Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (December 11, 1892–March 17,1979) 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...
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...
with a lyric-dramatic voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years.
Born in Lanuvio, Italy, he was orphaned at the age of 11. After completing his secondary education at the seminary at Albano and graduating from the
University of Rome La SapienzaSapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza - Università di Roma, commonly known as Università di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy. It is the largest European university and the oldest of Rome's three state-funded universities; Sapienza was...
, he began vocal studies under the great 19th-century baritone
Antonio CotogniAntonio Cotogni was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi...
at the
Accademia Nazionale di Santa CeciliaThe Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy.It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western...
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...
.
His nascent singing career was put on hold, however, by the outbreak of World War One, during which he served with the Italian armed forces.
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (December 11, 1892–March 17,1979) 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...
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...
with a lyric-dramatic voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years.
Career and assessment
Born in Lanuvio, Italy, he was orphaned at the age of 11. After completing his secondary education at the seminary at Albano and graduating from the
University of Rome La SapienzaSapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza - Università di Roma, commonly known as Università di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy. It is the largest European university and the oldest of Rome's three state-funded universities; Sapienza was...
, he began vocal studies under the great 19th-century baritone
Antonio CotogniAntonio Cotogni was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi...
at the
Accademia Nazionale di Santa CeciliaThe Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy.It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western...
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...
.
His nascent singing career was put on hold, however, by the outbreak of World War One, during which he served with the Italian armed forces. The war over, he made a successful operatic debut as Arturo in
Bellini’sVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His most famous works are La Sonnambula and Norma...
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...
in
ViterboViterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It is approximately 100 kilometers north of Rome on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Cimini and Monti Volsini. The historic center of the city is surrounded by...
, Italy, on September 2, 1919, performing under the name Giacomo Rubini, after Bellini’s favorite tenor,
Giovanni Battista RubiniGiovanni Battista Rubini was an Italian tenor, as famous in his time as Enrico Caruso in a later day. His ringing and expressive coloratura dexterity in the highest register of his voice, the tenorino, inspired the writing of operatic roles which today are almost impossible to cast...
. Four months later, on January 3, 1920, he scored another success, at the
Teatro CostanziThe Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
in Rome, this time performing under his own name opposite
Rosina StorchioRosina Storchio was an Italian soprano who starred in the world premieres of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta, and Giordano’s Siberia....
and
Ezio PinzaEzio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas. He also sang to great acclaim at La Scala, Milan, and at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden...
in Massenet's
ManonManon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
.
Lauri-Volpi was widely acclaimed for his performance as Arnoldo in
La Scala’sLa 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...
centenary production of
Rossini’sGioachino Antonio Rossini was a popular Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. His best known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia , La Cenerentola, La gazza ladra and Guillaume Tell...
Guglielmo TellGuillaume Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique on August 3, 1829...
in 1929.
A leading tenor 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....
from 1923 to 1933 (appearing there in 232 performances), he sang opposite
Maria JeritzaMaria Jeritza , born Maria Jedličková, was a celebrated Moravian soprano singer, long associated with the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera...
in the American premiere of Puccini’s
TurandotTurandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text...
and opposite
Rosa PonselleRosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano. 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....
in the Met premiere of
Verdi’sGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
Luisa MillerLuisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller. The first performance was given at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on December 8, 1849...
. He also appeared at the
Royal OperaRoyal Opera or Royal Opera House may refer to:* Royal Opera, London, leading opera company in England* Royal Opera House, opera house in Covent Garden, London* Royal Swedish Opera, opera house and opera company in Stockholm...
,
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 1925 and 1936. By the latter date, he had broadened his repertoire, progressing from lyric roles to more dramatic parts, and his voice began to show consequent signs of wear in the 1940s, losing homogeneity. His thrilling top notes remained remarkably intact, however.
During the Second World War he was based in Italy. His last public performance in a full opera was as Manrico in Verdi’s
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....
in Rome in 1959.
Lauri-Volpi recorded a number of opera arias and duets. Many of these recordings are available on CD. The best of them were made in the United States and Italy during the 1920s, '30s and early '40s. In 1974, at the age of 81, he released a final operatic recital record.
At its peak, Lauri-Volpi's voice was a brilliant instrument: bright, flexible and ringing in tone. He possessed astonishingly easy and penetrating high notes and had a shimmering vibrato which made his voice instantly recognizable. During the course of his career he sang, on stage, roles as diverse as Arturo (in Bellini'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...
) and Otello (in Verdi'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...
), thus becoming one of the most celebrated opera singers of the 20th century, even though he faced stiff competition from a remarkable crop of rival Mediterranean tenors during his prime. (They included
Beniamino GigliBeniamino 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. Critics sometimes took him to task, however, for what was perceived to be the over-emotionalism of his...
,
Giovanni MartinelliGiovanni 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...
,
Aureliano PertileAureliano 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...
,
Francesco MerliFrancesco Merli was an Italian opera singer, particularly associated with heavy roles such as Otello, Canio and Calaf. He ranks as one of the finest dramatic tenors of the inter-war period....
,
Galliano MasiniGalliano Masini was a leading Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the spinto roles of the Italian repertory....
,
Tito SchipaTito Schipa was an Italian tenor. He is considered one of the finest tenori di grazia in operatic history...
,
Antonio CortisAntonio Cortis was a Spanish tenor with an outstanding voice. He was acclaimed by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic for his exciting performances of Italian operatic works, especially those by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and the verismo composers.-Career:Cortis was born at sea but his...
,
Renato ZanelliRenato Zanelli was a Chilean operatic baritone and later tenor, particularly associated with heroic Italian and German roles, notably Verdi's Otello.-Life and career:...
and the young Alessandro Ziliani.)
Lauri-Volpi was a cultured, intelligent man with a fiery temperament. He retired to Spain and died in Burjasot, near Valencia, at the age of 86.
Writings
Lauri-Volpi wrote several books, one of which (Voci Parallele) is a revealing study of singers and their vocal techniques which is frequently cited.
- Voci Parallele (Ricordi, Napoli 1955)
- L'Equivoco, Cosi è, e non vi pare (Corbaccio, Milano 1938)
- Aviso Aperto, (Corbaccio, Milano 1953)
External links