The online opera guide on Placido Domingo
Read the short biography of Placido Domingo and listen to highlights of his career. In many specialist publications Domingo is counted among the 3 greatest tenors of the 20th century. His voice captivates with its rich colours and has a velvety, warm timbre and dark tone.
The ascent
Placido Domingo was born on 21 January 1941 to a family of singers in Madrid. He spent his childhood from 1949 in Mexico where his parents built up a Zarzuela Compagnie. Placido often played along and so he had an early entry into the theatre world. He got his musical education at the conservatory in Mexico City. Besides this, Domingo did not enjoy any vocal training. Also in the learning of roles Domingo was always an autodidact, accompanying himself at the piano.
Domingo began as a baritone (in Zarzuelas), but soon switched to the tenorfach, making his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967 and his debut at the Met in 1968, when he appeared at short notice in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur for Franco Corelli alongside Renata Tebaldi.
Domingo is considered to be one of the most versatile tenors and has sung in (unbelievable) 150 different roles and participated in over one hundred recordings of operas. Due to the breadth of his repertoire, it is difficult to associate Domingo with a specific role. It is difficult to choose his best recording. In Literature his Don Carlos of 1975 and the Trovatore with Leontyne Price are often mentioned to be among his best.
Io la vidi (Don Carlo)
One of his parade roles is Otello which was produced for la scala and then for cinema under the direction Franco Zeffirelli. He played this role about 200 times, which he claimed as his favourite Role.
Esultate (Othello)
Domingo has also distinguished himself as a Wagner Tenor, especially as Lohengrin, Siegmund (in Die Walküre) and Parsifal. Particularly praised was the fact that Domingo brought a Belcanto style into the Wagner opera (as intended by Wagner) but missed the penetrating metaliness.
Mein lieber Schwan (Lohengrin)
Domingo has also proved his enormous versatility by not neglecting either the French or the Russian repertoire. He has also sung the latter in the original language. In his Tel Aviv years (1963-66) he even sang in Hebrew.
O paradis (Les Huguenots)
Hardly any singer has performed as often as Domingo. While many fellow singers perform 30-50 times a year, Domingo (excluding concerts and events) has performed 80-100 times a year for several decades. Birgitt Nilsson once said that he could speak many languages, unfortunately there is no language in which he can say “no”.
His voice
His voice captivates with its rich colours and has a velvety, warm timbre and dark tone. Due to its baritonal coloration and tessitura, the high register is less well developed.
Impact
In many specialist publications Domingo is counted among the 3 greatest tenors of the 20th century. He played a decisive role in ensuring that interest in opera did not cease after the sixties. His performance skills are praised as evidenced by various opera films (Othello, Carmen, Cavalleria rusticana etc.). The lack of depth of his role portraits is criticized because of the breadth of his repertoire.
Domingo finally became world-famous in the 90s with 2 other singer colleagues through the concert of the three tenors in the Roman Baths on the occasion of the 1990 Football World Cup in Italy. In total he sold 20 mio records, 7 mio of them with the record of the 3 tenors.
3 tenors – Domingo / Carreras / Pavarotti
Highlights from Recordings of Placido Domingo
He recorded the Trovatore several times. His recordings from 1970 (with Mehta) and 1978 (Karajan) both belong to the greatest recordings ever. Listen to him in the first recording with Leontyne Price and Sherill Milnes as partners.
Di geloso amor sprezzato – Milnes/Price/Domingo
Listen to a thrilling “Reggendo all’aspro assalto” by Fiorenza Cossotto and Placido Domingo.
Mal reggendo all’aspro assalto – Cossotto/ Domingo
Enjoy a nostalgic “Ai nostri monti” with Placido Domingo and Fiorenza Cossotto from Il Trovatore.
Ai nostri monti – Cossotto / Domingo
Here a fantastic interpretation of the ballad of Kleinzack from Les contes d’Hoffmann
Il était une fois à la cour de’Eisenach
The famous flower aria from Carmen.
La fleur que tu m’avais jetée (1)
An excellently interpreted scene in a television recording with Placido Domingo and Fiorenza Cossotto from Cavalleria rusticana.
Ah lo vedi…no, no, Turriddu – Cossotto/Domingo
Another piece from cavalleria rusticana from the Zefirelli film version.
O Lola
An interpretation of recondita armonia from a wonderful opera film.
Recondita armonia
Gorgeous pictures from a film of Tosca.
E lucevan le stelle
A wonderfully sung piece from the last act of Lucia di Lammermoor from the recording with Giulini.
Fra poco a me ricovero
«De’ miei bollenti spiriti» is a beautiful tenor piece from La Traviata. Below you will find an interpretation in Zefirelli’s enchanting film adaption. Violetta and Alfredo have moved away from Paris and Alfredo sings about the beautiful life together in the countryside.
Lunge d lei…De’ miei bollenti spiriti
Hear the terzetto «Io t’amava» from Nabucco that you should not miss.
Io t’amava (Terzetto) – Domingo/Dimitrova/Valenti
Se quel guerriero io fossi…Celeste Aida
The famous una furtiva lagrima from Elisir d’amore
Una furtiva lagrima
A well known aria from Il Trovatore sung by Placido Domingo from the recording with Giulini. His interpretation is very warm and espressivo and we can find wonderful passages as eg the beautiful trill at parrà.
Ah si ben mio
Karajan recorded the Butterfly twice within a short time. The cast of the tenor changed from Pavarotti to Domingo, who was better suited for the TV production due to his different physical dimensions… Hear the great Yankee Aria.
Dovunque al mondo
The great love duet from the Ponnelle / Karajan movie with a superb pair of Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo.
Bimba dagli occhi – Freni / Domingo
Domingo rarely sang the role of the Duke. As a baritonal tenor, the tessitura of Rigoletto was set too high for him. However his interpretation of “la donna è mobile” from the Giulini recording is convincing.
La donna è mobile – Domingo
Domingo has only sung the Pollione live seven times, but saw the role as ideal for his voice.
Va crudele – Domingo / Cossotto
Domingo sang Lohengrin for the first time in 1968, but he saw that he was not yet ready. The voice suffered from the strain. And only 15 years later he sang it again. With a lot of bel canto he meets Franz Liszt’s demand.
The critics agreed that Domino’s Lohengrin is a great asset. The splendour of his voice and lyrical bel canto create a captivating, harmonious picture and delight the listener.
There were only discussions about articulation. His German pronunciation has great weaknesses. The majority of the critics did not mind, Arnold Whittal even mockingly said that “after all, Lohengrin is a stranger in Brabant, and Monsalvat is closer to Madrid than to any northern city”. Of course, there were also purists who described the accent as no-go.
Nun sei bedankt, mein lieber Schwan – Domingo
Domingo sings this duet scene from Lohengrin wonderfully lyrical and gives the scene a beautiful luster.
Fühl’ ich zu Dir (Duett) – Norman / Domingo
Another greats of Domingo’s Wagner Repertoire.
In fernem Land
Placido Domingo studied Caruso in his French roles and admired his exquisite singing as well as his French, on which he obviously worked very hard. The French language has the danger that the nasal sounds bad, so you have to be very careful that the language is sung beautifully. We hear Domingo in Gounod’s Faust.
Salut, demeure chaste et pure
This piece from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi in the style of a Tuscan folk song is demanding. Especially the second part is written in a high tessitura and leads twice to the high B. We hear this great tenor aria in two interpretations. Domingo plays wonderfully with the words has a youthful dynamic and yet a warmth in the voice.
Avete torto … Firenze e come un albero fiorito
This tenor performance from Verdi’s Otello is regarded as one of the most difficult starting scenes in opera literature. Otello appears at a running pace and has to sing the triumphal “Esultate” at the highest possible volume against the orchestra without having the opportunity “warm up” his vocal cords .
Esultate – Domingo
The love Duet from Otello ends with flutes and harps, accompanied by strings. Domingo captivates in this recording as an urgent and ecstatic Otello.
Gia della notte – Domingo / Studer
For Domingo, Otello was perhaps the greatest tenor role ever and also the most challenging, mainly because of the 2nd act, “which is an opera within the opera”. Especially the quartet “se incoscia” is a very demanding part and from then on Otello is constantly challenged in this act.
Se incoscia contro te – Domingo / Studer / Leiferkus
“Niun mi tema” is the last death scene that Verdi has written in his long career as a composer. It is resignative. Dark chords in minor accompany Otello to his suicide. Otello collapses dying, the music changes to major and one last time the love melody sounds.
Aprite … Niun mi tema – Domingo
Domingo sang Riccardo for the first time in 1967. Due to the illness of a singer, a planned Aida was cancelled at short notice and replaced by a Ballo. Domingo was asked, and he agreed spontaneously, although he didn’t know the role yet. He learned the role in only 3 days “with the help of his wife and the recordings of Gigli”.
Forse la soglia attinse… Ma se m’è forza perderti – Domingo
You will hear an excellent version of an Arie from Tchajkowsky’s Eugen Onegin from Placido Domingo. His Russian sounds surprisingly authentic (at least for someone who doesn’t speak Russian…).
Kuda, kuda vy (Lenski’s Aria)
Domingo was an excellent Tannhäuser.
Gepriesen sei – Domingo / Studer
Tannhäuser is a rebel and does not want to bow to the courtly constraints and moral codes. Thus he remains the homeless outsider.
Dir, Göttin der Liebe soll mein Lied ertönen
Pagliaccio/Canio was one of Domingo’s parade roles. His “Vesti la giubba” from a great film adaptation of Zeffirelli was memorable. Perhaps others have sung a more beautiful, richer high passage in this aria, but the overall impression is overwhelming.
Recitar…vesti la giubba
You will experience the finale in Zeffireli’s film adaptation. Placido Domingo plays out his great acting and singing skills and delivers a gripping finale with Teresa Stratas.
You can read about his Canio in the book “Domingo my operatic roles” von Helena Matheopolous: “Domingo on stage also arouses maxiumum terror in the sopranos who sing Nedda with him. Veronica Villaroel, who did so in Washington and the Metropolitan Opera, recalls that on both occasions she felt real fear on stage: “When I play Nedda to Placidos Canio I am scared to death, I’m scared he really will kill me, Mamma mia, I feel real terror!”
Pagliaccio finale
Domingo was not the tenor of the high notes (a shared feature with Caruso). Nevertheless, one cannot escape the effect and the energy of his Nessun dorma.
Nessun dorma
Peter Lutz, opera-inside, the online opera guide
Domingo sang Riccardo for the first time in 1967. Due to the illness of a singer, a planned Aida was cancelled at short notice and replaced by a Ballo. Domingo was asked, and he agreed spontaneously, although he didn’t know the role yet. He learned the role in only 3 days “with the help of his wife and the recordings of Gigli”.
Forse la soglia attinse… Ma se m’è forza perderti – Domingo
This tenor performance is regarded as one of the most difficult starting scenes in opera literature. Otello appears at a running pace and has to sing the triumphal “Esultate” at the highest possible volume against the orchestra without having the opportunity “warm up” his vocal cords .
Esultate – Domingo
Domingo captivates in this recording from Otello as an urgent and ecstatic Otello.
Gia della notte – Domingo / Studer
“Niun mi tema” is the last death scene that Verdi has written in his long career as a composer. It is resignative. Dark chords in minor accompany Otello to his suicide. Otello collapses dying, the music changes to major and one last time the love melody sounds.
Aprite … Niun mi tema
The piece in the style of a Tuscan folk song from Gianni Schicchi is demanding. Especially the second part is written in a high tessitura and leads twice to the high B. We hear this great tenor aria in two interpretations. Domingo plays wonderfully with the words has a youthful dynamic and yet a warmth in the voice.
Avete torto … Firenze e come un albero fiorito
Placido Domingo studied Caruso in his French roles and admired his exquisite singing as well as his French, on which he obviously worked very hard. The French language has the danger that the nasal sounds bad, so you have to be very careful that the language is sung beautifully.
Salut, demeure chaste et pure – Domingo
Franz Liszt, the conductor of the premiere and Wagner’s confidante, wrote an interesting commentary on this scene. He emphasized that in this passage the tenor’s timbre requires grace, velvety and softness, which is far less of the usual Wagner tenor with its vocal power.
Domingo sang Lohengrin for the first time in 1968, but he saw that he was not yet ready. The voice suffered from the strain. And only 15 years later he sang it again. With a lot of bel canto he meets Franz Liszt’s demand. The critics agreed that Domino’s Lohengrin is a great asset. The splendour of his voice and lyrical bel canto create a captivating, harmonious picture and delight the listener.
There were only discussions about articulation. His German pronunciation has great weaknesses. The majority of the critics did not mind, Arnold Whittal even mockingly said that “after all, Lohengrin is a stranger in Brabant, and Monsalvat is closer to Madrid than to any northern city”. Of course, there were also purists who described the accent as no-go.
Nun sei bedankt, mein lieber Schwan – Domingo
Domingo sings this love Duet from Lohengrin wonderfully lyrical and gives the scene a beautiful luster.
Fühl’ ich zu Dir (Duett) – Norman / Domingo
Domingo has only sung the Pollione from Bellini’s “Norma” live seven times, but saw the role as ideal for his voice.
Va crudele – Domingo / Cossotto
Domingo sang Maurizio just over thirty times in his career. He made his Met debut in this role in 1968, but not as planned, because that evening Franco Corelli was scheduled to sing Maurizio and Domingo as understudy 5 days later. Domingo wanted to attend the performance that evening and had rehearsed hard all day at the Met for Turandot. Corelli cancelled the performance only 40 minutes before the official start and Rudolf Bing, the Met’s opera director, called Domingo at the hotel and told him he had to fill in. Domingo, who was about to shave and get ready for the opera, was upset because he was sure Corelli had cancelled at such short notice so Domingo would have to step in and get the appropriate criticism after a bad evening. But things turned out differently. The evening became a triumph and Renata Tebaldi, the Adriana of the evening, was full of praise for her partner. We hear Placido Domingo with a recording from this year.
La dolcissima effigie
The story of Maurizio’s heroic deed is a simple piece, but a brilliant number. Domingo plays a believable daring hero.
Il russo Mencikoff riceve l’ordine – Domingo
The 1970 recording of Giulini is one of the most recommended recordings in the Don Carlo discography. The young Domingo convinced with his youthful voice and the wonderful timbre and Caballé as Elisabetta who was at the zenith of her art in 1970. She showed Elisabeth as a melancholic and vulnerable queen.
Di qual amor, di qual ardor – Domingo / Caballé
A beautiful farewell mood lies over the recording of this scene, and a melancholic tenderness lies in the voices, as we perhaps can not hear it elsewhere. The combination of the voices is beguiling, one only hears the passage at 3:18 with the velvety soft voice of Domingo accompanied by the ethereal piano of Montserrat Caballé. The lyrical beauty catches the listener.
Ma lassù ci vedremo in un mondo migliore – Caballé / Domingo / Verrett
We hear this aria by Macduff in the glorious interpretation of the young voice of Placido Domingo in the 1976 Abbado recording.
O figli, o figli miei… Ah, la paterna mano – Domingo
Verdi wrote a beautiful duet for the two lovers in “Simon Boccanegra”. Gabriele begins in the style of a serenade from il Trovatore, accompanied only by a harp. In the middle section of the duet, Amelia introduces a romantic melody (“Ripara i tuoi pensieri”, in the music example below at 3:30), which Gabriele gratefully repeats. Verdi then brings the voices together and lets the music fade away beautifully. The duet ends with a caballetta.
We hear this scene in a recording with Placido Domingo and Katia Ricciarelli. Interestingly, Domingo sang the role of Gabriele late in his career, for the first time in 1995. It is amazing because the role is not very difficult (which is of course a relative term!) and for a tenor it is a B-role, so it is a classic beginner’s part a not a debut Role for a world leading tenor.
Cielo di stelle orbato … vieni a mirar la cerula – Domingo / Ricciarelli
This duo from “La forza del destino” is one of Verdi’s most beautiful duets for baritone and tenor. It is the almost tender scene of two men, who will shortly afterwards try to kill each other. This part is also very reservedly orchestrated, making the long lines of the singing voices intensively audible.
We hear this scene in a production from the Met. Domingo’s warm, expressive voice comes out wonderfully in this scene. The opulence of his voice is able to overwhelm the listener. There is a nice anecdote about this scene:
«Marta’s first positive feelings towards Domingo had been stirred when sehe heard him singing the famous tenor/baritone Duet Solenne in quest’ora. Until then she had considered him somewhat lightweight and superficial. But this duet convinced her that there was something unusual, something special about this young man. Anyone listening to Domingo singing this duet on record or video – the icomparable way in which he bites, hursl and charges the words with feeling – will know exactly what she means (Matheopoulous, «Domingo, my operatic roles»)
Solenne in quest’ora giurarmi dovete – Domingo / Chernov
Samson (“Samson et Dalila”) convinces his people with a grand gesture. The enthusiastic crowd responds in a beautiful choral piece, which is led in two voices and is accompanied by a multi-layered orchestral accompaniment. We listen in the role of Samson Placido Domingo. He is perhaps the greatest Samson in recording history. The role was tailored to his voice, it is composed in the middle register and requires great endurance. His rich and opulent voice and his endurance let the power and beauty of Samson blossom.
L’as-tu donc oublié … Malheureux, taisez-vous!
In the so-called “drinking song” Hermann addresses the guests. He only brings about stereotypical wisdom without a deeper connection, his decay is complete.
Chto nahsa zhizn / What is our life? / Was ist unser Leben?
Walther’s prize song from “Die Meistersinger from Nürnberg” consists of three verses that are continuously increased in tempo, volume and intensity. It is an urgent and romantic heroic tenor aria, which must be sung in the most beautiful legato and which receives its beauty not least through the magnificent accompaniment.
We hear in this effective piece Placido Domingo. The Spanish-speaking tenor was not the ideal Walther from an idiomatic point of view, but no tenor could match the beauty and splendor of his interpretation of the prize song.
Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein
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