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Revision as of 15:53, 8 April 2006 by Fusspot (talk | contribs) (Hittola)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Martti Talvela (Born in Hittola, Finland February 4, 1935 - died in Juva, Finland July 22, 1989) was a Finnish operatic basso. He studied in Lahti and in Stockholm and began to sing onstage in Helsinki in 1960, as Sparafucile. He was 6' 7" tall, which made him the physically greatest singer of his century. He was especially brilliant as Boris Godunov and as Pimen from the same work, but also as a Wagner singer (King Marke, Hunding, Fasolt, Fafner and Titurel), as Sarastro and as Prince Gremin. His last recording is also the most moving : terribly thinned out by illness, he left a memorable version of Schuberts Die Winterreise.
He had one of the most remarkable bass voices in opera history: for the combination of depth and timbre few have ever matched him, and his bass seemed to extend effortlessly without the "break" that most basses have to resort to to hit their low notes, and without the unmusical quality often found with those basses capable of the lowest notes.