Alessandro Bonci (February 10, 1870 – August 10, 1940) was an Italian lyric
tenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
known for his association with the
bel cantoBel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term with several possible different meanings that is subject to a wide array of interpretations.The earliest usage of the term bel canto emerged in late 17th-century Italy to refer to the Italian model of singing...
repertoire.
A native of
CesenaCesena is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, south of Ravenna and west of Rimini, on the Savio River, co-chief of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. It is at the foot of the Apennines, and about 15 km from the Adriatic Sea.-History:...
,
RomagnaRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
, Bonci started out as an apprentice shoemaker. Luckily he secured a music scholarship to the Rossini Conservatory in
PesaroPesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
, working for five years with Carlo Pedrotti and Felice Coen. He also had private singing lessons in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with the retired
baritoneBaritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the F above...
Enrico Delle Sedie.
Bonci made his debut in
ParmaParma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
in 1896, singing the role of Fenton in
Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's
FalstaffFalstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
at the
Teatro RegioTeatro Regio may refer to two opera houses in Italy:*Teatro Regio di Parma*Teatro Regio di TorinoIt may also be a reference to the 18th-century opera house in Milan that is now replaced by La Scala:*Teatro Regio Ducal...
.
Alessandro Bonci (February 10, 1870 – August 10, 1940) was an Italian lyric
tenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
known for his association with the
bel cantoBel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term with several possible different meanings that is subject to a wide array of interpretations.The earliest usage of the term bel canto emerged in late 17th-century Italy to refer to the Italian model of singing...
repertoire.
A native of
CesenaCesena is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, south of Ravenna and west of Rimini, on the Savio River, co-chief of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. It is at the foot of the Apennines, and about 15 km from the Adriatic Sea.-History:...
,
RomagnaRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
, Bonci started out as an apprentice shoemaker. Luckily he secured a music scholarship to the Rossini Conservatory in
PesaroPesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
, working for five years with Carlo Pedrotti and Felice Coen. He also had private singing lessons in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with the retired
baritoneBaritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the F above...
Enrico Delle Sedie.
Bonci made his debut in
ParmaParma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
in 1896, singing the role of Fenton in
Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's
FalstaffFalstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
at the
Teatro RegioTeatro Regio may refer to two opera houses in Italy:*Teatro Regio di Parma*Teatro Regio di TorinoIt may also be a reference to the 18th-century opera house in Milan that is now replaced by La Scala:*Teatro Regio Ducal...
. Such was his success that before the end of his first season he was engaged to sing at
La ScalaLa Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal Theatre of La Scala La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally...
,
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
, where he debuted in
Vincenzo BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His most famous works are La Sonnambula and Norma...
's
I PuritaniI puritani is an opera in three acts, by Vincenzo Bellini. It is his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine. It was first produced at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, January 24, 1835...
. Appearances elsewhere in Europe followed, including at
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
's
Royal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal...
,
Covent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London, England, located in the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwestern corner of the London Borough of Camden...
. He first sang at Covent Garden in 1900 and he would return there in 1903 and 1907-08.
On December 3, 1906, Bonci made his
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
debut with the
Manhattan Opera CompanyThe Manhattan Opera Company was an opera company based in New York City. Active from 1906 until 1910, it was founded by Oscar Hammerstein I.The company began operations in 1906 at the Manhattan Opera House on 34th Street in New York City...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
; again the opera was
I Puritani. He stayed two seasons with the company, becoming a popular competitor to
Enrico CarusoEnrico Caruso was an Italian tenor who sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America...
, who was the rival
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine....
's major drawcard. Bonci himself joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1908 and, in 1914, the Chicago Opera. He also made a
transcontinentalTranscontinental Inc. is a major Canadian newspaper and magazine publisher, as well as one of North America's largest printing firms....
tour of America in 1910-11, giving song
recitalA recital is a musical performance. It can highlight a single performer, sometimes accompanied by piano, or a performance of the works of a single composer.The invention of the solo piano recital has been attributed to Franz Liszt....
s.
Bonci served in the Italian army during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, returning to America to tour for three seasons after the end of the conflict. He appeared again at the Metropolitan Opera, and sang in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
during the 1920-21 season. In 1922 and 1923 he served as the principal tenor of the Teatro Costanzi in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
and conducted
master classA master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert — the master.
es across the United States the following year. After 1925, Bonci entered into partial retirement, devoting himself primarily to teaching in Milan. He still sang occasionally in public as late as 1935, however, and died in Viserba, Rimini, in 1940, at the age of 70.
Bonci's voice was captured on disc by the Fonotipia, Edison and Columbia companies. His first records were made in 1905 and his last in 1926. On them, he is heard to best advantage in operatic arias by Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti and Gluck, but he was also renowned for his Rodolfo in Puccini's
La bohemeLa bohème is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world première performance of La bohème was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio and conducted by the young Arturo...
, his Riccardo in Verdi's
Un ballo in mascheraUn ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The opera's first production was at the Teatro Apollo, Rome, 17 February 1859....
and his Duke of Mantua in Verdi's
RigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
. Bonci was a small man and his voice was not overly large, either; but it was sweet-toned, stylish and supple, with excellent high notes. It also had a marked vibrato which present-day listeners to CD transfers of his records might not find appealing.
External links