Mario Del Monaco - M'appari - Marta - Friedrich von Flowtow

Mario Del Monaco (July 27, 1915 - October 16, 1982) singing the great aria from Werther at age 37. Beautiful chiaroscuro register balance!!! After studying with Arturo Melocchi which gave him an open and free voice Mario Del Monaco competed for a place at the Rome Opera Studio at the request of Tulio Serafin. After a couple of years study there he went through a vocal crisis whereupon he denounced vocal schools and went back to Melocchi to fix the problem. Today we have the same problems with the universities and conservatories. Here is an interview of Mario Del Monaco in 1981, he was 65. In the beginning he is talking about training a student he was working with at the time: "What can one do in so short a time? One can show the way up to a point, but there is no opportunity to work. This is the problem today with all those who arrive too fast at the goal. He [the student] has already developed trouble in the top of his voice because of heavy roles he has undertaken, and I am trying to correct this. Too much too soon. I am happy looking back that I did not have an easy time at first, and that I had to to find myself. It was lucky I did not become a star overnight, but had to fight for my success. I studied singing for ten years. I was studying violin in Pesaro when it was discovered I had a big voice. At the age of 13 it was already established that I was a tenor. My father first sent me to study voice at 14 with Maestro Raffaelli, who--incredibly--made me sing almost at...