Can dramatic tenors trill? Hermann Jadlowker - Pur dicesti, o bocca bella - 1927

Herman (Hermann) Jadlowker (1877, Riga--1953) was a leading Latvian-born tenor of Russian (later Israeli) nationality. This was one of his last recordings—an electrical one, to boot—captured when he was 50 years old. His schooling in the old tradition comes through as clearly on this aria antica as in his other remarkable recordings. The phrasing, the light and shade, the complete mastery of expressive devices and embellishments—including, here, an extended trill at 2:12—had almost entirely disappeared in vocal training and even among his contemporaries by this point. Jadlowker is both a rarity among 20th operatic tenors and paragon of the possibilities of the bel canto schooling. All the greatest singers knew that these old songs—the 24 Italian greatest hits, as music students in America deploringly call them—were masterpieces because of their manifold use as both beginning teaching material, as intermediate vocalises, and later as advanced open platforms for expression and display of the most perfected technique and taste. ..................................... This channel is primarily about vocal emission—aural examples of basically correct singing, correct impostazione—chiaroscuro, vowel clarity, firm and centered pitch, correct vibrato action, absence of throatiness or thickness, sounds free from constriction and from the acoustic noise that accompanies it—with occasional video examples that demonstrate what the body, face, mouth, jaw, and tongue look like when used with correct impostazione—the vocal emission of the one and only Italian school. Caveat: I'm biased in favor of baritones and baritone literature, but if you want to learn about and listen to all the greatest singers in the old-school tradition, explore this spreadsheet (voice parts are separated by tabs): https://bit.ly/2W4qmE3