Antonio Superchi (11 January 1816 – 5 July 1893) was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international career from 1838 to 1858. He appeared at most of the major

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

s in Italy and Spain, and at

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

in London.Biography of Antonio Superchi at biblioteche2.comune.parma.it

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

reviewed the quality of his voice in 1847 (22 April): "It is impossible for a singer to be more free than Superchi from this defect of his predecessor (Luciano Fornasari, who never surmounted his tremulousness). His notes are as firm as possible, and his flow of song is in the highest degree smooth and even". Born into a wealthy family—father Paolo and mother Gaetana, a lady of the Manghi family—in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, he studied singing in his native city with Antonio De Cesari and Luigi Tartagnini. He made his professional opera debut in 1838 at La Fenice in Venice as Enrico in Gaetano Donizetti's ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...

''. In 1843 he created the role of Ernesto Malcolm in the world premiere of Giovanni Pacini's '' Maria, regina d'Inghilterra'' at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo. On 9 March 1844 he sang the part of Don Carlo in the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's '' Ernani'' at La Fenice. He retired from the stage in 1858, after which he was active as a singing teacher in Parma. He died there in 1893 at the age of 77.

References

1816 births 1893 deaths Musicians from Parma Italian operatic baritones Voice teachers 19th-century Italian male opera singers {{italy-opera-singer-stub