During the 1950s, Di Stefano was probably my favorite active lyric tenor, while during the 1970s and 80s it was Carreras.   There are strong similarities, in that both have gorgeous, angelic voices.   But there are differences as well - Di Stefano had a better top, but Carreras had an even more beautiful and expressive voice, a longer career, did not ruin his voice as quickly, had a much more interesting repertory, and sang with sopranos I like much better.   Thus many of the Di Stefano recordings are like roses--they have thorns - in their case Maria Callas, and the most interesting work that he recorded (the first ever "complete" Puritani), is badly cut, especially, as luck would have it, in the tenor's role.

When you look at the repertoire recorded by Carreras, you will see exactly what I mean: Some wonderful early Verdi (the definitive versions of just about all the operas he recorded), two Juives, a Giuramento (pirate only), a Sly (again, pirate only), an Elisabetta, and much more.   Regretfully, I don't care for his Rossini Otello, since he both lacks the required virtuoso ability and the baritenor sound.   There also are any number of unusual arias, including some from Fosca, Figliuol Prodigo, Maria di Rohan, Adelson e Salvini and Zingari.   Finally, his recordings of many standard operas are among my favorites.   So I find myself playing Carreras all the time - and Di Stefano hardly ever.

I have often made negative remarks on the Internet about Domingo's poor high notes - so how can I forgive that fault in Carreras? The answer is easy.   I love his voice, and just don't care for Domingo's--a matter of taste.   I am also usually swept away by Carreras' tremendous dramatic involvement and passion.

As mentioned before, I consider Carreras to be a lyric tenor, perhaps the finest of the century.   But let me go into the various types of tenors briefly, although this is a subject on which there is much disagreement: I could think of six different classifications of tenors, with a fair amount of overlap.   I think that each example is subject to personal interpretation and discussion - hence the overlap into the next higher category.   I would include the following:

1. Tenorino
2. Lyric tenor
3. Lyric spinto
4. Spinto tenor
5. Dramatic tenor
6. Heldentenor

Many people might, however, combine 1 and 2 as well as 5. and 6.

The lightest would include singers like Rockwell Blake, Pietro Bottazzo, Cesare Valletti, William Matteuzzi, Ramon Vargas, and other light Rossini tenors-suitable for Almaviva, the prince in Cenerentola, Lindoro in Italiana, Rodrigo (in Otello), and the like.   Most such tenors tend to stay in this "fach" for their entire career.   Some are rather white voiced.

On the other hand virtuoso ability is a must.

Lyric tenors would have more vocal quality, and almost invariably a beautiful voice.   Among others, "historic" examples could include Giuseppe Anselmi, Tito Schipa. Dino Borgioli.   Recent examples, in addition to Di Stefano, and the young Carreras are Alfredo Kraus, and Frank Lopardo.   However, their voices are not large; not all are first class virtuosos; and not all have brilliant tops. As their voices mature, they often become lyrico spintos, even spintos.   From the evidence of his early records and repertory, Caruso probably started out life as a lyric tenor, as did Lauri-Volpi, and certainly Di Stefano and Carreras.    Alas, some of them tried to go into the spinto repertory too fast--and damaged their voices seriously.   Ideal roles might include Des Grieux (Massenet), Werther, Arturo, Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Nemorino, and the like.   I would include Alagna as a lyric tenor, but some might list him further down the line.

Lyrico spintos might include the older Pavarotti, the later Carreras, the Lauri-Volpi of the late 1920s and early 1930s.   Typical roles could again include the two Massenet operas, Boheme (although Rodolfo is also perfect for lyric tenors), even Tosca, Butterfly, Cavalleria. and the like.

Spintos get pretty powerful and are ideal for Don Alvaro, Loris (Fedora), perhaps Riccardo, although that could also be sung by a lyrico spinto, Fernando (Favorita), Edgardo and the like. Again many of these roles could be sung, and have been sung, by lighter and heavier tenors.    Typical recent examples, in my opinion, might include Doykov, Grigorian, Domingo, and Heppner.

Dramatic tenors are ideal for Le Prophete, Le Cid, Otello, Jean (Herodiade, Don Carlos, Manrico, Radames, Andrea Chenier.    Historically, my favorites have been Tamagno, Piccaluga, O'Sullivan, Escalais, Franz, Slezak, Gilion, Palet, Paoli.

Heroic or Wagnerian tenors are often Germans or Scandinavians (I wonder why?) and will specialize in the Wagnerian repertory.   Melchior is generally considered the greatest of them, although Karl Burrian and Jacques Urlus were pretty wonderful as well.   Although I sometimes wonder how wonderful a tenor can be in later Wagner.

There is no fine line between any two such categories, and, of course, a great deal of overlap.   Many spintos have sung Manrico--and it might even be argued that the ideal tenor for some roles is a spinto rather than a dramatic tenor.   In fact, that argument can probably made for any of the roles listed other than Otello.   It can also be argued that some of the tenors I listed as examples belong in the next higher or lower category.   And, when we remember that there are many tenors who started out as lyrics and eventually became spintos, we can see the validity of such arguments.    It is not unusual for a tenor to lose his brilliant top as he ages, while his voice darkens and he finds himself able to sing roles that were not suitable in his youth.

To get back to Carreras, he has added relatively few new roles to his repertory during the late 1980s and 90s.    Two that come to mind are Samson and Sly.    Although Eleazar, first sung by him in concert in 1981 should also be mentioned as a major addition to his repertory.    (See Tom Kaufman on Carreras' portrayals of Sly and of Eleazar in La Juive in reviews).

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