Various Vacancies: Ten Terrific Tenors Quiz

Answer: Turandot

Pavarotti (1935-2007) began his career in 1961, singing the roles of Rodolfo in "La Bohème" in Reggio Emilia (Italy) and the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "Rigoletto" in Vienna (Austria). In 1990, Pavarotti teamed up with his friends Placido Domingo and José Carreras for a concert in Rome, preceding the finals of the World Cup Soccer. "Nessun Dorma" was a solo aria by Pavarotti, but the three companions sang it as one of the encores. All operas listed were composed by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). "La Bohème" (1896) contains the famous tenor aria "Che Gelida Manina", sung by Rodolfo. "Tosca" (1900) is known for the tenor solo "Recondita Armonia", sung by the painter Cavaradossi. "Madama Butterfly" (1904) has a tenor role for Lieutenant Pinkerton, who joins the title character in the love duet "Viene la Sera". And in the opera "Turandot" (1926, completed by Puccini's pupil Franco Alfano) the unknown prince (a tenor) bursts out in act 3: "Nessun Dorma".

Answer: Enrico Caruso

Caruso was the tenor we're looking for - one of the first who made studio recordings. This fact explains we can still listen to his marvelous interpretations, although he died in 1921.
Caruso started his career with a role in Domenico Morelli's opera "L'Amico Francesco". He sang the part of Rodolfo in Puccini's "La Bohème" in Milan in 1898, and continued with the role of the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "Rigoletto" in the Met in New York in 1903. One of the earliest records with Caruso is the 1907 recording of Handel's "Serse", of which you can easily find the aria "Ombra Mai Fu" on internet.
Lucio Dalla's song "Caruso" (1986) doesn't explicitly mention the tenor's name, but clearly reminds us of Caruso's final love affair.
Sam Cooke (1931-1964), Roy Orbison (1936-1988) and Michael Jackson (1958-2009) are listed as pop singers who had a tenor voice, but they weren't Italian neither classical tenors.

Answer: Richard Tauber

Richard Tauber (1891-1948) was born out of wedlock, and so received at his birth his mother's family name Denemy. Tauber debuted as Tamino in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in 1913 in Chemnitz (Germany). After he acted in the operetta "Zigeunerliebe" by Franz Lehar (1920), Tauber moved away from the opera to Lehar's operettas. Lehar had Teuber in mind when he composed "Paganini" (1925), "Der Zarewitch" (1927) and "Das Land des Lächelns" (1929). If you can find Tauber's recording of the "Wolgalied" from "Der Zarewitch", don't hesitate to listen to it. Erich Korngold (1897-1957) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. Norman Schwarzkopf (born 1934) is an American general.

Helmut Schmidt (born 1918) is a German politician, the fifth Chancellor of West-Germany.

Answer: Romanian

Murgu was born in Timisoara in 1948. He debuted in Vienna (Austria) with the role of Turiddu in Mascagni's opera "Cavalleria Rusticana", which includes the popular aria "Mamma- Quel Vino e Generoso". He also starred as Othello in Verdi's eponymous opera.
Murgu retired in 2003 from the international scene, with the role of Canio in Leoncavallo's opera "Pagliacci".
After his career as active singer, Murgu was appointed manager of the Romanian National Opera House of Timisoara.
In the nineteenth century, a large number of opera singers were Italian, French or German, but since the Twentieth Century, opera singers can come from various countries throughout the world, as Murgu clearly has demonstrated.

Answer: Mario Lanza

Lanza was born in 1921 under the name Alfred Arnold Cocozza, and adopted his alias when he signed a contract with MGM movie studios.
Mario debuted in 1942 with a role in "The Merry Wives of Windsor", an opera by Otto Nicolai. After serving in the US army, Mario came back to the opera with his role as Lieutenant Pinkerton in Puccini's "Madama Butterfly".
The movie studio Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer offered him a movie career in which he still needed his singing talent. The best known movie with Mario Lanza is probably "The Great Caruso" (1951), a homage to Mario's notorious example.
Bonci (1870-1940) was an Italian lyric tenor, known for roles such as Fenton in Verdi's opera "Falstaff" and Lord Talbo in Bellini's opera "I Puritani".
Valetti (1922-2000) was an Italian tenor di grazie, who sang the parts of Alfredo in Verdi's "La Traviata" and Don Ottavio in Mozart's "Don Giovanni".
Nicola Monti (1920-1993) was an Italian tenor di grazia, best remembered for his role as Elvino in Vincenzo Bellini's opera "La Sonnambula" (acting with Maria Callas).

Answer: Beniamino Gigli

Gigli was born in 1890. His operatic career started in 1914 in Rovigo, Italy (regione di Veneto) with the part of Enzo in the opera "La Gioconda" by Amilcare Ponchielli.
In 1915 he interpreted Faust in Palermo and in Naples. The same part took him to Rome in 1916, to La Scala in Milan in 1918 and to The Met in New York in 1920. Shortly after his New York debut, Gigli was popularly named "Caruso Secundo" ("another Caruso"), although he of course preferred to be called "Gigli Primo" ("the first Gigli"). One can't blame him totally for his denial to be compared to Caruso. After all, their voices were not quite interchangeable: Caruso was in fact a dramatic tenor, while Gigli was more a Spinto tenor (with a voice less fit for bombastic arias).
Ramon Vargas (born 1960) is a Mexican lyric tenor. He is best known for his parts in operas by Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti.
Vyacheslav Polozov (born 1950) is a Russian Spinto tenor. He starred in various operas by Russian, Italian, German and French composers.
Albert Niemann (1831-1917) was a German Heldentenor, famous for his roles in Wagner's operas.

Answer: Swedish

Gedda was born in Stockholm in 1925. He debuted in 1952 with the role of Chapelou in "Le Postillon de Longjumeau" by Adolphe Adam. Famous roles include Don Ottavio in Mozart's "Don Giovanni", the title role in Gounod's "Faust" and the Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto". Even after his seventieth birthday, he continued performing: he sang Emperor Altoum in Puccini's "Turandot" in 2001 (at 76 years) and the High Priest in Mozart's "Idomeneo" in 2003.
Aldo Baldin (1945-1994) was a Brazilian tenor. He specialised in Bach cantatas.
The group named "The Australian Tenors" has five members: Stuart Neilson-Kemp, Murray Mayday, Michael Warby, David Haydon and Warren Fisher. All their concerts include the song "Waltzing Mathilda".
Urs Bühler is the Swiss tenor in the quartet "Il Divo", which also comprises the American tenor David Miller, the Spanish baritone Carlos Marin and the French pop singer Sébastien Izambard.

Answer: Simon Boccanegra

Domingo has a total of more than 125 roles on his repertoire. It is very unlikely to find someone equalling this tremendous repertoire.
Placido Domingo was born in Madrid (Spain) in 1941 and moved to Mexico in 1949. There he started his career with some baritone roles in various Spanish zarzuelas. The Mexico National Opera hired him as a tenor in 1959. His first leading role was Alfredo in Verdi's "La Traviata" in 1961. In 1968, he officially debuted at the New York Met with a part in "Adriana Lecouvreur" by Francesco Cilea.
Domingo's baritone role in "Simon Boccanegra" surprised the audience. Only at the end of the performance, the audience discovered Domingo's identity and a huge ovation followed.
"The Enchanted Island" is a pasticcio combining music by George Frederic Handel, Antonio Vivaldi and Jean-Philippe Rameau. Domingo sang the tenor role of Neptune.
"Carmen" is a French opera by Georges Bizet, named after the heroine. Domingo has interpreted the part of Don Jose.
In "Die Lustige Witwe" (translated as "The Merry Widow"), an operetta by Franz Lehar, Domingo has sung the role of Danilo.

Answer: Fritz Wunderlich

Wunderlich was born in 1930. He died in an accident in 1966. Wunderlich recorded Mozart's operas "Don Giovanni" (three times), "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail" (seven times) and "Die Zauberflöte" (six times), as well as "Zaide" (once) and "Gärtnerin aus Liebe" (also once). Furthermore, he recorded several operas by Richard Strauss and various operettas.
Corelli (1921-2003) was famous for his roles in Italian operas. He also recorded "Carmen" by Bizet (twice).
Blake (born 1951) is an American tenor specialising in operas by Rossini.
McCormack (1884-1945) was an Irish tenor. He debuted with a role in Mascagni's opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" in 1906. Although he was trained as an opera singer, he is more famous for his popular songs (among which "It's a Long Way to Tipperary").

Answer: Andre Rieu

The German tenor Thomas Greuel (born 1967), the Austrian Bela Mavrak (born 1966) and the Australian Gary Bennett (born 1972) met in 2000 near Cologne, Germany. There they joined forces and became "the Platinum Tenors".
André Rieu (born in 1949) is a Dutch violinist and conductor. He is noted for his concerti around the world, in which various arias from the classical repertoire are performed with quite hilarious animation. If you ever decide to buy a recording of any concert by Andre Rieu, I advise you to ignore the audio CD's and to take out a DVD - the visual aspect in Rieu's concerts is preponderant. For instance, when the Platinum Tenors engage in the song "O Sole Mio", they act as if they're battling each other with the notes they produce.
Rieu conducts an orchestra dressed in costumes form the time Mozart lived, completed with a small choir (also dressed as in the 1780's), a trio of tenors (the aforesaid Platinum Tenors) and a trio of sopranos (the Australian Mirusia Lauwers, the Dutch Suzan Erens and the Brazilian Carla Mafioletti). Sometimes a few dozen bagpipers storm the podium as well.
André Previn (born 1929) is a German - American pianist and conductor.
Vladimir Ashkenazy (born 1937) is another pianist and conductor, of Russian-Icelandic nationality.
Rostropovich (1927-2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor.