Giovanni Zenatello,s promise in the singing world was recognised at a very early age, originally his teacher trained him as a baritone. He never felt comfortable in this range so he retrained as a tenor, His tenor debut was in Naples as Canio in Leoncavallo,s "I Pagliacci" He really came to the fore when he played "pinkerton" in the world premiere of "Madame Butterfly" at La Scala in Milan. As a Dramatic Tenor he succeeded Francesco Tamangno as the worlds greatest exponent of "Othello". and with the New York Metropolitan Opera company, on tour, replacing Enrico Caruso, in 1909.
Lets listen to him then, because of his big dramatic voice and formerly being a Baritone, the recording techniques of the day do not flatter him. I believe if its the right wording to use, his voice was so powerful it "overmodulated" and sounded funny on recordings. One scathing comment i have read says he sounds like a goat, which i think is very unjust, i would dearly have loved to listen to him Live.
I hope you can see past the "problem" and really enjoy this remarkable voice.
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