Ramón Vinay (August 31, 1911 – January 4, 1996) was a famous Chilean

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

with a powerful, dramatic voice. He is probably best remembered for his appearances in the title role of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

's tragic opera ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...

''.

Biography

He started his operatic career as a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

in Mexico in 1938. He later switched to

, making a second debut in 1943 and forging a successful international career after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Vinay eventually returned to the baritone fold in 1962 and retired from the stage in 1969. Even as a tenor, however, his vocal timbre retained its dark, baritonal colouration. He was the son of Jean Vinay Robert and Rosa Sepúlveda. Born in

Chillán Chillán () is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Ñuble Region, Diguillín Province, Chile, located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the center of the country. It has been the capital of the new Ñuble Region since ...

, Chile, Vinay trained with famed Lamperti student, José Pierson, in Mexico. Vinay earned particular renown throughout the operatic world for his interpretation of the role of Otello. For a time, he made the part his own. Perhaps his most significant appearance as Otello occurred in 1947, in a radio broadcast of the opera under the baton of

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

. His colleagues on this occasion were Herva Nelli, Giuseppe Valdengo and Nan Merriman, together with the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...

and Chorus. This performance was subsequently issued by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

on both LP and CD. In recent years, it has appeared on CDs issued by other companies, notably on the Guild label. Many critics consider it the best complete ''Otello'' ever recorded. A fine actor, Vinay was also the first tenor to sing the role of Otello on television. That was in 1948, in the initial telecast of an entire opera from the Met. He also sang Otello at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

, in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

and at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

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 sit ...

. In all, he performed it hundreds of times. He is said to be one of the two opera singers to have sung both Otello and Iago (the baritone villain) in Verdi's tragic masterpiece during the course of a career (the other being Carlos Guichandut). Vinay's overall tenor repertoire was comparatively ample. It also embraced heavy

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

ian roles (he sang at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...

in 1952–57), as well as Canio in

Leoncavallo Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo (23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Throughout his career, Leoncavallo produced numerous operas and songs but it is his 1892 opera ''Pagliacci'' that remained his lasting co ...

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

, Don José in Bizet's

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

and Samson in Saint-Saëns's

Samson et Dalila ''Samson and Delilah'' (), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on 2 ...

. Apart from Iago, the baritone parts which he performed included Telramund, Bartolo, Falstaff and Scarpia. In 1971, he also briefly returned from retirement to perform as the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's Don Carlo, a role originally written for the bass voice. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.Delta Omicron
He died in Mexico, aged 84. Vinay was married to

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

-born soprano Tessie Mobley.

Selected recordings

*Bizet – Carmen (Stokowski/Heidt, Pease, M. Koshetz) – Eklipse *Leoncavallo – Pagliacci (Antonicelli/Quarteraro, Warren, Thompson) – Guild *Saint-Saëns – Samson et Dalila (Cellini/Stevens) – VAI *Verdi – Otello (Toscanini/Nelli, Valdengo) – RCA *Verdi – Otello (Busch/Albanese, Warren) – Preiser Arkadia *Verdi – Otello (Furtwängler/Martinis, Schöffler) – EMI *Verdi – Otello (Cleva 1950/1951/excerpts/Steber, Guarrera) – Preiser *Verdi – Otello (Beecham 1958/Stella, Taddei, Modesti) – Idis *Wagner – Lohengrin (Sawallisch/Thomas, Silja, Varnay, Crass) – Philips *Wagner – Parsifal (Krauss/Mödl, London, Weber, Uhde, Greindl) – Arlecchino *Wagner – Parsifal (Knappertsbusch/Mödl, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl) – Myto *Wagner – Der Ring des Nibelungen (Keilberth/Mödl, Resnik, Hotter, Windgassen, Uhde, Weber) – Melodram *Wagner – Der Ring des Nibelungen (Krauss/Varnay, Hotter, Resnik, Greindl, Malaniuk) – Gala *Wagner – Tannhäuser (Keilberth/Brouwenstijn, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl)- Melodram *Wagner – Tristan und Isolde (Jochum/Varnay, Neidlinger, Weber, Malaniuk) – Melodram *Wagner – Tristan und Isolde (Karajan/Mödl, Weber, Hotter, Malaniuk) – Myto *Recital live (Arias by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Saint-Saëns, Wagner, duets with Ljuba Welitsch) – Melodram *Four Famous Met-Tenors of the Past (Peerce, Björling, Tucker) – Preiser – LV *Met – 100 Singers – RCA

Audio examples

Richard Wagner, Walküre 2. Aufzug: "Weh! Weh! Suessestes Weib!" Dirigent: Clemens Krauss; Festspielhaus Bayreuth, 1953

Richard Wagner, Lohengrin 2. Aufzug: "Erhebe dich, Genossin meiner Schmach!" (as Telramund) Dirigent: Wolfgang Sawallisch; Festspielhaus Bayreuth, 1962

Richard Wagner, Lohengrin 2. Aufzug: "Du wilde Seherin" (as Telramund) Dirigent: Wolfgang Sawallisch; Festspielhaus Bayreuth, 1962

References

External links

Ramon Vinay, 1911–1996Discography
(Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings) To the list of the selected recordings, could be added the ''Die Walkure'' production of 1957, with the Orchester der Bayreuth Festspiele conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch. Ramon Vinay sings Siegmund with Birgit Nillson as Sieglinde. This latter became known as the "Legendary 1957 Bayreuth Production". {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinay, Ramon 1911 births 1996 deaths Heldentenors Chilean opera singers 20th-century Chilean male singers Chilean people of French descent Operatic tenors People from Chillán 20th-century male opera singers 20th-century Chilean male artists