Giuseppe Nessi (25 September 1887 – 16 December 1961) was an Italian

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

Life

Nessi was born in Bergamo, near

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. He made his debut in

Saluzzo Saluzzo (; pms, Salusse ) is a town and former principality in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, Italy. The city of Saluzzo is built on a hill overlooking a vast, well-cultivated plain. Iron, lead, silver, marble, slate etc. are fo ...

in 1910, in the role of Alfredo in '' La Traviata''.Harold Rosenthal/R, "Nessi Giuseppe", in

Sadie, Stanley Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

(ed.), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', Oxford University Press, 1997, III, p. 575. However, on the advice of renowned Italian conductor

Tullio Serafin Tullio Serafin (1 September 18782 February 1968) was an Italian conductor and former Musical Director at La Scala. Biography Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19t ...

, the majority of his career was focussed on character tenor roles.Rosenthal, Harold; & Warrack, John (1964). ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera''. London: Oxford University Press, p. 279 He was La Scala's leading comprimario tenor between 1921 and 1959, and also performed at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

, Covent Garden, and at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

under Arturo Toscanini. He created, among others, the roles of Pong in ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

'', the Priest in ''

Il re ''Il re'' (''The king'') is a novella or opera in one act and three scenes by composer Umberto Giordano to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. The opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on 12 January 1929.Julian Budden: "Il re", ''Grove Musi ...

'', Donna Pasqua in ''

Il campiello ''Il campiello'' (''The Little Square'') is an opera in three acts by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. The libretto was by Mario Ghisalberti, after the famous comedy of the same name written for the 1756 Venetian Carnival by the great Venetian playwright, C ...

'', and an archer in '' Francesca da Rimini''; in Zandonai's opera he would later regularly perform the role of Malatestino, which became one of his most notable parts together with Bardolph in

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

''.

Recordings

As a character tenor, Nessi was less likely than many other singers to be cast in a lead role. He does, however, play minor supporting roles on several important recordings, including: *'' The Marriage of Figaro'' (

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

) —

Rolando Panerai Rolando Panerai (17 October 1924 – 22 October 2019) was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertoire. He performed at La Scala in Milan, often alongside Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. He was known for musical ...

(Figaro),

Irmgard Seefried Irmgard Seefried (9 October 191924 November 1988) was a distinguished German soprano who sang opera, sacred music, and lieder. Maria Theresia Irmgard Seefried was born in , near Mindelheim, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of educated Austrian ...

(Susanna),

Mario Petri Mario Petri (21 January 1922 – 26 January 1985) was an Italian operatic bass-baritone particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles. Life and career Petri was born in Perugia and began his career after World War II, making his stage d ...

(Count Almaviva),

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...

(Countess Almaviva),

Sena Jurinac Srebrenka "Sena" Jurinac () (24 October 1921 – 22 November 2011) was a Bosnian-born Austrian operatic soprano. Biography Jurinac was born in Travnik, Bosnia-Herzegovina (then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), the daughter of a Croatia ...

(Cherubino), Luisa Villa (Marcellina), Silvio Maionica (Dr. Bartolo), Antonio Pirino (Don Basilio), Giuseppe Nessi (Don Curzio), Franco Calabrese (Antonio), Mariella Adani (Barbarina), Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala,

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

(1954) *''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

'' (

Vincenzo Bellini Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Gius ...

) — Maria Callas (Amina),

Cesare Valletti Cesare Valletti (18 December 1922 - 13 May 2000) was an Italian operatic tenor, one of the leading tenore di grazia of the postwar era. Valletti was born in Rome, where he studied music. He also studied privately with Tito Schipa. He made h ...

(Elvino), Giuseppe Modesti (Rodolfo),

Eugenia Ratti Eugenia Ratti (5 April 1933 – 14 November 2020)Muere a los 87 años l ...

(Lisa), Pier Luigi Latinucci (Alessio), Giuseppe Nessi (Notaro), Gabriella Carturan (Teresa), Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Leonard Bernstein (1955) *''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based ...

'' (

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

) —

Tito Gobbi Tito Gobbi (24 October 19135 March 1984) was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation. He made his operatic debut in Gubbio in 1935 as Count Rodolfo in Bellini's '' La sonnambula'' and quickly appeared in Italy's major oper ...

(Figaro),

Luigi Alva Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva (born 10 April 1927 in Paíta, Peru) is a Peruvian operatic tenor. A Mozart and Rossini specialist, Alva achieved fame with roles such as Don Ottavio (in ''Don Giovanni''), Count Almaviva ( ...

(Il Conte Almaviva), Maria Callas (Rosina),

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 Tea ...

(Dr. Bartolo),

Nicola Rossi-Lemeni Nicola Rossi-LemeniHis father's last name was Rossi, but his mother wanted her family name added, "Rossi Lemeni" (without a hyphen). However, many publications and recordings hyphenate the name. (November 6, 1920 – March 12, 1991), was a ...

(Don Basilio), Anna Maria Canali (Berta), Pier Luigi Latinucci (Fiorello), Giuseppe Nessi (Un Ufficiale), Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Maria Giulini (1956) *''

'' (

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

) — Maria Callas (Turandot), Eugenio Fernandi (Calaf),

(Liù), Mario Borriello (Ping), Renato Ercolani (Pang), Piero De Palma (Pong), Nicola Zaccaria (Timur), Giuseppe Nessi (The Emperor), Giulio Mauri (Un mandarino), Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala,

(1957)Listed in a Callas discograph
here
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nessi, Giuseppe Musicians from Bergamo Italian operatic tenors 1961 deaths 1887 births 20th-century Italian male opera singers