The Three Tenors

Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavorotti

The Three Tenors is a name given to the Spanish singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and the Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti who sang in concert under this banner during the 1990s and early 2000s. The trio began their collaboration with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla, in Rome, Italy, on July 7, 1990 – the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup final. Zubin Mehta conducted the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Purists' view

The Three Tenors phenomenon was applauded by some^[who?] for introducing opera to a wider public, but some opera purists scorned it due to the large amount of money they collected from concert tours and album recording (in excess of USD 1 million each)^[1][2] that the three singers received.^[3] Some critics believe that performing opera arias in sports stadiums such as Wembley, with heavy amplification, contributes little to the understanding and appreciation of opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk (whole art work) as Wagner conceived it. "I understand the complaints of purists," Domingo told an interviewer in 1998. "But I don't want the purists to go to the Three Tenors"^[4].

Legal issue

The success of the Three Tenors also led to antitrust action by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against Warner Bros. and Vivendi Universal. It found that they had conspired not to advertise or discount the albums of the Rome concert (released by PolyGram, later taken over by Vivendi) and of the Los Angeles concert (released by Warner Bros.) in order to protect sales of the jointly released album of the Paris concert.

In Popular Television

In the television series Seinfeld, season 7, episode 17, Elaine is excited because she has a chance to get an autograph from "the other guy," (José Carreras). She is trying to replace a poster she'd ruined which belonged to the "Maestro," a small-time conductor who appeared in previous episodes.

In an episode of the Animaniacs, the trio sang the Animaniacs' theme song on the stage.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, the main anatgonists of season three are named Jose, Luciano and Placido in honor of the tenors

Imitations

The success of the Three Tenors formula led to various imitations, such as the Irish Tenors, Tenor Australis, the Three Canadian Tenors, the Ten Tenors, Three Tenors and a Soprano, the Three Sopranos, The Sopranos, Three Mo' Tenors, Three Countertenors, the Three Chinese Tenors, and Yiddish and Canadian Anglican trios of religious singers both called the Three Cantors. In 2000, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton and Danny Aiello starred in the motion picture comedy OFF-KEY, loosely inspired by the Three Tenors. Stephin Merritt, Dudley Klute, and LD Beghtol have acted occasionally under the name The Three Terrors.

References

External links

• "A Requiem for Classical Music?" from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Regional Review - discusses the influence of the Three Tenors' success on the classical music market
• FTC press release on the "Tenors" antitrust action
• The Friends of José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation