Manuel Ausensi i Albalat (; 8 October 1919 – 1 September 2005) was a Catalan baritone opera singer. Ausensi was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, he studied singing in Valencia and then in the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona. He made his stage debut in 1946 at the Tivoli Theater. In 1947 he sang in Gaetano Donizetti's ''

Anna Bolena ''Anna Bolena'' is a tragic opera (''tragedia lirica'') in two acts composed by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's ''Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena'' and Alessandro Pepoli's ''Anna Bolena'', bo ...

'' at the

Liceu The Gran Teatre del Liceu (, English: Great Theatre of the Lyceum), known as ''El Liceu'', is an opera house in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Located in La Rambla, it is the oldest running theatre in Barcelona. Founded in 1837 at another ...

. He was considered particularly outstanding in roles such as Rigoletto, but also sang eighteenth century music such as Mozart and Cimarosa and French romantic opera at the Liceu for thirteen consecutive seasons. He recorded a famous full version of ''

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 ...

'' conducted by

Silvio Varviso Silvio Varviso (26 February 1924 – 1 November 2006) was a Swiss conductor who spent most of his career devoted to conducting opera. He began his conducting career working in minor opera houses in Switzerland in the mid-1940s. He became the p ...

and co-starring

Teresa Berganza Teresa Berganza Vargas OAXS (16 March 1933 – 13 May 2022) was a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with roles such as Rossini's Rosina and La Cenerentola, and later Bizet's Carmen, admired for her technical virtuosity, mu ...

and Ugo Benelli in 1964. He also recorded the leading role in several Spanish zarzuelas such as ''La calesera'', ''El caserío'', ''Los gavilanes'', ''Katiuska'', ''La legió d'honor'', '' Los diamantes de la corona'' and ''Jugar con fuego''. He retired in 1973, but in 1990 he returned for a benefit concert for the Opera House in Catalonia. In 1997 he received the

Creu de Sant Jordi The Creu de Sant Jordi (, in English ' St George's Cross') is one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia (Spain), surpassed only in protocol by the Gold Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It was established by the Generalit ...

. He died in

Creixell Creixell is a municipality in the province of Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' natio ...

, aged 85.

References

Manuel Ausensi, cantante catalán y español de ópera y zarzuela
(obituary, ''El Mundo'') (Spanish) 1919 births 2005 deaths Singers from Barcelona Opera singers from Catalonia 20th-century Spanish male opera singers Spanish operatic baritones {{Catalonia-bio-stub