Ah! si ben mio

Jesús Quiñones Ledesma sings "Ah si ben mio..." from the opera "Il Trovatore" by Giuseppe Verdi, in a live concert in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on 29 September 1988.
Pianist is Pedro Rojas.

Photo credit Palace of Aljafería: diisconf.cps.unizar.es

A Jesús Quiñones Ledesma and Renate Leeb Video Production.

© 2012 All Rights Reserved

Jesús Quiñones Ledesma - a student of Apollo Granforte

Mai Leeb - a student of Jesús Quiñones Ledesma


A note from Maestro on this aria:

Jesús Quiñones Ledesma
I really appreciate that my dear student Mai Leeb, on vacation back home to Vienna, likes the clip of Il Trovatore's aria, Ah! si ben mio coll'essere, and I have to thank her for having me in mind. This is an aria that I had performed so many times, while young, and old, that brings me a clear remembrance of the days past. One of the things I have in my memory were the words of my teacher, the ones he used to tell me, " this aria has to express a feeling, so, never run to facilitate the line, to stay on top of the breath, on the contrary, it's more beautiful if you maintain the line, as natural as it can be, with a little slower tempi , but not really boring, it has to move with some kind of a rubati, without affecting the air, to be able to narrate the caring loving words and then, exploit when Di quella pira needs the magnitude to create the phenomenal moment." Well, he enjoyed it with Pertile, and if you listen to his ideal way, "il Nane", (the way Granforte used to address him), the great Master Pertile, used to do it, there is nothing else to talk. That voice has been the best Manrico ever. The truth is that Granforte told me one night in Ankara, drinking from a home open wine bottle of Barbera, for great occasions, he said , ¨when you get to my age, you will understand why I let you be arouind Pertile and De Hidalgo. They had studied the technique of Maestro García, and Marchese. ¨ The final touch was given to us by Luigi Lucenti, a bass and pupil of Antonio Cotogni. With this people and Guido Capocci, Granforte became, the outstanding baritone and immortal teacher he was. That´s why I want the world to know about my mentor´s great mind.