Two distinguished members of the Chicago Opera Company -- Al Capone's favorite group -- sing the part of IL TROVATORE where she decides to kill herself rather than marry him. If you think what goes on in soap operas is insane, you need to avoid Grand Opera.
The staging of this is fairly involved for the early Vitaphone demos. There are a couple of cuts to change for long shots to medium two shots.
Those of you who know something of music may think the orchestra is playing a bit low. Since pitch began to be standardized in the 18th century, there has been a slow but constant movement to raise the brightness of the orchestra. In the early 18th century, A was pitched at 405-425 hertz; nowadays the standard is in the 440-450 range. It sounds as if this company is using the appropriate "Verdi Tuning" of about 432.
The staging of this is fairly involved for the early Vitaphone demos. There are a couple of cuts to change for long shots to medium two shots.
Those of you who know something of music may think the orchestra is playing a bit low. Since pitch began to be standardized in the 18th century, there has been a slow but constant movement to raise the brightness of the orchestra. In the early 18th century, A was pitched at 405-425 hertz; nowadays the standard is in the 440-450 range. It sounds as if this company is using the appropriate "Verdi Tuning" of about 432.
