Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Guiseppi DiStefano: 1924-2008 “...I smoked a lot, gambled, and stayed up late"


“I wanted to enjoy life — not just the opera,”



One of the most beloved tenors previous to the Pavarotti and Domingo era, has expired.


While we'll never know what he could have been, we did know that when he DID sing...he was fabulous.


Whether or not he burned the candle at both ends....well....we are suspicious that he may have.


Or maybe he and Callas were just so full of music they just rushed to it to put it all out there before they got old.


Whatever the reason for their rapid decline, spellbounding force of life, energetic possessed manner of encompassing their music, their singing.....stands the test of time.


Callas and DiStefano were an item. Callas had her picks of castmates..and DiStefano was her tenor.....Ebi Stignani and Giulietta Simionato were her mezzos. Callas called the shots...DiStefano was on her team.


DiStefano continued to be content with living in the shadow of Maria Callas after her death. I don't think he really tried to sing after that. He surely could live off of royalties of all his performances and recordings if only for a short career of 10 years give or take. The library of music he contributed to opera can never be challenged.


The voice...well...he had a lovely pianissimo. But most of the time he sang hard and harsh to me. Could have been the cigarettes though. But he was a ladies man..and ladies like hard and harsh!

We love you Guiseppi!