Talk:José Carreras

The Hermosa Foundation

I have done some language editing based on my knowledge of the early connection of the three tenors. The formation of the HERMOSA foundation, behind the scenes, by Domingo, to help Carreras seems extrordinary (if they had political differences) though not entirely out of charater for Placido. Does anyone have a citation for this event? MarnetteD | Talk 04:38, 14 May 2005 (UTC)

The Hermosa story is entirely fictitious. The José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation has now issued this notice in English and this one in Spanish:

Voceditenore 10:30, 25 January 2006 (UTC) Links updated. Voceditenore (talk) 08:10, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

See also http://www.snopes.com/glurge/tenors.asp 24.6.66.193 00:32, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Erm, am I missing something?

Two days for a reason not to move this back to his actual name, instead of "Josep" Sherurcij ^{(talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject)} 22:21, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

"Actual" name? His "actual" name is "Josep" not "José"...but nevermind... Dantadd 23:24, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Major Edit

This entry had become very bitty and disorganized, was missing much information about Carreras's life and career, lacked proper referencing, and contained some inappropriate or less than helpful links. Consequently, I have virtually re-written the article. I still need to expand the bibliography and make more internal links to other Wikipedia articles. Note that some phrases are taken verbatim from the Biography of José Carreras, which I authored and which appears on my web site Voce di Tenore and also on the Decca Classics web site with my permission. Voceditenore 19:38, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Josep vs. José

I have just reverted an edit by Satesclop which had removed all references to the subject's birth name - Josep (and changed the name of his father back to José as well). That edit even broke the links, because his official web site is indeed www.josepcarreras.com (The editor had changed it to www.josecarreras.com.)

Carreras now uses his actual first name 'Josep' not only for his official web site as an artist but also for the web site of his leukemia foundationin both its Spanish and Catalan versions. It is important that readers know both versions of the first name - his actual one (Josep), which he (and the Spanish language press) now increasingly use in public life, and the name by which he was known (and is still known outside Spain) as a performer (José). See also:

• the theatre named after him in Fuenlabrada
• the plaza named after him in San Juan de Alicante/Sant Joan d'Alacant in Valencia
• the plaque placed by the city of Barcelona on the street where he was born

The previous editor also removed all references to Carreras as being Catalan in addition to Spanish, despite the fact that he has often affirmed his identity as a Catalan in numerous interviews, and his own autobiography, and has also frequently been described as such, even in the English language press from the earliest days of his career until today, e.g.

• Davidson, E.: 'José Carreras', Opera News (published by The New York Metropolitan Opera), December 1972
• Riding, A: 'After Tragedy, an Ecstatic Aria; Barcelona's Opera Is Rising, Without Crossed Swords', The New York Times, July 21, 1998
• 'Jose Carreras: death blinked first' The Sunday Herald (Scotland), December 10, 2000
• 'A more sombre voice, born of survival', The Sydney Morning Herald,October 27, 2003

I hope that future editors will bear all this mind and not make wholesale edits of the type I have just reverted without raising them on the discussion page first. Voceditenore 07:45, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Josep? José? If he can't even decide what his own name is, it's no wonder that when the Three Tenors are discussed, he's always referred to as "the other guy". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.66.193 (talk) 00:37, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

The latest edits

Despite my request for discussion as to why all use of the word 'Catalan' in an article about a Catalan tenor in the category 'Catalan opera singers' should be deleted as well as all references to José Carreras's birth name, i.e., Josep Carreras. which is used by Carreras himself for the name of his official web sites (see 'Josep vs. José' above). Satesclop has continued with another wholesale revert without adding any new content, which broke the links again (see 'Josep vs. José' above) and in the process removed all the image and biographical content and inter-wiki links which had been added since his last edit.

I'm afraid this is violating NPOV and starting to look like vandalism. Satesclop, please come to this page and discuss your edits, and the reasons for them, so we can resolve this. If you continue with these wholesale reverts and deletion of major content, I will have to raise a complaint with the administrators. Voceditenore 22:53, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Satesclop, revert this edit immediately, or you will be reported for vandalism. Badagnani 17:32, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Satesclop is a problematic user in Spanish Wikipedia and acts moved by his political views. He should soon be blocked. Dantadd 20:13, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Nationality

This issue causes a lot of controversy at times, and results in constant editing and re-editing. For example, a recent edit of the info-box changed the birthplace of Carreras from "Barcelona, Spain" to "Barcelona, Catalonia". While Catalonia is an autonomous region of Spain, it is not a nation state, nor does it issue its own passports. The customary form on Wikipedia is to use the nation state in which the city is located. Note also that this article is part of the Wikipedia Opera Project. The Guidelines for opera singers' biographies state: "Nationality should not be anachronistic/retrospective, i.e. for historic figures it should not be defined by present-day borders and states, but by contemporary ones." Carreras was born in 1946. At that time Catalonia did not even exist as an autonomous region. Consequently, I have restored Spain to the info-box. I would suggest that if this continues to result in constant editing and re-editing, we just put Barcelona since the link will then take readers to: "Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain." Voceditenore 17:58, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I have no problem with Spain, but Catalonia should be expressly cited. JOSEP Carreras (as the tenor identifies himself) is Catalan and still living and even if he was dead he'd still be Catalan, as does Pau Casals. By your strange logic, somebody born in 1942 in Innsbruck would be German today, not Austrian. Go figure... Dantadd 20:38, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

A good solution, Dantadd. I have no objection to putting both Catalonia and Spain. In fact, I had to keep reverting edits of one politically motivated 'editor' who kept removing all references to Carreras being a Catalan and even removing all references to his birth name (see above). Let's hope this solution works. As for the Opera Project policy. I think it's a bit strange too. ;-) Voceditenore 05:21, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

I would like to understand why there's discrimination between Catalans and Scottish? If Paolo Nutini can be of Scottish nationality why Montserrat Caballé and Josep Carreras have to be regarded as Spanish (Carreras even shouted Visca Catalunya lliure to the cameras)?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.37.50.212 (talk) 18:55, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Voice type

I have reverted "operatic tenore lyrico spinto" to "operatic tenor" in the opening paragraph. The opening paragraph of biography articles is meant to give the general reader (not the specialist) a quick idea of who the person was and why they are prominent. Apart from the fact that the editor had misspelled the term - it's "lirico spinto" not "lyrico spinto" - this term is too technical, unneccessarily detailed for the general reader and potentially confusing. Note also that Carreras was originally a lyric tenor, who then went on to sing some spinto roles. All of this is covered in the sub-section of this article Carreras's voice. Voceditenore 18:14, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

• • At the very beginning of his career he was a pure Rossini-Tenor with a tremendous high D. He should have said no to Karajan who made him sing Don Carlo and Kalaf. That ruined his high notes. Florez a genuine Rossini-Tenor, probably the best ever would never for no money whatsoever sing roles that wouldn't fit his voice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.173.160.148 (talk • contribs) 10:31, 25 November 2007

Carreras Leukemia Foundation names

On its official site, the Foundation uses this name in its English version: "The José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation", as does its USA branch (See fcarreras.org and carrerasfoundation.org). The German branch of the Foundation is called "Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung"(See carreras-stiftung.de). Since this is the English Wikipedia, I've put the name by which it is known in the English-speaking world as well as its name in Catalan. Voceditenore 05:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Please do not keep adding infoboxes

The infobox being repeatedly added by Mickey gfss2007 should NOT be here. It is inappropriate and not designed for classical singers. Note also, this current infobox has false and/or misleading information in it, an almost inevitable result of using infoboxes meant for pop musicians. Zubin Mehta is not an 'associated act'. He is a conductor, and one with whom Carreras has actually worked relatively infrequently. Look as his discography. Are you going to include every one of the distinguished conductors he has worked with? Carreras' main recording labels were Philips and Deutsche Grammophon. He has relatively few recordings on Decca, apart from the Three Tenors concert. And finally, Carreras is not a record producer. It's bad enough disregarding consensus and repeatedly adding these boxes, but it is compounded when the editor fills it with false and misleading information due to ignorance about the article's subject. Please see the policy at WikiProject Musicians: "Infobox Musical artist is the standard template to be used on a non-classical musician's or musical ensemble's page" and at the Opera Project.Voceditenore (talk) 22:52, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I have now removed the most glaring errors from the infobox made by the editor above. However, the infobox needs to be removed. Voceditenore (talk) 23:19, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Nationality (or otherwise)

The original compromise that he was a 'Catalan Spanish' tenor was recently changed by another editor to 'Spanish', which was then changed by yet another editor to 'Catalan'. I have now removed all reference to Carreras' nationality from the lead paragraph and simply added the city of his birth, linked to the article on Barcelona. Readers can then draw their own conclusions. This is an article about a distinguished opera singer. Can its lead paragraph please not be used for point scoring about the independence (or otherwise) of Catalonia/Catalunya/Cataluña? Many thanks in advance, Voceditenore (talk) 09:49, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

In many articles featuring spaniards from Catalonia the editors have agreed on "Spanish Catalan". --Nandonaranja (talk) 20:33, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

That's fine with me, but eventually a Catalan nationalist will remove "Spanish" followed by a Spanish nationalist who will replace "Catalan" with Spanish" and so on until they get tired of it and lay off for a while. So be prepared.;-) - Voceditenore (talk) 06:04, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

NPOV

While there's no doubt that Carreras is one of the greatest tenors of the 20th and 21st century, sentences such as "One of the most prominent opera singers of his generation, and particularly eminent in the (...)", even when sourced, are highly unnencyclopedic and should be deleted. Thank you. --Karljoos (talk) 09:36, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't agree that such sentences are "highly unencyclopedic". Here's the first sentence in Caruso's entry in my hard copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica (15th edition, 1974):

" the most admired Italian operatic tenor of the early 20th century and the first singer whose qualities can be confirmed by posterity through the phonograph, whose value he was the first leading musician to recognize."

And the first sentence in the "Carreras, José" entry in the Encyclopedia Americana (2000 edition, vol. 20, p. 702):

"Spanish tenor, acclaimed for his appearances in the world's leading opera houses and for numerous recordings and video and television productions."

Having said that, I've amended the first paragraph to remove the words "prominent" and "eminent" for the time being. Voceditenore (talk) 13:35, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Addenda. Here's the entry for "Carreras, José (Maria)" in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music:

"Carreras, José (Maria) (b Barcelona, 1946). Sp. tenor. Début 1956 in Falla's Retablo de Maese Pedro. Prof. début Barcelona 1970. Won Giuseppe Verdi comp. and sang in It. cities and Paris. London début 1971 (concert perf.), CG 1974, NY City Opera 1972, NY Met 1974, Salzburg 1976. At height of career had intensive treatment for leukaemia. Resumed career 1988. Outstanding in Italian repertoire, especially Verdi. Autobiography Singing for the Soul (Seattle, 1991)."

Voceditenore (talk) 13:57, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:José Carreras/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Comments from WikiProject Opera: B-class. Improvements needed: Complete discography List of opera roles. More major opera house debuts with years/ mention of houses sung with. List of major conductors that Carreras has worked with. Comment: This article is very close to G.A. status.Nrswanson (talk) 16:32, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Last edited at 16:32, 26 June 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 20:36, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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Stage name

It seems downright misleading to describe as a "stage name" a name which is just the Spanish version of his Catalan name and differs by one letter. It is just the normal way he would be called in Spanish. Srnec (talk) 02:30, 8 October 2018 (UTC)