Otello discography

This is a discography of Giuseppe Verdi's penultimate opera, Otello. It was first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.

Otello has been recorded complete on disc and film a number of times since World War II, but most music-guide reviewers contend that a recording made of a 1947 NBC radio broadcast of the opera conducted by Arturo Toscanini and featuring singers Herva Nelli, Ramón Vinay and Giuseppe Valdengo, is musically the best of these versions.^[1] RCA Victor has issued the Toscanini recording several times on commercial LPs and on CD in digitally remastered form. In addition, performances of Otello were captured live as early as the 1920s (at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London) and the 1930s (at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, the latter via the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts). They, too, are available on CD reissues. A wide variety of stage performances dating from the 1950s to the present day are also to be had on CD or on DVD.

Audio and video recordings

Year	Otello Desdemona Iago Cassio Emilia	Conductor Orchestra and chorus	Label^[2]
1931–1932	Nicola Fusati Maria Carbone Apollo Granforte Piero Girardi Tamara Beltacchi	Carlo Sabajno La Scala Orchestra and Chorus	CD: Preiser Records Cat: 20012
1938	Giovanni Martinelli Elisabeth Rethberg Lawrence Tibbett Nicholas Massue Thelma Votipka	Ettore Panizza Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	CD: Naxos Historical Cat: 8.111018-19
1941	Giovanni Martinelli Stella Roman Lawrence Tibbett Alessio de Paolis Thelma Votipka	Ettore Panizza Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	CD: Arkadia Cat: 50003
1944	Torsten Ralf Hilde Konetzni Paul Schöffler Josef Witt Elena Nikolaidi	Karl Böhm Wiener Staatsoper orchestra and chorus Performed in German	CD: Myto Cat: MCD 922.60
1946	Torsten Ralf Stella Roman Leonard Warren Alessio de Paolis Martha Lipton	George Szell Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	CD: Walhall Cat: WLCD 0107
1947	Ramón Vinay Herva Nelli Giuseppe Valdengo Virginio Assandri Nan Merriman	Arturo Toscanini NBC Symphony Orchestra and chorus	CD: RCA Victor Cat: 60302
1948	Giovanni Martinelli June Haas-Kelly Cesare Bardelli John Carmen Rossi Mildred Ippolito	Giuseppe Bamboschek Orchestra and chorus of La Scala Opera	CD: Grammofono Cat: 2000 AB 78.935/36
1948	Ramón Vinay Licia Albanese Leonard Warren John Garris Martha Lipton	Fritz Busch Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	CD: Preiser Cat: 90377
1950	Mario Del Monaco Delia Rigal Carlos Guichandut Eugenio Valori Emma Brizzi	Antonino Votto Teatro Colon orchestra and chorus	CD: Myto Cat: 004 H051
1951	Ramón Vinay Carla Martinis Paul Schöffler Anton Dermota Sieglinde Wagner	Wilhelm Furtwängler Vienna Philharmonic and Wiener Staatsoper chorus	CD: EMI Cat: CMS 5 65751-2
1951	Gino Sarri Anna La Polla Antonio Manca Serra Athos Cesarini Ada Landi	Alberto Paoletti Teatro dell'Opera di Roma	CD: Preiser Records Cat: 20031
1953-54	Set Svanholm Aase Nordmo-Lovberg Sigurd Björling Arne Ohlson Bette Björling	Sixten Ehrling Kungliga Hovkapellet and chorus Performed in Swedish	CD: Preiser Cat: 90754
1954	Mario Del Monaco Renata Tebaldi Leonard Warren Giuseppe Zampieri Anna Maria Canali	Antonino Votto La Scala	CD: Melodram Cat: CDM 270101
1954	Mario Del Monaco Renata Tebaldi Aldo Protti Piero de Palma Luisa Ribacchi	Alberto Erede Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia orchestra and chorus	CD: Decca Cat: 440 245-2
1955	Ramón Vinay Gré Brouwenstijn Otakar Kraus John Lanigan Noreen Berry	Rafael Kubelik Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra	CD: Royal Opera House Heritage Cat: ROHS 001
1958	Mario Del Monaco Victoria de los Angeles Leonard Warren Paul Franke Rosalind Elias	Fausto Cleva Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	CD: Pristine Cat: Paco154
1958	Ramón Vinay Antonietta Stella Giuseppe Taddei Italo Pasini Zaira Negroni	Thomas Beecham Teatro Colón	CD: IDIS Cat: 6547/48
1959	Mario Del Monaco Gabriella Tucci Tito Gobbi Mariano Caruso Anna Di Stasio	Alberto Erede NHK Symphony Orchestra and Chorus	CD: Opera d'Oro, OPD-1160.
1960	Mario Del Monaco Floriana Cavalli Tito Gobbi Agostino Lazzari Dora Minarchi	Franco Capuana Teatro dell'Opera di Roma	CD: Myto Cat: 00267
1960	Jon Vickers Leonie Rysanek Tito Gobbi Florindo Andreolli Miriam Pirazzini	Tullio Serafin Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus	CD: RCA Red Seal Cat: 8875196362
1961	Mario Del Monaco Renata Tebaldi Aldo Protti Nello Romanato Ana Raquel Satre	Herbert von Karajan Wiener Philharmoniker and Wiener Staatsopernchor	CD: Decca Cat: 028941161826
1967	James McCracken Montserrat Caballé Tito Gobbi Ermanno Lorenzi Shirley Love	Zubin Mehta Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	CD: Living Stage Cat: LS 4035175
1968	James McCracken Gwyneth Jones Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Piero de Palma Anna Di Stasio	John Barbirolli Philharmonia Orchestra and Ambrosian Chorus	CD: EMI Cat: 65296
1973	Jon Vickers Mirella Freni Peter Glossop Aldo Bottion Stefania Malagù	Herbert von Karajan Berliner Philharmoniker and Chor der Deutsche Oper Berlin	CD: EMI Cat: CMS 769 3082
1976	Plácido Domingo Mirella Freni Piero Cappuccilli Giuliano Ciannella Jone Jori	Carlos Kleiber La Scala Orchestra and Chorus	CD: Opera d'Oro Cat: OPD 7005
1977	Carlo Cossutta Julia Varady Piero Cappuccilli Benito Maresca Gudrun Wewezow	Carlos Kleiber Bayerische Staatsoper	CD: Golden Melodram Cat: GM 5.0061
1977	Carlo Cossutta Margaret Price Gabriel Bacquier Peter Dvorsky Jane Berbié	Georg Solti Wiener Philharmoniker Wiener Staatsoperchor and Wiener Sängerknaben	CD: Decca Cat: 440-045-2
1978	Plácido Domingo Renata Scotto Sherrill Milnes Paul Crook Jean Kraft	James Levine National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus	CD: RCA Red Seal Cat: 8883729722
1978	Jon Vickers Renata Scotto Cornell MacNeil Frank Little Jean Kraft	James Levine The Metropolitan Opera	DVD: Met Opera Cat: 811357012185
1982	Vladimir Atlantov Kiri Te Kanawa Piero Cappuccilli Antonio Bevacqua Flora Rafanelli	Zoltán Peskó Verona Arena	DVD: Warner Music Vision Cat: 4509 99214 2
1983	Charles Craig Rosalind Plowright Neil Howlett Bonaventura Bottone Shelagh Squires	Mark Elder English National Opera Performed in English	CD: Chandos Cat: CHAN 3068
1986	Plácido Domingo Katia Ricciarelli Justino Díaz Ezio di Cesare Petra Malakova	Lorin Maazel La Scala orchestra and chorus (Othello, film directed by Franco Zeffirelli.^[3])	DVD: MGM Cat: 0 27616 88420 6
1987	Plácido Domingo Anna Tomowa-Sintow Renato Bruson Kaludi Kaludov Margarita Lilowa	Zubin Mehta Choir and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera	CD: Orfeo Cat: C698072I
1991	Giuseppe Giacomini Margaret Price Matteo Manuguerra Dino Di Domenico Martine Mahé	Alain Lombard Orchestra National Bourdeaux Aquitaine	CD: Forlane Cat: 216 774
1991	Luciano Pavarotti Kiri Te Kanawa Leo Nucci Anthony Rolfe-Johnson Elzbieta Ardam	Georg Solti Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus	CD: Decca (London) Cat: 433 669-2
1992	Plácido Domingo Kiri Te Kanawa Sergei Leiferkus Robin Leggate Claire Powell	Georg Solti Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Chorus and Orchestra	DVD: Kultur Video Cat: 0 32031 14929 8
1994	Plácido Domingo Cheryl Studer Sergei Leiferkus Ramón Vargas Denyce Graves	Myung-whun Chung Opéra Bastille, Paris	CD: Deutsche Grammophon Cat: 439 805-2
1995	Plácido Domingo Renée Fleming James Morris Richard Croft Jane Bunnell	James Levine Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus	DVD: Deutsche Grammophon Cat: 00440 073 0929
1996	Nicola Martinucci Miriam Gauci Eduard Tumagian Mauricio Septien Mabel Perelstein	Alexander Rahbari Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia	CD: Koch Cat: DICD 929 435-6
2001	Christian Franz Emily Magee Valery Alexeev Stephan Rügamer Katharina Kammerloher	Daniel Barenboim Berliner Staatsoper	DVD: ArtHaus Musik Cat: 100 347
2001	Plácido Domingo Barbara Frittoli Leo Nucci Cesare Catani Rossana Rinaldi	Riccardo Muti La Scala orchestra and chorus	DVD: TDK Cat: 8 2412100019 6
2006	José Cura Krassimira Stoyanova Lado Atanelli Vittorio Grigolo Ketevan Kemoklidze	Antoni Ros Marbà Orchestra and Chorus of Gran Teatro del Liceo	DVD: Opus Arte Cat: OA 0963D
2008	Aleksandrs Antonenko Marina Poplavskaya Carlos Álvarez Stephen Costello Barbara di Castri	Riccardo Muti Vienna Philharmonic Salzburg Festival	Blu-ray: Naxos Cat: 701504
2010	Simon O'Neill Anne Schwanewilms Gerald Finley Allan Clayton Eufemia Tufano	Colin Davis London Symphony Orchestra and chorus	CD: LSO Live Cat: 0700
2013	Aleksandrs Antoņenko Krassimira Stoyanova Carlo Guelfi Juan Francisco Gatell Barbara di Castri	Riccardo Muti Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus	CD: CSO Resound Cat: CSOR 901 1301
2014	Robert Dean Smith Raffaella Angeletti Sebastian Catana Luis Dámasco Marifé Nogales	Friedrich Haider Oviedo Filarmonía	CD: Naxos Cat: 866035758
2015	Aleksandrs Antoņenko Sonya Yoncheva Željko Lučić	Yannick Nézet-Séguin Metropolitan Opera (Recorded live 17 October)^[4]	Streaming video in HD: Met Opera on Demand^[5]
2017	Nikolai Schukoff Melody Moore Lester Lynch Jun Ho You Helena Zubanovich	Lawrence Foster Gulbenkian Orchestra and choir	CD: Pentatone Cat: PTC 5186562
2018	Jonas Kaufmann, Maria Agresta Marco Vratogna	Antonio Pappano Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House Royal Opera House	Blu-ray: Sony Cat: 88985491969
2020	Jonas Kaufmann, Federica Lombardi Carlos Álvarez Liparit Avetisyan Virginie Verrez	Antonio Pappano Chorus and Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia	CD: Sony Cat:19439707932

Extracts

Individual arias, duets and scenes from Otello have been committed to disc by many celebrated tenors, baritones and sopranos since acceptable audio technology was first developed in the early 20th century. The best of these recorded extracts have been reissued on CD and make for fascinating comparative listening. Recordings made in the early 1900s by the creators of the roles of Otello and Iago, namely Francesco Tamagno and Victor Maurel, are among those now available in digital formats.

References

^ Unk: "I still rank the Toscanini Otello with the famous Scala Tosca recording under De Sabata, as one of the finest opera recordings ever made — not of course comparable technically with the modern stereophonic achievements — but possessing a ..." in Opera (London), Vol. 20, 1969. p. 1080
^ Recordings on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
^ In the film, some of the music was omitted, but the soundtrack album of the film, released on EMI, features the complete opera.
^ CID: 356065, Met Opera Archive.
^ Otello (2015) at Met Opera on Demand.

External links

Detailed Otello discography – operadis-opera-discography.org.uk

[1] Unk: "I still rank the Toscanini Otello with the famous Scala Tosca recording under De Sabata, as one of the finest opera recordings ever made — not of course comparable technically with the modern stereophonic achievements — but possessing a ..." in Opera (London), Vol. 20, 1969. p. 1080

[2] Recordings on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk

[3] In the film, some of the music was omitted, but the soundtrack album of the film, released on EMI, features the complete opera.

[4] CID: 356065, Met Opera Archive.

[5] Otello (2015) at Met Opera on Demand.

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v t e Giuseppe Verdi
List of compositions
Operas	Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio (1839) Un giorno di regno (1840) Nabucco (1842) I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843) Ernani (1844) I due Foscari (1844) Giovanna d'Arco (1845) Alzira (1845) Attila (1846) Macbeth (1847/65) I masnadieri (1847) Jérusalem (1847) Il corsaro (1848) La battaglia di Legnano (1849) Luisa Miller (1849) Stiffelio (1850) Rigoletto (1851) Il trovatore (1853) La traviata (1853) Les vêpres siciliennes (June 1855) I vespri siciliani (December 1855) Simon Boccanegra (1857/81) Aroldo (1857) Un ballo in maschera (1859) La forza del destino (1862/69) Don Carlos (1867/84) Aida (1871) Otello (1887) Falstaff (1893)
Opera excerpts	"Anvil Chorus" "Bella figlia dell'amore" "Celeste Aida" "Di quella pira" "La donna è mobile" "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" "Un dì, felice, eterea" "Va, pensiero"
Opera discographies	Aida Don Carlos Falstaff La forza del destino Macbeth Otello Rigoletto Il trovatore La traviata Un ballo in maschera
Other compositions	Suona la tromba (1848) Inno delle nazioni (1862) String Quartet in E minor (1873) Messa da Requiem (1874) Quattro pezzi sacri (1889–1897)
Recognitions	Memorials to Giuseppe Verdi Theatres named after Verdi (Brindisi - Busseto - Florence - Trieste) Milan Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi Monument Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi Verdi (crater) Verdi Inlet Verdi Range 3975 Verdi Verdi, California Verdi, Kansas Verdi, Nevada
Cultural depictions	Portrait of Giuseppe Verdi (1886) Giuseppe Verdi (1938 film) Verdi, the King of Melody (1953 film) The Life of Verdi (1982 miniseries) After Aida (1985 play) Risorgimento! (2011 opera)
Film adaptations	Otello (1906) Aida (1953) La Traviata (1983) Otello (1986) Macbeth (1987) Aida (1987) Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto Story (2005)
Related articles	Casa di Riposo per Musicisti Verdi Transcriptions (Finnissy) Villa Verdi
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