Tito Gobbi In Pagliacci & Hlts From Guglielmo Tell

Okay, it's not the perfect video; despite my 5-star rating, I want to make that clear. It's black and white; the voice dubbing is often out of synch; the English subtitles disappear altogether for long stretches. I can see how these and other issues related to the film's age could mar the experience for some viewers.Not for me, though! The performances on here are SO FABULOUS that they make the technical problems pale into insignificance. I believed in the love, the lust, the bitterness, the searing anguish, and the unbearable pain of these characters, and I will always think of this cast and this performance whenever I hear this music again. I watched the Placido Domingo video the day after seeing this one, and despite the wonderful Teresa Stratas, it does NOT measure up to this one (except technically, of course).I would like to thank the reviewer of the Placido Domingo "Pagliacci" DVD who made a point to recommend this video over that one. I would never have considered it on my own, since it never occurs to me to look for operas on video any more, now that DVDs exist. But now I hope others will discover this one and will be enthralled from start to finish the way I was. You won't soon forget Tito Gobbi in his stunningly different dual roles of Tonio and Silvio, or the ravishing beauty of Gina Lollobrigida. The sudden, raging thunderstorm that crashes down at the end is beautifully done and is the perfect coda to a master work, as your hair stands on end as if from the lightning on screen ...Oh, and the clips from "William Tell" are very enjoyable, too. :-)

If like me, you are a Tito Gobbi fan, this DVD is a must have. Not only is his voice at its very best but he manages to sing the TWO baritone roles of I Pagliacci - Tonio and Silvio - and unless you know it, you would never guess that it is one and the same singer.The reason I have given this DVD only 3 stars, is that this black and white opera is pretty dated. Especially in the "Hits from Guglielmo Tell" - the scenery, the costumes and even some of the singers are apt to look slightly ridiculous by today's standards and, of course, the sound is far from stereo. However, if you appreciate Tito Gobbi, you'll find him at his best and will gladly overlook any drawbacks.I also have his "Rigoletto" and, once more, he is just as awesome.Many, many years ago, I have had the great fortune of attending a concert with Tito Gobbi, accompanied on the piano by his wife. To me, there are only very few baritones who can come close to him - even fewer who are his equal.

Thank you for the prompt delivery of the DVD of Tito Gobbi. It was a surprise gift for my Father - and Tito Gobbi was his eightth cousin. Thankyou for the business.

I'm an admirer of Tito Gobbi, one of the great (if not the greatest) baritones of his generation. For instance, his interpretation of Rigoletto, recorded with Maria Callas, is in my opinion without doubt the best musical interpretation that you can find even today of that lovely opera. Unfortunatelly it is only available in CD's.In light of the above I decided to acquire this DVD, knowing in advance that it is taken from an old movie. The true is that, as expected, it'isn't a recording of good quality by today standards with some shortcomings both in image and sound). In spite of that I don't regret having bought it.If you are a Gobbi fan as I happen to be, then you will probably also enjoy this DVD.

Huntley Dent, Fanfare magazineQuite a number of Tito Gobbi’s most famous roles were captured on film between 1946 for Rigoletto and 1959 with an Iago opposite Mario Del Monaco’s Otello. Arguably the most celebrated, however, is this black-and-white Pagliacci from 1948, which has been lauded as an outstanding entry among filmed opera productions. Gobbi sings both baritone roles of Tonio and Silvio, and he is given star billing above the Canio sung by Galliano Masini. In part this is a tribute to Gobbi’s sterling acting abilities; he is the only singer we see, the rest of the cast consisting of actors who lip-sync the soundtrack (Gobbi also lip-syncs, since a film set has no provisions for an orchestra, not to mention that this was the common practice in all Italian films of the period and well beyond). Every commentator takes note of the special attractions of the young and voluptuous Gina Lollobrigida, no less, acting the part of Nedda. Bel Canto Society’s video releases are painstakingly researched to find the best prints of movies that exist, inevitably, in over-dubs that dilute the original visual quality. Here we get a varied example, in which close ups are clear but mid-shots and long shots usually lose considerable detail. It can be debated whether lens quality was also involved. How much this blurriness will prove a trial depends on how much you want to hear and see Gobbi, whose compelling force overrides these technical shortcomings, for me at least. Up-to-date digital applications have made the best of the soundtrack, and thankfully the singers come across vividly and with lifelike tone (in monaural sound, naturally). It is almost irrelevant to mention any drawbacks, however, because from the minute Gobbi starts the Prologue, shot largely in close-up, one is mesmerized. He modulates his volume to make it as intimate as the visuals, and his subtle facial gestures far exceed anything an audience could detect in an opera house (a comparison with Gobbi’s portrayal of Tonio on the famous La Scala Pagliacci with Callas and Di Stefano finds him singing as he would in the house). I wouldn’t go as far as the commentator who described Gobbi’s filmed Tonio as “tousled, mentally retarded, and morally warped,” but if you have some acquaintance with the neo-realist cinema that flourished in Italy during these postwar years, Gobbi’s ability to enact a Felliniesque grotesque has found a perfect setting. The production goes to great lengths to be realistic in terms of outdoor settings and animated crowds reminiscent of Franco Zeffirelli’s lavish stage mountings. The camera, which is very artfully used, cuts away frequently when there’s an aria, something very different from the generic opera movie. We are immersed in the psychological interaction among the characters. On the musical side the Rome Opera forces under Giuseppe Morelli deliver a more than respectable performance, once you get past the oddity that the first 40 seconds of the Prologue have been cut. The totally idiomatic Canio of Masini is vocally secure, loud, unsubtle, and very effective (even if baritone Afro Poli, who acts the role, is pretty hopeless at lip-synching). Lollobrigida’s utterly desirable Nedda finds a good parallel vocally in Onelia Fineschi’s urgent, yearning singing and vibrant timbre. As Silvio, a slick Hollywood seducer with a Clark Gable mustache, Gobbi transforms himself to look and sound like a romantic lead. Stefan Zucker, the founding head of the Bel Canto Society, mentions that Gobbi’s singing lacked only tenderness, but I find his Silvio quite caressing in the love scene with Nedda. There is no doubt that Gobbi is successful in making the two roles into a Jekyll-and-Hyde psychological clash. The highest compliment I can pay to director Mario Costa, who made dozens of films including the several he did of opera, is that this production would be just as gripping if it were a pure drama without music. English subtitles come and go haphazardly, which is no hindrance in such a familiar work. Zucker devotes the whole of his short booklet essay to a fascinating discussion of the difference between heroic and dramatic tenors. For those of us who didn’t know that such a difference exists, he argues that a specialized heroic tenor was intended for operas like Rossini’s William Tell and Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, where the tenor part features many high Cs and above, while dramatic tenors have heavier voices and a baritonal timbre, as heard in Del Monaco and Melchior. The heroic tenor per se vanished, Zucker says, with the long-lived Spanish tenor José Soler (1904–1995), whose recordings are rare. He is the chief interest, along with Zucker’s commentary, in the truncated William Tell (1947) offered as a bonus. The prominent music critic Olin Downes narrates the opera’s story in synopsis for 26 minutes while we view snippets of singing. Soler effortlessly hits a high CT in a trio that includes Gobbi’s Tell. Otherwise the painted flats and creaky acting speak of yesteryear. This bonus is certainly worth a listen, but I can’t see returning to it, and Gobbi plays but a small part both vocally and as a character. I found the Pagliacci a fascinating merger of verismo in opera and cinema guise. The exaggerated acting style, as with the golden age of silent movies, is far from contemporary in feeling yet nonetheless powerful. There is more here to relish than Gobbi, even though he is unmissable. Strongly recommended. Note: The DVD is suitable for all regions.

This filmed version of PAGLIACCI is a little gem. Beautifully staged, excellently acted, its superb b/w cinematography presented in a restored, fine print, this is a DVD to be treasured. Gobbi is in great voice; Lollobrigida, at 20, is simply divine: a sensual nymph, an Arcadian shepherdess one dreams of meeting in Italian woods.

Gobbi was wonderful but the film not so good

Tolle DarstellerIch habe keine Zeit, um eine bessere Bewertung abzugeben. Ich hätte dann keine Zeit zum Einkaufen und Anschauen.

A wonderful historic opera film. Pity it dident include the narrative from the original cinema release.

I already had a videotape of this performance of Pagliacci, but couldn't view it because of problems on the VCR, so I gladly bought the DVD and it fulfilled all my wishes. The transcription from 2 35mm films plus one 16 mm film was a triumph for the people who made the transfer. The quality of the resultant DVD was excellent and I admire the patience and skills deployed in the process. Almost certainly the final version was superior to the raw materials used in its production - all the grain and other unwanted artefacts in the original had gone and the DVD was superbly clean with excellent sound quality - a vital aspect of a recording of a classic opera performance by Gobbi, who was famous for his voice and for his acting ability.It is now a proud member of my collection and I expect to view and listen to it on many occasions in the future.The recording of "Hits from Guglielmo Tell" which so far as I was concerned was a make-weight, disappointed and I am unlikely to want to see it often.

Whilst the action of the opera holds the attention well, the voices are not always perfectly aligned with the mouth movements.However the vocal quallity amply compensates for this.