This recording of the Flower Song from Carmen comes from the 1946 RCA Victor recording conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. The photo at the right is Vinay as Don José.
Ramón Vinay was born in Chile in 1912. He began his career as a baritone, making his debut in Mexico City as Alphonse in La favorite in 1931. After several years of singing Rigoletto, Luna, Scarpia and other baritone roles, he made his tenor debut in Mexico City in 1943 as Don José, following that role with Otello (pictured to the left) in 1944. He made his New York debut at City Center in 1945 as Don José, then joined the Metropolitan from 1946-61. He inaugurated the 1947-48 season at La Scala as Otello, a role he repeated at Salzburg and Covent Garden. From 1952 to 1957 he sang at Bayreuth, as Tristan, Parsifal, Tannhäuser and Siegmund. In 1962 he resumed baritone roles, singing Telramund at Bayreuth, and also Iago, Falstaff, Scarpia, Dr. Bartolo and Dr. Schön.
This recording of the Flower Song from Carmen comes from the 1946 RCA Victor recording conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. The photo at the right is Vinay as Don José.
