Giuseppe De Luca's voice was colorful and clear. He emitted a natural sound that demonstrated precision. In the last 50 years it's difficult to find, even on recorded discs, a singer who is able to create an amazingly perfect sound with very little effort.
Sounds that are rounded, clear, vibrant, from highs to lows, all fused to form a melodic design with stupendous homogeneity, perfect intonation, with perfect volume and tone. The art of ligatures, which is difficult to exercise, after Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, has found in De Luca a singer who is able to apply, to all music, such style and fiery passion regardless of the lyrics. What's the magic formula? Most important an ear for music. An ear for music when acting, when singing in a declamatory style, the sneer of Bamaba, the rambling speech of old Gérmont or the pang of Rodrigo dying.
Whoever has had any experience with how things work when a singer with style is on stage, you probably expect a similar review at the end of the performance: magnificent vocalist, but a cold execution, but trained. For De Luca the opinion has to be different. It's true that De Luca tended to emphasize all his opera roles.
As an opera singer he had many resources. He was poetic, emotional and also an extremely sensitive singer. The distinctness of his dictation, usually hidden in his sinister or grave voices, which tend to complete and stabilize vocals, gave, in his way of punctuating certain parts and declaiming style, his lucidity and intensity of expression; purposely not exhibiting athletic vocal performances that entail extremely complicated vocal solos (I would believe that it was difficult to deny the temptation to imitate Battistini) leaving from his voice any kind of exaggeration, which made it more human and profound. As is with everything that is simple.
