DESCRIPTION:
I feel this is probably sung more often in Italian than it is in French. It sounds far better in the original language of course. In Italian it is 'O Paradiso' from 'L'Africana.'

Jobin sounds to me a genuine tenor of the French school, with a perfect integration of falsetto into his 'chest' tone to create a sensational 'voix mixte' not only in the upper register, but throughout his range. You can hear his seamless integration of falsetto with chest voice even in his middle register.

This school of singing is lost today. We would do well to learn from French stylists like Jobin, Clement, Thill, Villabella, Simoneau, Verreau, and others.

Too bad people don't realize today that you don't sing with the same voice you speak in. It's a different vocal mechanism. That's why tenors sound like tenors and not baritones. If we all sang in our speaking voices the tenor voice would not exist. There would only be baritone and basso. Unless someone strains their voice and pushes it to achieve the tenor top, which will burn out in about five years, if that.