The prestigious classical music publication, Gramophone, recently listed their 10 greatest Puccini singers of all time. There were a few omissions that raised my ire along with a few inclusions that made no sense whatsoever. It may seem strange to get worked up over a list of greatest singers but opera fandom is itself operatic. I’ve seen grown-ups shout each other into a frenzy over lists of the greatest quarterbacks and I find that to be entirely appropriate. Shouting isn’t encouraged within opera, but squillo that projects to the back of the house certainly is.

The Gramophone list starts with Enrico Caruso and Claudia Muzio, as it should but then moves on to tenor Beniamino Gigli. Gigli was certainly a great singer, but as a singer of Puccini, he was more effective in roles such as Rodolfo from La Boheme and Pinkerton from Madama Butterfly. However, he does belong on a list of great Puccini.

Baritone Tito Gobbi is next. I find it difficult to include any bass or baritone on a list of great Puccini singers simply because there is only one truly great baritone role which is Scarpia from Tosca. It is fair to include him because he was a fantastic singer but there are a few sopranos and tenors that could have been inserted instead.

There is no way to deny that Renata Tebaldi was a fantastic singer of Puccini. She excelled in multiple roles such as Mimi from La Boheme, Tosca, and Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly.

Next up are Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti. These two are included as a team and that makes sense. Their recordings of La Boheme and Madama Butterfly are definitive. However, I would not include Pavarotti as a great Puccini singer because these are the only two roles that fit his voice and I prefer other tenors in these roles. I prefer Jussi Bjorling as Rodolfo and Carlo Bergonzi as Pinkerton.

Soprano Reata Scotto cannot be denied tenor Placido Domingo does not belong on this list. He is a good Cavaradossi in Tosca and a great Dick Johnson in Girl of the Golden West but Franco Corelli is better in both roles. Corelli is not on the list. He should be right here in place of Domingo. Corelli owns the roles of Cavaradossi and Calaf in Turandot.

The final singer on the list is Jonathon Tetelman? No. 

Maria Callas should be on the list based on her Butterfly and Tosca. Mario del Monaco and Giuseppe di Stefano would have been better choices. Birgit Nilsson should be on the list if only for her Turandot. There are no great Turandots on the list, by the way. 

Perhaps Gramophone got to the end of the list and realized none of these singers, except for Domingo, is still living and they wanted to include a current singer. In that case, a separate list of current great Puccini singers makes sense.

The sad fact of the matter is that there are currently no greatest of all-time singers of any type currently on the world stage.