest is tenors, but that is strictly a personal preference. I added the female singers per request.
This is the Italian Tenors section of a wonderful site.
https://www.
historicaltenors.net/italian/i…
ndexitalian.html
I was truly amazed, as I read it, to see just how many names I recognised, particularly since I only started listening to opera in February of this year! Just for fun, I decided to sort them. One star means I know him, but don't particularly like him. Two stars means I like him. Three stars means he is so unique that he is irreplaceable and is at the top of my list. Just for the record, my favourite tenors are Tito Schipa, Beniamino Gigli, Ferruccio Tagliavini, and Francesco tamagno.
Dino Borgioli
*Carlo Buti(not really opera, but a great singer)
*Enrico Caruso (vacillating between one and two stars)
Franco Corelli (should have recorded full Otello, amazing voice)
Bernardo De Muro (more lyrical than dramatic, but sang heavy roles)
Giovanni Battista De Negri
Luigi Fort (sadly underrated)
Beniamino Gigli (one of the most versatile singers I ever heard)
Aristodemo Giorgini
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (technically best tenor ever/could sing anything, horrible attitude)
Giovanni Malipiero
*Giovanni Martinelli
*Francesco Merli
*Aureliano Pertile
*Franco Perulli
Gianni Raimondi
*Tito Schipa (favourite singer in any genre, absolute perfection)
Ferruccio Tagliavini (swetest voice, beautiful leggero, changed due to heavy roles but still good afterward/lucky)
Francesco Tamagno (first Otello, intriguing voice, not replaced in 120 years, beautiful human being)
Cesare Valletti (student of Tito Schipa)
Giovanni Zenatello
Extras
Non-Italian
(Non-Italian tenors are on other pages of the above site)
Edmond Clément
*Florencio Constantino
Leopold Simoneau
Richard Tauber
Non-tenors
Baritones
*Carlo Galeffi
Giuseppe De Luca
GIUSEPPE TADDEI
Mattia Battistini (my favourite baritone of all time)
Riccardo Stracciari
Basses
*Salvatore Baccaloni
Italo Tajo
Women (not divided by range)
Generally, the rule for me is, if a woman sang with Tito Schipa, I have heard her at least once. Of course, I have heard several others who haven't, but that is a good way to get the list started.
Adelina Patti
Amelita Galli-Curci
Bidu Sayão
Claudia Muzio
Edith Mason
*Florence Easton
*Ester Mazzoleni
Eva Turner(one of my all-time favourite female singers)
Gianna Pederzini
Gina Cigna
Giulietta Simionato
*Graciela Pareto
Lina Pagliughi (like even better when older)
Lucrezia Bori (great regardless, but like even more after surgery)
Luisa Tetrazzini
*Mafalda Favero
Marian Anderson
Mary Ellis (know from Ivor Novello, but sang opera with Caruso when younger/opera not recorded)
*Mercedes Capsir
*Nellie Melba
*Poli-Randaccio
*Rina Gigli (daughter of Beniamino, often sang with him)
***Rosa Ponselle (even better when older, my favourite on the women's list)
*Toti Dal Monte
Who, in general, are your favourite singers? You don't need to sort them as I have done, though that would be interesting. I wonder if, as with mine, there are patterns to your choices.