Wow, another one already?

So, let's have an example of how not to sing an aria. Not that Di Stefano's voice is unattractive, mind you, but as he goes up, he doesn't handle the change of registration into the higher voice well. Basically, he sings wide-open, without doing what we call "covering" or modifying the vowels in the "break" in the voice that allows male singers to sing ABOVE the actual break in the voice where the crack would be. He just sort of yells by this point in his career, and idiots love this crap. It's crap, because believe me, Di Stefano should NEVER have sung this. It's not only not his repertoire- I am a big believer that not all things are for all people- but his technical flaws are so painfully obvious. Here is a performance of the big aria from Turandot, "Nessun Dorma:"

Let's compare that performance to a kick-ass version of the same aria, shall we? The right voice type, and the technique to sing it:

Franco Corelli, live performance. Corelli was a true heavy-voiced tenor who was suited perfectly for this role, which he sang a LOT at the MET and nearly everywhere else. Corelli's technique was crude, in some ways; he also pushed his larynx down to create volume and depth of tone, called the melocchi technique. Personally, I hate this, but it worked for him. Corelli, when he didn't have to be subtle, could sing the shit out of repertoire like this. Not that he couldn't sing softly or even kind of "sweetly" but he was not convincing in his forays into the more lyric repertoire. In fact, he sang several roles that are better left to lighter voiced singers, but he had gigantic towering high notes, so he sang them anyway. That, and he was tall and very good looking.

How about di Stefano in the right repertoire? Well, like I said before, all depends on WHEN. Here's young di Stefano, singing like only he could:

Here he is in 1950, singing like a God, practically- taking a diminuendo on a high C! Would that he stayed where he belonged, or, maybe, took a couple of lessons with a good teacher? Or even took some decent advice?