Tino Pattiera (27 June 1890 – 24 April 1966) was a Croatian-

Dalmatian Italian Dalmatian Italians are the historical Italian national minority living in the region of Dalmatia, now part of Croatia and Montenegro. Since the middle of the 19th century, the community, counting according to some sources nearly 20% of all Dalma ...

tenor, born in

Cavtat Cavtat (, it, Ragusa Vecchia, lit=Old Ragusa) is a village in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic Sea coast south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality. History Antiquity The original city was ...

, near

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

. Prior to taking up the repertory for which he became famous, he was notable in

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

. Cervenka, Gottfried (18 April 2006)
"Schöner Mann mit erotischer Stimme"

Österreichischer Rundfunk ('Austrian Broadcasting Corporation'; ORF) is an Austrian national public broadcaster. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Aus ...

. Retrieved 13 May 2013 Pattiera was a handsome man with an exceptional, dark heroic tenor voice, that was, some say, perfectly suited for roles such as Manrico in ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

''. It was in this role that he made his stage debut at the Dresden Opera in 1914 and it was in the Italian repertoire that he specialized. Among his closest friends and colleagues during the early days at Dresden were

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

and

Elisabeth Rethberg Elisabeth Rethberg ( Lisbeth Sättler; 22 September 1894 – 6 June 1976) was a German operatic soprano singer who was active from the period of the First World War through the early 1940s. Early years Rethberg was born Lisbeth Sättler ...

. Pattiera was the most popular tenor in Dresden in the 1920s. It was during that time he partnered with the soprano Meta Seinemeyer and was responsible for a resurgence of interest in

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 ...

's operas in Germany. Singing with Seinemeyer under

Fritz Busch Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a musical family, and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior p ...

, they gave performances of ''

La forza del destino ' (; ''The Power of Fate'', often translated ''The Force of Destiny'') is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, ' (1835), by Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke of Rivas, wi ...

'' and ''

Don Carlos ''Don Carlos'' is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French-language libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle, based on the dramatic play '' Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien'' (''Don Carlos, Infante of Spain'') by Friedri ...

'' in notable productions.Steane (1998), p. 918 In addition to his work in Dresden in the Italian repertoire, Pattiera sang Tannhäuser and the role of Bacchus in ''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work' ...

'', was a guest artist in several European cities, and joined the Chicago Opera Company for the 1920/21 season. On 31 January 1925, the Dresden premiere of

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

's ''

Andrea Chénier ''Andrea Chénier'' () is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet Andr ...

'' was given with Seinemeyer as Maddalena. It won praise from the composer himself, who was in the audience. Tino Pattiera, who became her most famous stage and recording partner, sang the title role. On occasion compared with Caruso during his partnership with Seinemeyer, Steane notes "that Dresdeners are said to have compared their performances together to the Melba- Caruso evenings at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. Pattiera gave his last performance in 1953 in Dresden and then retired, after which he taught in Vienna. He died in 1966 and is buried in his hometown of Cavtat.

Filmography

*''Fra Diavolo'' (March 1931 in German; April 1931 in French; both versions directed by

Mario Bonnard Mario Bonnard (24 December 1889 – 22 March 1965) was an Italian actor and film director. Bonnard was born and died in Rome. He began his cinematic career as an actor becoming a popular romantic lead in numerous silent films made before World ...

) *''Eine Nacht in Venedig'' (March 1934 in German; directed by

Robert Wiene Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a film director of the silent era of German cinema. He is particularly known for directing the German silent film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' and a succession of other German Expressionism, ...

) ('' A Night in Venice'' for USA release) *''Egy éj Velencében'' (1935) Directed by

Géza von Cziffra Géza von Cziffra (; 19 December 1900 – 28 April 1989) was a Hungarian and Austrian film director and screenwriter. Life Cziffra was a Banat German in origin, born in 1900 in Arad in the Banat region, at that date in the Kingdom of Hungary ...

. ('' A Night in Venice'' for English language release) Tito Pattiera on imdb.com
/ref>

References

Notes Cited sources * Steane, J. B. (1998), "Pattiera, Tino", in Stanley Sadie, (Ed.), ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Vol. 3, London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. 1998 *Steane, J. B. (2008)
"Pattiera, Tino"
''The Grove Book of Opera Singers'', 2nd edition. Oxford University Press

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pattiera, Tino 1890 births 1966 deaths People from Konavle People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia 20th-century Croatian male opera singers Operatic tenors Croatian tenors Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany