Here's something you might be interested in.
I made a youtube comment on Andrea Bocelli's inability to sing Nessun Dorma and received a rebuke.
The following is the conversation that ensued. The syntax is quirky because of the limited number of characters for youtube comments.
Original comment:
"No one will ever take Pavarotti's place, but you people forget that it was Pavarotti himself who gave Bocelli wings to fly....so when you insult Bocelli, you're actually insulting Pavarotti, by saying he had bad taste?! think about that..... Bocelli never indicated that he was trying to outdo Pavarotti, he is a great tenor in his own right, in his his own style. How else would you explain why he's world-famous?"
My comment:
"Bocelli is popular because very few people understand what makes good singing. If you listen closely, he is flat on the top notes and they are also sung in complete head voice (falsetto). The money note at the end is pinched and unexciting. If you want to hear this aria sung properly, forget Pavarotti as well and listen to Franco Corelli, Franco Bonisolli, or Mario del Monaco. Those were appropriate voices for this aria. Enjoy!"
Another person comments on my comment:
"So you are judging this with a "professional ear". You know how cynical that sounds right? To diminish some one's talent because there is someone "better". You may know about sounds and tones, but you don't know about art O.o"
My comment back as I removed my gloves:
"Bocelli is a joke to anyone who knows anything about the ART of singing. He's a POP singer. His Nessun Dorma lacks the required emotions. Do you know what the aria is about? If you don't, how do you know he's singing it artistically? If you do know then shame on you for thinking he does a good job. I don't know about art?Art is the combination of technique and emotional intelligence. He has neither. He's a pop artist. NO OPERA unless he's doing it for free. If he's going to sing opera then he must sing in tune. He's flat & If he's going to sing opera he can't sing falsetto As a pop singer he's great.Once he starts singing opera it's a different STANDARD-nothing to do with artistry. If you hear a pop singer has opera training, the rest of the story is that they're not good enough to actually sing opera.He's not good enough to sing opera & should leave it ARTISTS who can sing it. His singing is pretty but static & void of artistry."
Same person replies:
"So you measure the beauty of art with charts, facts and definitions... You may be right, I don't know [poop] about arias compared to others, but that doesn't mean I will go diminish someone's performance because "as the stats say, he is just a pop singer"(how discriminative that sounds) Art, for me at least, is not something you can measure. You may be right about him "not being all professional" like others, but again, for me (don't take it personally) that just sounds awfully cynical."
I respond:
"With singing, the notes are what they are. As with dancing, technique is a big factor. If a dancer lacks physical ability, it doesn't matter how artistic they are. They must be able to perform the steps. Same with singing opera, if the singer lacks the physical ability to sing the notes in tune and deliver the text with emotional intention then it doesn't matter how "artistic" they are. He has no connection to the text and that's the foundation of artistic singing."
A few others jumped in but they're not worth mentioning here.
The bottom line for me is that while people love Bocelli, he is not an opera singer.
Having an Italian name and singing in Italian does not make one an opera singer.
Promoters and recording companies have made money by marketing him as an opera singer but he doesn't have the voice.
The songs that have been written for his voice are fantastic.
If you listen to him closely, there is a vacuity of emotion in his singing and that's not operatic.
To emphasize the difference, I've included a link to an 80 year old sining Nessun Dorma.
The sound quality it terrible but the emotion is off the charts and at 80, his intonation is better than Bocelli.
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbGKQ8YASCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WjURfDzeys&feature=related
I made a youtube comment on Andrea Bocelli's inability to sing Nessun Dorma and received a rebuke.
The following is the conversation that ensued. The syntax is quirky because of the limited number of characters for youtube comments.
Original comment:
"No one will ever take Pavarotti's place, but you people forget that it was Pavarotti himself who gave Bocelli wings to fly....so when you insult Bocelli, you're actually insulting Pavarotti, by saying he had bad taste?! think about that..... Bocelli never indicated that he was trying to outdo Pavarotti, he is a great tenor in his own right, in his his own style. How else would you explain why he's world-famous?"
My comment:
"Bocelli is popular because very few people understand what makes good singing. If you listen closely, he is flat on the top notes and they are also sung in complete head voice (falsetto). The money note at the end is pinched and unexciting. If you want to hear this aria sung properly, forget Pavarotti as well and listen to Franco Corelli, Franco Bonisolli, or Mario del Monaco. Those were appropriate voices for this aria. Enjoy!"
Another person comments on my comment:
"So you are judging this with a "professional ear". You know how cynical that sounds right? To diminish some one's talent because there is someone "better". You may know about sounds and tones, but you don't know about art O.o"
My comment back as I removed my gloves:
"Bocelli is a joke to anyone who knows anything about the ART of singing. He's a POP singer. His Nessun Dorma lacks the required emotions. Do you know what the aria is about? If you don't, how do you know he's singing it artistically? If you do know then shame on you for thinking he does a good job. I don't know about art?Art is the combination of technique and emotional intelligence. He has neither. He's a pop artist. NO OPERA unless he's doing it for free. If he's going to sing opera then he must sing in tune. He's flat & If he's going to sing opera he can't sing falsetto As a pop singer he's great.Once he starts singing opera it's a different STANDARD-nothing to do with artistry. If you hear a pop singer has opera training, the rest of the story is that they're not good enough to actually sing opera.He's not good enough to sing opera & should leave it ARTISTS who can sing it. His singing is pretty but static & void of artistry."
Same person replies:
"So you measure the beauty of art with charts, facts and definitions... You may be right, I don't know [poop] about arias compared to others, but that doesn't mean I will go diminish someone's performance because "as the stats say, he is just a pop singer"(how discriminative that sounds) Art, for me at least, is not something you can measure. You may be right about him "not being all professional" like others, but again, for me (don't take it personally) that just sounds awfully cynical."
I respond:
"With singing, the notes are what they are. As with dancing, technique is a big factor. If a dancer lacks physical ability, it doesn't matter how artistic they are. They must be able to perform the steps. Same with singing opera, if the singer lacks the physical ability to sing the notes in tune and deliver the text with emotional intention then it doesn't matter how "artistic" they are. He has no connection to the text and that's the foundation of artistic singing."
A few others jumped in but they're not worth mentioning here.
The bottom line for me is that while people love Bocelli, he is not an opera singer.
Having an Italian name and singing in Italian does not make one an opera singer.
Promoters and recording companies have made money by marketing him as an opera singer but he doesn't have the voice.
The songs that have been written for his voice are fantastic.
If you listen to him closely, there is a vacuity of emotion in his singing and that's not operatic.
To emphasize the difference, I've included a link to an 80 year old sining Nessun Dorma.
The sound quality it terrible but the emotion is off the charts and at 80, his intonation is better than Bocelli.
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbGKQ8YASCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WjURfDzeys&feature=related