[TexasRepublic]

“I think what will surprise a lot of modern opera listeners will be the size of the voices. We have grown so accustomed to every role being sung by powerhouse voices - I think we will hear a much different type of voice at the turn of the last century.”

I speak as a collector of antique records over the past 40 years. The opera singers were little different 100 years ago than they are today. There were plenty of powerhouse singers then, besides Caruso. They needed power to project their voices from a stage without amplification. All recordings prior to 1925 were acoustic, depending on the singer’s voice alone to vibrate the recording needle - for that reason many of the early singers hired were those whose voices best favored the primitive recording technology of the time.

[keepitreal]

I would argue that it is the ability to cut rather than the size of the voice that differentiates modern operatic singers from those of the early 20th century. Modern singers belt it out more, while the old school singers followed the Garcia method, allowing voices of smaller “size” to carry in a large theater.

Of course, arguing opera can be far more heated than arguing politics ;-)

I, too, have been collecting vintage recordings for quite a long time.

Have a great day!