"who is the greatest operatic tenor of all time? The greatest mezzo?"

Once asked about great singers, Gerladine Farrar responded "First, you have to set aside Caruso and Ponselle, then you can discuss singers." True, Caruso was a great voice that left recordings that we can enjoy and I consider him the greatest. Bjoerling was great but some don't like what they consider a "coldness" in his voice. When he started Pavarotti, with his warmth and vocal security, came even closer to Caruso but all too soon he stared singing heavier roles that his voice should never have tried (Radames, Manrico, Calaf) that soon took the high notes and added a harshness as well as his sloppy habit of ending every phrase with "uh" whether it belonged there or not, givin phrases like "il ciel" from DON CARLO a Chico Marx sound of "il-uh ciel-uh". But Pavarotti wasn't the only one. Richard Tucker, especially in the first half of his career, also had a strong, rich voice that compared well with Caruso's. Caruso was also not a snob or prima donna. There's a story from the Met's touring days when the great John McCormack met Caruso on a street one morning in Boston asking "How's the world's greatest tenor this morning?" to which Cariso replied "Since when did you become a baritone?" But the one that was acclaimed as his Crown Prince after his death was Giovanni Martinelli, a great tenor in anybody's book. Then there's Ivan Kozlovsky and his incredible range and breath control but enough for now.

The greatest Carmen? Certainly not Graves, she's one of the worst with her poor technique and production. One of the most interesting was Rosa Ponselle's. Her Met broadcasts show a creation not entirely Bizet's. Marilyn Horne was excellent, especially when Bernstein conducted. I'd have to say it's between Stevens and Simionato.