Giovanni Martinelli sings Nessun dorma at age 65

Giovanni Martinelli (1885-1969) was a mainstay at New York’s Metropolitan Opera for over thirty seasons. During his tenure there, he became legendary not only for his splendid performances but for his numerous recordings, as well. By the time of his departure from the Met in the mid 1940s, collectors complained that Martinelli’s records were impossible to find. In fact, by the time Martinelli retired from the stage in 1950, his recordings had been absent from catalogues for over a decade. By popular demand, Martinelli stepped back into the recording studio to cut his very first LP in 1950. This album, a collection of operatic arias, was sold via a record collectors’ club and was limited to a few hundred pressings. One of the highlights of the LP is Martinelli’s rendition of “Nessun dorma“ from Turandot. Accompanied by Giuseppe Bambochek on piano, the great tenor shows that he was still in remarkable vocal shape at the age of sixty five.