I have a trinity:
Caruso, Schipa, Bjorling.
Caruso remains the vocal miracle: heroic and lyric, bel canto and verismo, tenor and baritone, the tone all pure, rich, vibrant core - and the hugest, most generous spirit that ever emitted sound.
Schipa is the poet, the gentle artistic soul with a modest, plaintive, unmistakable timbre, subtle style, a mezza voce like the fragrance of a flower, and diction so exquisitely clear on his lips that to hear him is like reading from a book. He also looks exactly like me (over there, to the left).
Bjorling is the natural, a voice of such ease and purity it seems to have, or need, no technique at all, plaintive beauty like "unshed tears" ( I don't know who said that), rising from pure lyricism to ringing heroism. And the greatest recording ever made, or ever to be made, of "O Holy Night (O Helga Natt)," obligatory at Christmas.
Then there are Sirota (I'd put him in my trinity but there are no more seats), Gigli, Melchior, Piccaver, Schiotz, Simoneau, Valetti, Vickers, and a bunch of other people.
Alas, of tenors currently active, the only one who gets me excited is Kaufmann, the guy whose tongue and hyoid bone are said to be having an intimate relationship. I can only wish them happiness together.