Above: basso Roberto Silva as Don Giovanni
Lots of opera lovers are familiar with recordings of the 1951 Mexico City AIDA because it includes an interpolated high E-flat from Maria Callas at the conclusion of the Triumphal Scene. Despite middling sound-quality, there's actually quite a lot to sustain interest in the performance as a whole - not least the voice-risking, full-throttle Amneris of Oralia Dominguez. Dominguez was only 26 at the time, and singing her first Amneris; she spends the voice so recklessly, including some cavernous chest-tones, that it's a wonder she was able to ever sing anything again. But in fact she had a career that lasted into the 1970s, and is best-remembered as Erda in the Karajan RING Cycle recording.
There's another impressive voice to be heard in this Mexico City performance: basso Roberto Silva, who sings Ramfis. Silva sustains a powerful note in the phrase "Per tua man diventi ai nemici terror, folgore...morte!" during the Temple Scene. Silva holds his own against the Radames of Mario del Monaco.
Mario del Monaco & Roberto Silva - Temple Scene ~ AIDA - Mexico City 1951
I went in search of information about Señor Silva, though I could not find much in the way of biographical detail. He sang in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, RIGOLETTO and PURITANI with Callas during her Mexico City seasons, and there is a listing of him as Geronte in MANON LESCAUT (also at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, in 1951) opposite Clara Petrella. It seems he also had a career as a film actor.
The only other souvenir I could find of Roberto Silva is this rendering of Colline's "Coat Aria" from BOHEME. It's quite nice, actually.
