Cornell MacNeil

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Cornell MacNeil (born 24 September 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American operatic baritone known for his voice and his phenomenal career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in 26 roles. Among his teachers were Friedrich Schorr and Dick Marzollo. He debuted with various companies in the United States from 1953 (including the New York City Opera) and at La Scala and the Metropolitan in 1959. In 1969 he became president of the American Guild of Musical Artists.

MacNeil was known for his enormous sound and volcanic top notes. Although he experienced a long vocal decline through the late 1970's he maintained a high level of dramatic ability through his long career. Two of his most notable roles were the title role in Rigoletto, and Iago in Otello.

During his best years, the American baritone exhibited a measured singing line, being easily able to sustain the long legato passages of the Verdi arias, diminishing and reinforcing the sounds with an authentic mezzavoce and tenor like high notes (up to a high b' flat in the finale of Gusman's cabaletta in Alzira in Rome in 1967).

It should be added that, right from the start, MacNeil's voice tended to wobble over the passaggio: this mattered less in a young fresh voice, but it proved fatal when he was older. If this problem had been resolved in time, he would not have had to rely solely on his acting skills; he would have been able to continue launching high notes and modulating his voice as he pleased.

MacNeil was a regular at the Metropolitan Opera. His debut was on March 21, 1959 was Rigoletto. Rigoletto was also the role he sang the most at the Met, 104 times, including the Met's first telecast of that opera in 1977. MacNeil was able to perform this role on tour with the Met when that company's tour stopped in Minneapolis in 1961, 1969 and 1978.

The other role MacNeil was famous for was Baron Scarpia in Tosca a role he sang 92 times at the Met between November 2, 1959 and his last performance with the Met on December 5, 1987. MacNeil was given the honor of being one of the very few artists to appear in the same role on different Met telecasts. He sang with Luciano Pavarotti and Shirley Verrett on the telecast of December 19, 1978. On the March 27, 1985 telecast, he again was Scarpia, this time performing with Placido Domingo and Hildegard Behrens. The 1985 telecast is available on DVD. MacNeil's final Scarpia was heard nationwide on the Texaco Metropolitan Opera Radio Network. [source - Metropolitan Opera Annals and Metropolitan Opera Guild website]

Contents

[edit] Abridged Discography

  • Menotti: The Consul (Neway, Powers; Engel, 1950) Decca
  • Verdi: La traviata: excerpts (Kirsten, Hayward; Cellini, 1958) [live] VAI
  • Puccini: La fanciulla del West (Tebaldi, del Monaco, Tozzi; Capuana, 1958) Decca
  • Verdi: Aïda (Tebaldi, Simionato, Bergonzi; Karajan, 1959) Decca
  • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Tucci, del Monaco; Molinari-Pradelli, 1959) Decca
  • Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (Simionato, del Monaco; Serafin, 1960) Decca
  • Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Nilsson, Simionato, Bergonzi; Solti, 1960-1) Decca
  • Verdi: Rigoletto (Sutherland, Cioni, Siepi; Sanzogno, 1961) Decca
  • Verdi: Luisa Miller (Moffo, Verrett, Bergonzi, Tozzi, Flagello; Cleva, 1965) RCA
  • Verdi: Rigoletto (Grist, Gedda; Molinari-Pradelli, 1967) EMI
  • Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Carlyle, Vickers; Bartoletti, 1968) [live] VAI
  • Verdi: La traviata (Stratas, Domingo; Levine, 1982) Elektra

[edit] Abridged Videography

  • Verdi: Rigoletto (Cotrubas, Domingo, Díaz; Levine, Dexter, 1977) [live]
  • Verdi: Otello (Vickers, Scotto; Levine, Zeffirelli, 1978) [live]
  • Verdi: La Traviata (Stratas, Domingo; Levine, Zeffirelli, 1982)
  • Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (Scotto, Rom, Domingo; Levine, Faggioni, 1984) [live]
  • Puccini: Tosca (Behrens, Domingo; Sinopoli, Zeffirelli, 1985) [live]

[edit] References


[edit] External links

  • [1] Cornell MacNeil in an excerpt from Tosca, with Anthony Laciura, 1985.
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