This title presents the evolution of tenor singing from the 1820s until today. Across the years more forceful, less subtle singing styles won out over sweeter and more nuanced interpretations. In the mid-twentieth century superstar tenors Mario Del Monaco and Franco Corelli came forward with a new technique that involved singing with the larynx lowered. They competed fiercely with each other but had a common objective: to sound more virile. They became the models for many others and ultimately changed the world's expectations of what tenors should sound like in Verdi and Puccini. Together they relegated sweet tenor singing to history's junk heap. Corelli became opera's greatest sex symbol. He was consumed with sexual desire but believed that to sing well he had to suppress it. Over the years he engaged in a series of affairs, despite his eagle-eyed wife. The book includes extensive interviews with Corelli about singers and singing - as well as interviews with some of his women. Featured are more than one hundred photos, some published here for the first time, some full of personality. Because of both its analyses and its revelations, the book will be of interest to opera lovers everywhere.

Author Biography

STEFAN ZUCKER is a writer, star of nine films, radio talk-show host, tenor (the world's highest, according to the Guinness Book of World Records) - and former substitute lover for Franco Corelli.