This is an old revision of this page, as edited by RCS (talk | contribs) at 09:41, 5 January 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 09:41, 5 January 2007 by RCS (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Martti Talvela (born in Hiitola, Finland February 4, 1935 – died in Juva, Finland July 22, 1989) was a Finnish operatic bass. He studied in Lahti and Stockholm, and made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 as Sparafucile. At 6 ft 7 in (201 cm), he was the tallest singer of his century. He was especially acclaimed as Boris Godunov and as Pimen from the same work, as Paavo Ruotsalainen in Viimeiset Kiusaukset, as a Wagner singer (King Marke, Hunding, Fasolt, Fafner and Titurel), as Sarastro and as Prince Gremin. As his final record he left, terribly thinned out by illness, a warm and heartfelt version of Schubert's Die Winterreise.
He had one of the most remarkable bass voices in opera history: the combination of depth and timbre made him stand out in every part he sung, and his bass seemed to extend effortlessly without the "break" that most basses have to resort to hit their low notes, and without the unmusical quality often found with those basses capable of the lowest notes.