Metropolitan Opera

Born in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, he went to the United States at the age of eighteen. He was associated with companies in Boston and Montreal, and made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 with a production of I puritani (with Maria Barrientos

Maria Barrientos

Maria Barrientos was a Spanish opera singer, a light coloratura soprano, one of the most eminent sopranos of her time.- Life and career :...

), in 1919. His work was seen at the Met until 1934, with Il barbiere di Siviglia (with Titta Ruffo

Titta Ruffo

Titta Ruffo , born as Ruffo Titta Cafiero, was an Italian opera star who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" , he was greatly admired, even by rival baritones, such as Giuseppe De Luca, who said of Ruffo: "His was not a voice, it was a miracle" Titta Ruffo (9...

 as Figaro, and, later, Elvira de Hidalgo

Elvira de Hidalgo

Elvira de Hidalgo was a prominent Spanish coloratura soprano, who later became a pedagogue...

 as Rosina), Lucia di Lammermoor (with Amelita Galli-Curci

Amelita Galli-Curci

Amelita Galli-Curci was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the best-known coloratura singers of the early 20th century with her gramophone records selling in large numbers.-Early life:...

 and Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer. The most famous tenor of his generation, he was renowned internationally for the great beauty of his voice and the soundness of his vocal technique. Music critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism...

, later Toti dal Monte

Toti Dal Monte

Antonietta Meneghel , better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian operatic soprano with a sweet and limpid lyric voice. She was a favourite artist of the celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini...

), Tosca, Aïda (with Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years.-Early life:She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897,...

, later Elisabeth Rethberg

Elisabeth Rethberg

The German soprano Elisabeth Rethberg was an opera singer of international repute active from the period of the First World War through to the early 1940s. Some hailed her as the greatest soprano of her day...

), Madama Butterfly (with Geraldine Farrar

Geraldine Farrar

Geraldine Farrar was an American soprano opera singer and film actress, noted for her beauty, acting ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice." She had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".- Early life and opera career :Farrar was born in Melrose,...

 and Giovanni Martinelli

Giovanni Martinelli

Giovanni Martinelli was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor. He was particularly associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well...

), Rigoletto, Cavalleria rusticana, La bohème, Manon Lescaut (with Aureliano Pertile

Aureliano Pertile

Aureliano Pertile was an Italian lyric-dramatic tenor. He is considered to have been one of the most exciting operatic artists of the inter-war period, and one of the most important tenors of the entire 20th century.- Life and career :Pertile was born in Montagnana, Northern Italy, 18 days after...

 as des Grieux), Pagliacci, Zazà, La navarraise, L'oracolo (with Antonio Scotti

Antonio Scotti

Antonio Scotti was an Italian baritone. He was a principal artist of the New York Metropolitan Opera for more than 33 seasons, but also sang with great success at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan's La Scala.-Life:Antonio Scotti was born in Naples, Italy...

), Il trovatore, La forza del destino, L'amore dei tre re, Manon, Samson et Dalila, Boris Godunov (with Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Chaliapin

Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...

 in the name part, and Ezio Pinza

Ezio Pinza

Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...

 as Pimenn), Faust, Pizzetti's Fra Gherardo (United States premiere, conducted by Tullio Serafin

Tullio Serafin

-Biography:Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19th century bel canto operas by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti to become staples of 20th century repertoire...

, 1929), La traviata (with Ponselle, later Claudia Muzio

Claudia Muzio

Claudia Muzio was an Italian operatic soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century.-Early years:...

 and Tito Schipa

Tito Schipa

Tito Schipa was an Italian tenor. He is considered one of the finest tenori di grazia in operatic history...

), Les contes d'Hoffmann, Il signor Bruschino (U.S. premiere, 1932), Lakmé (with Lily Pons

Lily Pons

Lily Pons was a French-American operatic soprano and actress who had an active career from the late 1920s through the early 1970s. As an opera singer she specialized in the coloratura soprano repertoire and was particularly associated with the title roles in Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Gaetano...

), L'africaine, The Emperor Jones (with Lawrence Tibbett

Lawrence Tibbett

Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was a great American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang with the New York Metropolitan Opera company more than 600 times from 1923 to 1950...

), Simon Boccanegra, Gianni Schicchi, and Roméo et Juliette.

Agnini was also on the staff of the San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...

, and guest-directed in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Hollywood

Maestro Agnini was "Technical Advisor" for the film Metropolitan (with Tibbett, 1935). Uncredited, he held the same position for Going My Way (with Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

 and Risë Stevens

Risë Stevens

Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic mezzo-soprano.-Professional life:Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years. She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until...

, 1944) and The Lost Weekend (with Ray Milland

Ray Milland

Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...

 and Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...

, directed by Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...

, 1945).

New Orleans Opera

In 1947, Agnini debuted at the New Orleans Opera

New Orleans Opera

Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...

 Association, with Il trovatore (with Stella Roman

Stella Roman

Stella Roman was a Romanian operatic soprano whose career brought her leading roles in Italy and the United States.-Background and training:...

 and Enzo Mascherini

Enzo Mascherini

Enzo Mascherini was an Italian operatic baritone, one of the leading baritones of his generation....

, conducted by Walter Herbert

Walter Herbert (conductor)

Walter Herbert was an American conductor and impresario of German birth, as well as a world champion at contract bridge....

), and went on to stage Carmen, Faust (with Pinza), Madama Butterfly (with Mario Lanza

Mario Lanza

right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....

 in a rare operatic appearance, 1948), and Samson et Dalila. By 1954, he had joined the Association's staff, and directed La bohème (conducted by Renato Cellini

Renato Cellini

Renato Cellini was a celebrated Italian opera conductor. His father was Enzio Cellini, who was a stage director who worked with Arturo Toscanini.- Metropolitan Opera :...

), Otello (with Ramón Vinay

Ramón Vinay

Ramón Vinay was a famous Chilean operatic tenor with a powerful, dramatic voice. He is probably best remembered for his appearances in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic opera Otello....

 and Herva Nelli

Herva Nelli

Herva Nelli was an Italian-born operatic soprano.-Biography:Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, where she attended a convent school...

), Tosca (with Inge Borkh

Inge Borkh

Inge Borkh is a German soprano.Borkh was born Ingeborg Simon in Mannheim, Germany, in 1921. She was initially an actress and had some training in dance, both of which served her well in opera: she became known both for her voice and for her dramatic intensity - the "singing actress" exemplified,...

 and Robert Weede

Robert Weede

-Biography:Born Robert Wiedefeld in Baltimore, Maryland, Weede studied voice at the Eastman School of Music and in Milan. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1937, as Tonio in Pagliacci...

), Lakmé, Rigoletto, Andrea Chénier, Martha, Die Fledermaus, Madama Butterfly, Carmen (with Norman Treigle

Norman Treigle

Norman Treigle was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror....

 in his first Escamillo), Gianni Schicchi, Aïda (with Nelli), Manon, Lucia di Lammermoor, Elektra, L'amore dei tre re, La traviata (with Lucia Evangelista), Le nozze di Figaro (with Virginia MacWatters

Virginia MacWatters

Virginia MacWatters was an acclaimed American coloratura soprano.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, MacWatters studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, and sang 611 Broadway performances of Adele in Rosalinda , conducted by Erich Korngold, from 1942 to 1944...

 as Susanna), Falstaff (with Leonard Warren

Leonard Warren

Leonard Warren was a famous American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:...

), Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Werther, Faust, La Cenerentola, Boris Godunov (with Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer...

), Il barbiere di Siviglia, Manon Lescaut (with Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...

), Il trovatore (with Nelli and Warren), Don Pasquale, Turandot, L'elisir d'amore, Hänsel und Gretel, Norma, Don Giovanni, Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Tannhäuser.

An excerpt from Agnini's 1959 production of La bohème (with Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese is an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966...

, Giuseppe di Stefano

Giuseppe Di Stefano

Giuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. He was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voice", as the true successor of Beniamino Gigli...

, Audrey Schuh

Audrey Schuh

Audrey Schuh was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on , and studied both music and medical technology at Loyola University of the South, where she studied with Dorothy Hulse, who was also the pedagogue of Harry Theyard and Charles Anthony...

, Giuseppe Valdengo

Giuseppe Valdengo

Giuseppe Valdengo was an Italian operatic baritone. Opera News said that, "Although his timbre lacked the innate beauty of some of his baritone contemporaries, Valdengo's performances were invariably satisfying — bold and assured in attack but scrupulously musical."-Biography:Valdengo first...

, and Treigle) was televised in New Orleans, but a kinescope

Kinescope

Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...

has never been discovered. He died on March 27, 1960, of a heart condition, during rehearsals for his production of Samson et Dalila (with Stevens and Vinay), in New Orleans, leaving behind his widow and two daughters.