Luigi Bolis (29 July 1839 in

Mapello Mapello (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about west of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,806 and an area ...

– 1 September 1905 in Gorlago) was an Italian tenor. After his triumphant debut in 1864, he became an important opera singer in major theaters in Italy and in Europe in the 1870s. His name is engraved at the Italian Hospital of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Career

He was the first to cover the role of Sveno in '' I Goti'' by Stefano Gobatti (1873) Corrado of Wallenrod in '' I Lituani'' by

Amilcare Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli (, ; 31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera ''La Gioconda''. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Life and work Born in Paderno Fasolaro (now Paderno Ponchiell ...

(1874), ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' by

Ciro Pinsuti Ciro Pinsuti (9 May 1829 – 10 March 1888) was an Anglo-Italian composer. Educated in music for a career as a pianist, he studied composition under Rossini. From 1848 he made his home in England, where he became a teacher of singing, and in ...

(1873), and '' Gustavo Wasa'' by

Filippo Marchetti Filippo Marchetti (26 February 1831, Bolognola, Macerata – 18 January 1902, Rome) was an Italian opera composer. After studying in Naples, his first opera was "successfully premiered"Holden, Amanda (Ed.), pp. 528/29 in Turin in 1856. With ...

(1875). Luigi has appeared at both the Teatro Costanzi Roma and the Teatro Regio Torino, as well as other notable venues throughout Europe. Luigi Bolis began as a

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 ...

but singing as a tenor soon became standard. His repertoire included, among other things, many works of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

. He was comfortable singing a variety of different roles, but his ideal parts were dramatic. He married the soprano Maria Zappettini, with whom he had his son Dante, who became a baritone who would also later marry a soprano. Bolis's career was short and intense. In 1879 he retired aged just 39, in the midst of success, to his splendid villa on the banks of the

Cherio River The Cherio ( lmo, Chere) is a river of the Province of Bergamo in Lombardy in Italy. The river runs for and has a basin area of . Its source is at above sea level at Monte Torrezzo near Lake Endine. From there, it flows into the Oglio at Palos ...

in Gorlago, where he became a farmer. For some years he was mayor of the town. He died there on 1 September 1905, the day after his biggest rival,

Francesco Tamagno Francesco Tamagno (28 December 1850 – 31 August 1905) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang with enormous success throughout Europe and America.Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, On 5 February ...

Bibliography

*Mario Fierli, ''Storie e glorie d'altri tempi'',

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

, 1927. *Mario Corsi, ''Tamagno'',

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 ...

, editrice Ceschina 1936/1937. *Tommaso Zaghini - Corrado Ferri - Luigi Verdi, ''Stefano Gobatti'', Pàtron Editore. Italian operatic tenors 1839 births 1905 deaths 19th-century Italian male opera singers Musicians from the Province of Bergamo {{Italy-opera-singer-stub