Francesco Tamagno (28 December 1850 – 31 August 1905) was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer who performed to enormous acclaim in Europe and America.
The most famous heroic
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...
of his age, Tamagno was celebrated throughout the operatic world for the extreme power of his singing, especially in the upper register. Indeed, music critics often likened the sound of his voice to that of a trumpet or even a cannon. (This rare type of singer is called a "tenore robusto" or "tenore di forza" by Italians.)
Tamagno's vocal range extended effortlessly up to the high C-sharp during his prime. He was no mere 'belter' of high notes, however; his recordings provide evidence of his ability, even at career's end, to modulate the dynamic levels of his clarion instrument with remarkable skill.
Best known as the creator of the protagonist's role 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
OtelloOtello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's second to last opera and is considered by many to be his greatest. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887...
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...
in 1887, he also was the first Gabriele Adorno in the 1881 version of
Simon BoccanegraSimon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
, a far more lyrical Verdi part. He participated, too, in the premiere performance of Verdi's revised version of
Don Carlo when it was staged at La Scala in 1884. Five other operas (now largely forgotten) in which Tamagno created lead roles were Carlos Gomes'
Maria Tudor (1879),
Amilcare PonchielliAmilcare Ponchielli was an Italian composer, largely of operas.-Biography:Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.Two years...
's
Il figliuol prodigo (1880) and
Marion Delorme (1885),
Ruggero LeoncavalloRuggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His opera Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the operatic repertory, appearing as number 14 on Opera America's 2007 list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.-Biography:The son of a police magistrate, Leoncavallo was...
's
I Medici (1893) and
Isidore de LaraIsidore de Lara, born Isidore Cohen , was an English composer and singer. After studying in Italy and France, he returned to England where he taught for several years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and became a well known singer and composer of art songs...
's
Messaline (1899).
Tamagno was renowned also for his potent performances as Radames in
AidaAida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, Manrico in
Il trovatoreIl trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez....
, the title role in
ErnaniErnani is an operatic dramma lirico in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo...
, the title role in
PoliutoPoliuto is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Pierre Corneille's play Polyeucte . It was composed in 1838 and first performed on 30 November 1848 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples...
, Samson in
Samson et Dalila, Arnold in
Guillaume Tell, John of Leyden in
Le PropheteLe prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
, Raoul in
Les HuguenotsLes Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps.-Background:Les Huguenots was some five years in creation...
, Vasco in
L'AfricaineL'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. Meyerbeer's working title for the opera was 'Vasco da Gama', the hero...
and John the Baptist in
HerodiadeHérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...
. It is estimated that he appeared in a total of about 55 different operas and sacred works during his lifetime. Interestingly enough, with one notable exception he almost completely eschewed verismo opera. That notable exception was
Umberto GiordanoUmberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
's
Andrea ChenierAndrea Chénier is an opera in four acts by the verismo composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
, composed in 1896. He studied the score of this work with Giordano and was lauded for his authoratative singing of Chenier's impassioned music.
In summary: Tamagno performed at all the major opera establishments of Europe, the United States and South America in a stellar career stretching from the early 1870s to the early 1900s. While not an accomplished actor or a scrupulous musician (his rhythm and pitching could be wayward on occasion), his huge voice and volcanic renditions of the most forceful tenor roles in the Italian and French operatic repertory had a tremendous impact on audiences, enabling him to build a world-wide reputation as an elite singer and charge impresarios on both sides of the Atlantic top-tier fees for his services.
Birth, operatic career & death
Born in
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
(Torino),
Northern ItalyNorthern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative worth, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian nation...
, in 1850, Francesco Tamagno was the son of a
trattoria owner and wine-seller. His vocal promise manifested itself early, and although steered into learning a trade by his parents, he was able to take singing lessons with Carlo Pedrotti at the local Liceo Musicale and find work as a chorister.
Having completed a stint of compulsory military service, Tamagno sang several small operatic parts at Turin's Teatro Regio in 1872-73 before graduating to principal tenor roles. He burst into prominence in January 1874 with a sensational performance as 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....
at
PalermoPalermo is a historic city in Southern Italy, the capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. Tamagno then undertook a string of singing engagements in
FerraraFerrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara.It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces...
,
RovigoRovigo is a town in the Veneto region of North-Eastern Italy, the capital of the eponymous province. -Geography:...
,
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
and
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
which further raised his profile and enabled him to make his debut at
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...
's La Scala in December 1877. La Scala had long been Italy's leading opera theatre and Tamagno became a core member of its company of singers. His voice continued to mature at La Scala, reaching its full potential after a few years of vigorous use in a variety of operas. He enjoyed the added advantage of working closely with Verdi, and his singing acquired a discipline and polish that hitherto it had lacked. Eventually, he would perform in every La Scala season from 1877 to 1887 and appear there again as a guest artist in 1901.
Argentina was an overseas bastion of Italian opera throughout this period, and Tamagno made the first of several well-remunerated visits to its capital city of
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1879. But his international career would not take off in a big way until 1888 -- with the role of Otello, which Verdi had written with Tamagno's extraordinary voice in mind, serving as his global calling card.
He travelled widely during the final dozen or so years of the 19th century, accepting lucrative invitations to perform Otello and other strenuous operatic parts in Portugal, Spain (where he had first sung in 1875-76), France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico and, as we have noted, Argentina. He appeared, too, at the Monte Carlo Opera and at the most important operatic venues 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...
,
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...
,
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, San Francisco and
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...
. (To give three specific examples: he sang at the New York
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....
in 1891 and 1894-95, at London's Lyceum Theatre in 1889, and at the
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...
, in 1895 and 1901.)
Tamagno performed with a number of outstanding conductors (including
Franco FaccioFranco Faccio was an Italian composer and conductor.Born in Verona, Faccio became known as a conductor of Verdi's music...
, Luigi Mancinelli and
Arturo ToscaniniArturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th Centuries, he was renowned for his brilliant intensity, his restless perfectionism, his phenomenal ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
) during the course of his career, and partnered some of the most illustrious
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
s,
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...
s and
bassA bass is a type of classical male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second F below middle C to the E above middle C . Its tessitura, or...
es in operatic history. He set a benchmark standard in vocalism which still remains relevant, and most expert commentators would regard him as being the greatest heroic-voiced Mediterranean tenor whose voice is preserved on records.
Tamagno was seen in his day as the true successor to
Enrico TamberlikEnrico Tamberlik was an Italian operatic tenor with a high international reputation as a singer. He was particularly associated with heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and noted for his powerful declamation and ringing top notes.-Career:Born in Rome, some sources claim that...
(1820-1889), the dominant Italian dramatic tenor of the mid-19th century, while Polish-born
Jean de ReszkeJean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, was a Polish tenor. He enjoyed international renown for the quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing and he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century.-Biography:He was born in Warsaw in 1850...
was considered to be Tamagno's foremost contemporary rival. De Reszke (1850-1925) was an elegant lyric-dramatic tenor of the French school whose repertoire partly overlapped Tamagno's. Although he could never outsing Tamagno, de Reszke was the more sophisticated musician, with a sweeter voice as well as a suave stage presence. He was also the finest male exponent of
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
's operas to be heard on the stages of London and New York during the late Victorian era. (Tamagno never attempted to perform Wagnerian works, even in Italian translation; he believed that the music written for Wagner's tenor heroes lay too low to suit his voice.)
Fortunately, Tamagno lived long enough to witness the rise to stardom of the young
Enrico CarusoEnrico Caruso was an Italian tenor who sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America...
(1873-1921). He greatly admired Caruso's talent, predicting as far back as 1898 that he would go on to become the number one Italian tenor of the 20th century.
In private life Tamagno was an affable if parsimonious bachelor who never forgot his humble origins, no matter how wealthy he became. (Soprano
Nellie MelbaDame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen Porter Mitchell, was an Australian opera soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century due to the purity of her lyrical voice and the brilliance of her technique. Melba was the first Australian to achieve...
recounts in her memoirs that Tamagno would save money by scooping up the left-overs from his restaurant meals, consuming them later.) For a hobby, he collected butterflies. His health deteriorated in the early 1900s due to a debilitating cardiac condition. He was forced to retire from the operatic stage but continued to give concerts, the final one of these being held in
Ostend||-||-||}Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
, Belgium, in 1904. He sang briefly in public for the last time the following year and died at his ornate villa in
VareseVarese is a city in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 km north of Milan.It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto.- Geography :...
, Italy, on 31 August 1905. His chronic heart ailment had combined with the effects of a stroke to bring about his demise at the age of 54. He was interred at Turin's general cemetery within a stone mausoleum of impressive proportions. An illegitimate daughter, Margherita, whom he loved deeply, acknowledged openly, and cared for from her birth, inherited his large fortune.
A definitive biography,
Otello Fu: La Vera Vita di Francesco Tamagno, il "tenore-cannone", by Ugo Piavano, was published in Milan in 2005 to mark the 100th anniversary of his death.
Recordings
Tamagno's intensely bright, ringing voice with its penetrating timbre, open production and incisive declamation can be heard on a series of primitive, piano-accompanied recordings of operatic arias which he made in Italy in 1903 and 1904 (at
OspedalettiOspedaletti is a comune in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 120 km southwest of Genoa and about 25 km southwest of Imperia...
and 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...
respectively). The Gramophone & Typewriter Company paid him a handsome amount of money to make the recordings and he received a royalty payment from the company for each individually numbered disc that sold. Buyers were charged one pound sterling, or its equivalent, per 10- or 12-inch disc; in comparison, Caruso's 10-inch recordings sold for just 10 shillings. The £1 each charged for Tamagno's recordings represented at least a week's wages for the common man, and for that you got a single-sided disc, sometimes containing less than two minutes of music. (Tamagno's recordings, along with those of contemporaries such as Melba,
Adelina PattiAdelina Patti was one of the most highly regarded opera singers of the 19th century, earning huge fees at the height of her career....
and
Mattia BattistiniMattia Battistini was an Italian operatic baritone. He became internationally famous due to the beauty of his voice and his virtuoso technique, which earned him the sobriquet of the "King of Baritones".-Early life:...
, were clearly aimed at the social elite.) Among the composers featured on Tamagno's recorded output are Verdi, naturally, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Saint-Saens, Massenet, de Lara and Giordano.
When he stepped before the acoustic recording horn, Tamagno was in poor health and in semi-retirement after a demanding career that had lasted for more than 30 years. Consequently his voice, although still astonishingly powerful and kept under firm technical control, was no longer at its peak. (His phrasing had lost some of its former expansiveness, for instance, and he had developed a preference for stately tempi.) Despite this, his singing remains uniquely impressive and the extracts from
Otello which he committed to disc are treated by scholars as audio documents of immense historical and musical importance.
Symposium Records has released a two-CD set containing an almost complete anthology of Tamagno's recordings (catalogue number 1186/87), while an extensive selection of them was issued on the Pearl/Opal label (CD 9846) in 1990. Those wanting to hear Tamagno in a broader context may wish to consult EMI's three-CD
La Scala Edition, Volume 1, 1878-1914 (CHS 7 64860 2). This edition contains four Tamagno tracks in excellent re-mastered transfers, plus recordings made by a number of his colleagues/contemporaries. Of more specialist interest is a 21st-century release of all of Tamagno's extant 12-inch discs on high quality, 78-rpm vinyl pressings by the British firm Historic Masters. This particular set includes the recently discovered tenor-baritone duet from
Otello, namely 'Si pel ciel', as well as an aria from
Messalina that was previously known only from a private test pressing once belonging to Tamagno.
External links