Although not regarded as a great operatic actor, Cornell MacNeil possessed one of the most sumptuous baritone voices of the twentieth century's second half. A mainstay at the Metropolitan Opera, his rounded, heavyweight instrument coursed magnificently through such roles as Tonio, Amonasro, Rigoletto, Germont, Nabucco, and Scarpia, making vocal points impossible to ignore. MacNeil's occasional tendency toward unsteadiness was mitigated by theRead more sheer splendor of his sound. MacNeil was one of the last of the true dramatic Verdi baritones, and the end of his career left a void that is still unfilled.
After study with Wagnerian bass-baritone Friedrich Schorr at the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT, MacNeil sang in Broadway musicals before he created the role of John Sorel in Menotti's The Consul in Philadelphia on March 1, 1950. He made his debut with the New York City Opera in 1953, singing Germont in a March 21 matinee performance of La traviata with Frances Yeend as Violetta. He remained with the company until the fall season in 1956, singing among other roles Escamillo, Rigoletto, Valentin, and Stephano in the American premiere of Martin's The Tempest (Der Sturm). In 1955, MacNeil made his debut in San Francisco as Escamillo, his acting tepid, but his voice having "the ring of great promise."
A 1957 production of Manon Lescaut with Tebaldi and Björling introduced him to Chicago audiences on October 21. He followed that with a powerfully sung Alfio two nights later and returned for the 1958 season as Ford and Sharpless, also singing the Prologue in Pagliacci before yielding to Tito Gobbi as Tonio. In 1965, MacNeil offered his Rigoletto in a production regarded as otherwise lackluster.
Debuts at both La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera occupied the baritone in 1959. In Milan, he appeared as Carlo in Ernani, while at his March 21 Met debut the role was Rigoletto, the first of nearly 500 performances ranging over 26 roles. MacNeil's large, rolling voice found a congenial home at the old Met and, later, in the even larger new theater. In addition to the great Verdi roles for which he was so well-suited, he mastered such verismo roles as Michele in Il Tabarro and the chilling Gianciotto in Francesca di Rimini, the latter in a production televised to a large national and world-wide audience. In the latter part of his career, his interpretations showed increased dramatic specificity and vitality; some indeed were strongly compelling.
In addition to his performing career, MacNeil took time to serve as president of the American Guild of Musical Artists beginning in 1969.
In bass Jerome Hines' book, Great Singers on Great Singing (1982), MacNeil is outspoken about a variety of issues facing both fledgling singers and established artists. Given his long career (he was still singing leading roles in his mid-sixties), his words merit attention. MacNeil is particularly critical of the term "color," insisting rather that singers think about intent. "Breath control," too, is a term he disparages, preferring to believe that good singing results from balance of physical elements. On the issue of support, he considers that the diaphragm is "enormously overrated" as the basic means. Rather, he states that the floating ribs of the singer's back provide the cushion on which breath is made available -- and that most singers take in more breath than is necessary. Read less
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001806202
Release Date: 03/05/2013
Number of Discs: 75
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Maria Guleghina,
Samuel Ramey,
Violeta Urmana,
Sara Fulgoni
...
Conductor:
Sir Neville Marriner,
Lamberto Gardelli,
James Levine,
Richard Bonynge
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,
London Voices,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001746202
Release Date: 10/16/2012
Number of Discs: 16
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Jon Vickers,
Robert Merrill,
Rita Gorr,
Leontyne Price
...
Conductor:
Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Rome Opera House Orchestra,
Rome Opera House Chorus,
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Chorus
...
Recommendation
Label: Sony
Catalog: 190996
Release Date: 01/17/2012
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Ronald Reitan,
Cornell MacNeil,
Leontyne Price,
Carlo Bergonzi
...
Conductor:
Thomas Schippers
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Chorus,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Orfeo D'or
Catalog: 816112
Release Date: 11/22/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Cornell MacNeil,
Nicolai Gedda,
Emmy Loose,
Ileana Cotrubas
...
Conductor:
Josef Krips
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna State Opera Chorus,
Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Label: Sony
Catalog: 791012
Release Date: 08/16/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Cornell MacNeil,
Jon Vickers,
Renata Scotto
Conductor:
James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Myto Records
Catalog: 266
Release Date: 06/28/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Agostino Ferrin,
Giulietta Simionato,
Nicolai Ghiaurov,
Cornell MacNeil
...
Conductor:
Nino Sanzogno
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Milan Teatro alla Scala Orchestra,
Milan Teatro alla Scala Chorus
Label: Decca
Catalog: 1135701355
Release Date: 12/07/2010
Number of Discs: 21
Composer:
Alban Berg,
John Corigliano,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Giacomo Puccini
...
Performer:
Franz Mazura,
Julia Migenes,
Evelyn Lear,
Kenneth Riegel
...
Conductor:
James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Recommendation
Label: Musical Concepts
Catalog: 2009
Release Date: 02/09/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Piero de Palma,
Arnold Van Mill,
Cornell MacNeil,
Carlo Bergonzi
...
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Vienna Friends of Music Society Chorus
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 28949
Release Date: 03/10/2009
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Jacques Offenbach,
Georges Bizet,
Giuseppe Verdi
...
Performer:
John Shirley-Quirk,
Luciana Serra,
Neil Shicoff,
Alain Vanzo
...
Conductor:
Sir David Willcocks,
Sylvain Cambreling,
Georges Prêtre,
Herbert von Karajan
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Chamber Orchestra,
Brussels Théâtre de la Monnaie Orchestra,
Paris Opera Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Myto Records
Catalog: 4
Release Date: 09/30/2008
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Gianni Raimondi,
Cornell MacNeil,
Leyla Gencer,
Jorge Algorta
Conductor:
Argeo Quadri
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Buenos Aires Teatro Colón Orchestra,
Buenos Aires Teatro Colón Chorus
Label: London/Decca Grand Opera Series
Catalog: 425655
Release Date: 05/13/2008
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Tom Krause,
Cornell MacNeil,
Birgit Nilsson,
Carlo Bergonzi
...
Conductor:
Sir Georg Solti
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Chorus,
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Orchestra
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 09980
Release Date: 11/06/2007
Number of Discs: 50
Composer:
Richard Wagner,
Giuseppe Verdi,
Richard Strauss,
Camille Saint-Saëns
...
Performer:
Walter Berry,
Helga Dernesch,
Jon Vickers,
Karl Ridderbusch
...
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan,
Bernard Haitink,
Reginald Goodall,
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Berlin Deutsche Oper Chorus,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
Bavarian Radio Chorus
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 93282
Release Date: 09/25/2007
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Ruggero Raimondi,
Franco Ricciardi,
Alfredo Giacomotti,
Mirella Fiorentini
...
Conductor:
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Rome Opera House Chorus,
Rome Opera House Orchestra
Label: London/Decca Grand Opera Series
Catalog: 000830402
Release Date: 05/08/2007
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Carlo Bergonzi,
Cornell MacNeil,
Giulietta Simionato,
Renata Tebaldi
...
Conductor:
Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Vienna Friends of Music Society
Recommendation
Label: Opera D'oro
Catalog: 1465
Release Date: 10/10/2006
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Martha Carrizo,
Stella Silva,
Victor De Narké,
Carmen De La Mata
...
Conductor:
Fernando Previtali
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Buenos Aires Teatro Colón Chorus,
Buenos Aires Teatro Colón Orchestra
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 000710109
Release Date: 09/12/2006
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini
Performer:
Cornell MacNeil,
Placido Domingo,
Hildegard Behrens,
James Courtney
...
Conductor:
Giuseppe Sinopoli
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Label: Decca
Catalog: 000316902
Release Date: 10/12/2004
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini,
Umberto Giordano,
Francesco Cilèa,
Arrigo Boito
Performer:
Carlo Bergonzi,
Renata Tebaldi,
Cornell MacNeil
Conductor:
Tullio Serafin,
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli,
Franco Capuana,
Alberto Erede
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Orchestra,
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Chorus
Label: Decca
Catalog: 000300702
Release Date: 08/10/2004
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini
Performer:
Mario Del Monaco,
Renata Tebaldi,
Rolando Panerai,
Elizabeth Harwood
...
Conductor:
Franco Capuana,
Herbert von Karajan,
Zubin Mehta,
Riccardo Chailly
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,
London Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 000269609
Release Date: 08/10/2004
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Ileana Cotrubas,
Placido Domingo,
Cornell MacNeil,
Isola Jones
...
Conductor:
James Levine
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Metropolitan Opera Chorus,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Label: Decca
Catalog: 473045
Release Date: 03/11/2003
Number of Discs: 12
Composer:
Giacomo Puccini
Performer:
Ezio Giordano,
Mario Del Monaco,
Gaetano Fanelli,
Renata Tebaldi
...
Conductor:
Alberto Erede,
Franco Capuana,
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Chorus,
Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Orchestra