THIS is Callas’s greatest baritone partner. Ettore Bastianini sings Di Provenza [La traviata] - 1955

From a 1955 broadcast of Opera Cameos on the DuMont Television Network. ..................................... Yes, the singing is... extra. Trrill™ is about florid passages, improvisatory underpinnings, staccato’d intuitions, and virtuosities even at their most ridiculous. But it’s also about the biggest, boldest form of vocal emission, with aural examples of basically correct singing, correct impostazione—chiaroscuro, vowel clarity, firm and centered pitch, correct vibrato action, absence of throatiness or thickness, sounds free from constriction and from the acoustic noise that accompanies it—with occasional video examples that demonstrate what the body, face, mouth, jaw, and tongue look like when used with correct impostazione—the vocal emission of the one and only Italian school. Caveat: I’m biased in favor of #baritones and baritone literature, but if you want to learn about and listen to all the greatest singers in the old-school tradition, explore this spreadsheet (voice parts are separated by tabs):