Cornell MacNeil (September 24, 1922 – July 15, 2011) was an American operatic

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

known for his exceptional voice and long career with the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F. Paul Driscoll wrote in ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also support ...

'' that he "was a great baritone in era of great baritones —

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

, Gobbi, Merrill,

Milnes Milnes is a surname of British origin, a variant of the surname ''Mills''.Milnes Name Meaning and H ...

— and in the contemporary press, comparisons to his colleagues were frequent. But MacNeil's performances had singular musical richness, and moral and intellectual complexity that were his alone. MacNeil may have had rivals, but he had no equals."

Life and career

Cornell MacNeil was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

to a dentist and a singer. He was interested in opera from a young age, but suffered from severe asthma, which also contributed to his rejection from World War II. He then took on a wartime job as a lathe operator, after which, on his mother's advice, began his vocal studies. Among his teachers were

Friedrich Schorr Friedrich Schorr (September 2, 1888 – August 14, 1953), was a renowned Austrian- Hungarian bass-baritone opera singer of Jewish origin. He later became a naturalized American. Schorr was particularly famous for his profound portrayals o ...

and Dick Marzollo. Before the end of the war, he sang and made announcements for the Radio City Music Hall Glee Club, for whose audience he announced the surrenders of the German and the Japanese at the end of the war. After a brief audition, he was cast by the composer and director Gian Carlo Menotti as the male lead in his opera, ''

The Consul ''The Consul'' is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Performance history Its first performance was on March 1, 1950 at the Schubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the ...

'', which opened on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theater in Philadelphia. He debuted with the New York City Opera in 1953 as Germont in La Traviata and The Metropolitan Opera House in 1959 as the lead in Rigoletto. In the same year, he debuted in La Scala in Ernani. In 1969 he became president of the American Guild of Musical Artists. MacNeil's voice was notable for its huge size and volcanic top notes. Despite some vocal decline in the late 1970s, he maintained a high standard throughout his long career. Two of his most notable roles were the title role in '' Rigoletto'', and Iago in ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

''. MacNeil was a regular at the Metropolitan Opera. His debut was on March 21, 1959, as Rigoletto. Rigoletto was also the role he sang the most at the Met, 104 times, including the Met's first telecast of that opera in 1977, in the production by John Dexter. MacNeil was also well known for the role of Baron Scarpia in ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'', a role he sang 92 times at the Met between November 2, 1959 and December 5, 1987, which was his last performance with the company. The baritone appeared at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in 1959 (''Ernani'', with Franco Corelli) and in 1960 (''Aida'').

Abridged discography

* Menotti: ''The Consul'' (Neway, Powers; Engel, 1950)

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

* Verdi: ''La traviata'': excerpts (Kirsten, Hayward; Cellini, 1958) iveVAI * Puccini: ''La fanciulla del West'' (Tebaldi, del Monaco, Tozzi; Capuana, 1958) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Aïda'' (Tebaldi, Simionato, Bergonzi; Karajan, 1959) Decca Records * Leoncavallo: ''Pagliacci'' (Tucci, del Monaco; Molinari-Pradelli, 1959) Decca Records * Mascagni: ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (Simionato, del Monaco; Serafin, 1960) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Un ballo in maschera'' (Nilsson, Simionato, Bergonzi; Solti, 1960-1) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Sutherland, Cioni, Siepi; Sanzogno, 1961) Decca Records * Verdi: ''Luisa Miller'' (Moffo, Verrett, Bergonzi, Tozzi, Flagello; Cleva, 1965) RCA * Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Grist, Gedda; Molinari-Pradelli, 1967)

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

* Leoncavallo: ''Pagliacci'' (Carlyle, Vickers; Bartoletti, 1968) iveVAI * Verdi: ''La traviata'' (Stratas, Domingo; Levine, 1982) Elektra

Abridged videography

* Puccini: Tosca (Pobbe, Raimondi; Argento, 1965) ive* Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Cotrubas, Domingo, Díaz; Levine, Dexter, 1977) ive* Verdi: ''Otello'' (Scotto, Vickers; Levine, Zeffirelli/Melano, 1978) ive* Puccini: ''Tosca'' (Verrett, Pavarotti, Tajo; Conlon, Gobbi, 1978) ive* Weill: ''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'' (Stratas, Varnay, Cassilly, Plishka; Levine, Dexter, 1979) ive* Puccini: ''Il tabarro'' (Scotto; Levine, Melano, 1981) ive* Verdi: ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'' (Stratas, Domingo; Levine, Zeffirelli, 1982) * Zandonai: ''Francesca da Rimini'' (Scotto, Rom, Domingo; Levine, Faggioni, 1984) ive* Puccini: ''Tosca'' (Behrens, Domingo; Sinopoli, Zeffirelli, 1985) ive

References

External links

Interview with Cornell MacNeil
by Bruce Duffie, November 11, 1982 {{DEFAULTSORT:MacNeil, Cornell 1922 births 2011 deaths American operatic baritones Musicians from Minneapolis Grammy Award winners Singers from Minnesota 20th-century American male opera singers Classical musicians from Minnesota