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Melchiorre Luise
Melchiorre Luise (December 21, 1896 – November 22, 1967) was a leading exponent of the operatic basso buffo repertoire. In 1925, he made his debut as a baritone, but soon embarked on the classic roles of the basso buffo. He was seen at the Teatro alla Scala from 1938, and debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1947, where he sang until 1950. At the Met, Luise appeared as the Innkeeper in ''Manon'' (opposite Licia Albanese, then Bidu Sayão and Eleanor Steber), the Sacristan in ''Tosca'' (in Dino Yannopoulos's production), as the Bonze in ''Madama Butterfly'' (with Dorothy Kirsten), as Benoît and Alcindoro in ''La bohème'' (with Jan Peerce, then Jussi Björling), as Dr Bartolo in ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' (opposite Robert Merrill), as Maestro Spinelloccio in ''Gianni Schicchi'' (with Italo Tajo, later Salvatore Baccaloni, Nadine Conner, and Giuseppe di Stefano), and as Geronte de Revoir in ''Manon Lescaut'' (with Stella Roman, Richard Tucker, and Frank Valentino). His final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basso Buffo
A bass is a type of Classical music, classical male singing Human voice, voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below C (musical note)#Middle C, middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., Scientific pitch notation, E2–E4).; ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' gives E2–E4/F4 Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the Clef#Bass clef, bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system. Italians favour subdividing basses into the ''basso cantante'' (singing bass), ''basso buffo'' ("funny" bass), or the dramatic ''basso profondo'' (low bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass. The German ''Fach'' system offers further distinctions: Spielbass (Bassbuffo), Schwerer Spielbass (Schwere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Valentino
Francesco Valentino (1907 – June 14, 1991) was an American operatic baritone. He is perhaps best remembered for his performances under Arturo Toscanini. Life and career Born Francis Valentine Dinhaupt in New York in 1907, Valentino and his family moved to Denver when he was 11 and he began to study music there. In 1926 he went to Italy to further his studies and made his debut at Parma as Germont the following year. An Italian producer decided his name was "too American" and christened him Francesco Valentino, a stage name that stuck throughout his career. During the late 1920s and 1930s, Valentino performed at the major European theaters including La Scala in Milan and Glyndebourne in England. Valentino returned to America in 1940 where he began an association with the Metropolitan Opera, appearing in 26 roles over 21 seasons and never missing a scheduled performance. His major roles included Figaro, Count di Luna, Marcello, and Rigoletto. He also appeared with other major Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria De Los Ángeles
Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1 November 192315 January 2005) was a Catalan Spanish operatic lyric soprano and recitalist whose career began after the Second World War and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Early life She was born Victoria de los Ángeles López García in the porter's lodge of the University of Barcelona, to Bernardo Lopez Gómez (or Gamez), a university caretaker, and Victoria García. She studied voice under Dolores Frau, and guitar with Graciano Tarragó, at the Barcelona Conservatory, graduating in 1941 after just three years, at the age of 18. Career in music In 1941, while still a student, she made her operatic debut as Mimì in ''La bohème'' at the Liceu, afterwards resuming her musical studies. In 1945, she returned to the Liceu to make her professional debut as the Countess in ''The Marriage of Figaro''. After winning first prize in the Geneva International Music Competition in 1947, she sang Salud in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gino Bechi
Gino Bechi (16 October 1913 – 2 February 1993) was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially in Verdi roles. Life and career Bechi studied in his native Florence with Raul Frazzi and di Giorgio, and made his debut at Empoli, in 1936, as Germont in '' La traviata''. He sang widely in Italy, appearing frequently at the Rome Opera from 1938 to 1952, and at La Scala from 1939 to 1953, where he sang the title role in ''Nabucco'' for its reopening in 1946. He quickly established himself as the leading dramatic baritone of his time, in roles such as Rigoletto, Count de Luna, Renato, Carlo, Amonasro, Alfio, Gérard, but was also admired as Figaro and Hamlet. Bechi sang relatively little outside Italy, but did appear in England and North and South America in the late 1950s, but by then he was past his best. In his prime, Bechi possessed a dark and incisive voice and was a fine singing actor. He can be heard in a number of ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scipio Colombo
Scipio Colombo (25 May 1910 – 13 April 2002) was an Italian dramatic baritone, and was known for his abilities as a musician and singing-actor. Born in Vicenza, Italy, Colombo first studied philosophy at the University of Padua, before turning to music. He studied in Milan with Giuseppe Venturini and in Rome with Giuseppe de Luca, and made his debut in Alessandria, as Marcello in ''La bohème'', in 1937. Throughout World War II, he sang at most of the major opera houses of Italy, including the Teatro alla Scala. In 1947, he sang there in the Milan premiere of Prokofiev's ''The Love for Three Oranges'', and of Britten's ''Peter Grimes'', and later took part in the world premiere of Poulenc's ''Dialogues des Carmélites'', as the Marquis de la Force, in 1957. He also sang in Mussorgski's ''Khovantchina'', in 1949. He created roles in contemporary Italian works, notably in Dallapiccola's ''Il prigioniero'' (Florence, 1950), and Pizzetti's ''Cagliostro'' (La Scala, 1953). H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor. From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome at the age of 16. Initially, he studied the viola and conducting; then, following an audition, he won a place in the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Although he won a conducting competition two years later, he was unable to take advantage of the prize, which was the opportunity to conduct, because of being forced to join the army during World War II despite being a pacifist. As the war was ending, he hid until the liberation to avoid continuing to fight alongside the Germans. While in hiding, he married his girlfriend, Marcella, and they remained together until her death in 1995. Together, they had three children. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto (born 24 February 1934) is an Italian soprano and opera director. Recognized for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation. Since retiring from the stage as a singer in 2002, she has turned successfully to directing opera as well as teaching in Italy and America, along with academic posts at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Juilliard School in New York. Singing career Renata Scotto was born in Savona, Italy. She made her operatic debut in her home town on Christmas Eve of 1952 at the age of 18 in front of a sold-out house as Violetta in Verdi's '' La traviata''.The next day, she made her 'official' opera debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Violetta. Shortly after, she performed in her first Puccini opera, ''Madama Butterfly'', in Savona and was paid twenty-five thousand lire. Both roles would later become closely associated with her name. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi ( , ; 1 February 1922 – 19 December 2004) was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. Often considered among the great opera singers of the 20th century, she focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini called her voice "" ("the voice of an angel"), and La Scala music director Riccardo Muti called her "one of the greatest performers with one of the most extraordinary voices in the field of opera." Early years and education Born in Pesaro, Tebaldi was the daughter of cellist Teobaldo Tebaldi and Giuseppina Barbieri, a nurse. Her parents separated before her birth and Tebaldi grew up with her mother in her maternal grandparents' home in Langhirano. Stricken with polio at the age of three, Tebaldi became interested in music and sang with the church choir in L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giorgio Strehler
Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and died when Giorgio was only three. His maternal grandfather, Olimpio Lovrich, subsequently became his father figure. Olimpio was one of the finest horn players of his day and the impresario of the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi, Trieste's Opera House. When he was seven, his grandfather died and he moved to Milan with his mother and grandmother. As a child, Giorgio was not impressed by theater. He found it "false" and decided it did not have the power to stir one's emotions as film did. His opinions changed one hot summer night while on his way to the cinema. He noticed a sign advertising the air-conditioning posted by the Odeon Theater. He walked in for some relief from the weather to see a performance of Carlo Goldoni's ''Una delle ultime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nino Sanzogno
Nino Sanzogno (13 April 1911 – 4 May 1983) was an Italian conductor and composer. Life Sanzogno was born in Venice, where he studied the violin with Hermann Scherchen and composition with Gian Francesco Malipiero at the Liceo Musicale. He later studied conducting in Vienna with Scherchen. He conducted the Gruppo Strumentale in concerts in Italy and abroad before becoming resident conductor at La Fenice in Venice in 1937, and the RAI Milan Symphony Orchestra soon afterwards. He first conducted at La Scala in Milan in 1939. A specialist of contemporary works, he conducted at La Scala the premieres of Milhaud's ''David'', Poulenc's ''Dialogues des Carmélites'', Walton's ''Troilus and Cressida'', Shostakovich's '' Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'', Berg's ''Lulu'', Britten's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Prokofiev's '' The Fiery Angel'', while abroad, notably in Britain, he introduced several works by Italian composers such as Malipiero, Dallapiccola and Pizzetti. He conducted the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato (born Giulia Simionato; Forlì, Romagna, 12 May 1910 – Rome, 5 May 2010) was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966. Life As a girl she studied in a boarding school with nuns who sensed her musical qualities and invited her to study singing, which she did against the opposition of the family, especially her mother. After the latter's death, Giulietta studied first in Rovigo, then in Padua. Her singing debut was in the 1927 musical comedy film, 'Nina, Don't Be Stupid'. The following year she made her operatic debut at Montagnana. In 1933 she won the first "bel canto competition" in Florence against 385 competitors and got an audition at the Teatro alla Scala. The result was positive, but the artistic director Fabbroni found her voice still immature and invited her to return a few years later. Two years later she was put under contract. In 1928, she sang in Verdi's ''Rigoletto''. The first fif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
